Research in this area focuses on the cerebral circuits, networks, processes and computational mechanisms that underpin a plethora of functions, such as perception, attention, memory, language, decision making, emotion and the control of action, to name a few.

These functions are at the essence of cognition and give rise to the uniqueness of our human nature, a rich mental activity that can even generate the subjective phenomenon of consciousness.

Research at the Institute of Neurosciences pushes boundaries of existing knowledge in areas such as language, music, auditory perception, sensorimotor and cognitive decision-making, and neuropsychology. The Institute has contributed important findings regarding in the genetic determinants of speech sounds encoding, language acquisition and musical anhedonia, the brain connectivity in the preterm born baby and neurobehavioural plasticity after early brain injury, addictions, and the abnormal control of reward in obesity.

Featured projects

• Motivación y recompensa intrinsica asociada a la acquisición del conocimiento: evidencias neuronales. Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades. PGC2018-099859-B-I00. Antonio Rodriguez-Fornells
• Executive function training in childhood obesity: food choice, quality of life and brain connectivity (TOuCH). Fundació La Marató de TV3. 201616-10. Maria Angeles Jurado Luque
• Indicadores estadísticos para el estudio de redes de conectividad cerebral en registros de resonancia magnética funcional (FMRI) y su aplicación para el diagnóstico del deterioro cognitivo. Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades. PGC2018-095829-B-I00. Joan Guardia-Olmos
• The Frequency-Following Response (FFR) in newborns and its role as a potential biomarker for neurocognitive development. Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades. PGC2018-094765-B-I00. Carles Escera
• The sound of special places: exploring rock art soundscapes and the sacred (ARTSOUNDSCAPES). ERC-2017-ADG. 787842. Margarita Diaz-Andreu Garcia i Carles Escera
• Modification of attentional bias, with virtual reality, for improving anorexia nervosa treatment. Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación. Project PID2019-108657RB-I00. Jose Gutierrez-Maldonado
• Moments in Time in Immersive Virtual Environments (MoTIVE). European Union. ERC-2016-ADG- 742989. Mel Slater
• Psychotherapy for young adults with mild-to-moderate depression: Does virtual reality increase its efficacy? Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades. RTI2018-094294-B-I00. Guillem Feixas