THE AUDITORY, MOTOR, EMOTIONAL AND NUMERICAL BRAIN

Principal Investigators

Carles Escera

Full professor

Neural mechanisms of speech encoding and auditory perception

Judith Dominguez-Borras

Assistant Professor

Emotion interactions with perception and attention: amygdala function

Maria Isabel Nuñez-Peña

Full professor

Numerical cognition and math anxiety

Iria SanMiguel

Associate Professor

Motor-sensory interactions and predictive processing

Marc Via

Associate Professor

Cognitive neurogenetics

Jordi Costa

Associate Professor

Cerebellar contributions to audition

Research team

 

Concepcion Clemente

Associate Professor

 

Maria Jose Corral

Associate Professor

 

Raquel Aparicio

Early Stage Researcher

 

Sonia Arenillas

Early Stage Researcher

 

Trisia Cinca

Early Stage Researcher

 

Marta Font

Early Stage Researcher

 

Belen Gonzalez

Early Stage Researcher

 

Samantha Lopez

Early Stage Researcher

 

Konstantina Paraskevoudi

Early Stage Researcher

 

Giannina Puddu

Early Stage Researcher

 

Marta Puertollano

Early Stage Researcher

 

Teresa Ribas

Early Stage Researcher

 

Stefanie Sturm

Early Stage Researcher

 

Natalia Gorina

Technician

 

Jose Valenzuela

Technician

Research Interest

 

This programme focuses on neural mechanisms of cognitive functions, including attention, auditory and speech perception, motor-sensory interactions and executive control. Moreover, it also includes the study of emotional and musical processing, and in cognitive dysfunction in a broad spectrum of neurological, neurodevelopment and mental disorders.

Technologies & Methods

 

  • Electroencephalography (EEG). Analysis of event-related potentials and oscillatory activity
  • Magnetoencephalography (MEG)
  • functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)
  • Eye-tracking
  • Peripheral measures (electrodermal response, pupillometry)
  • Genetic and genomic analyses

Selected Projects

 

    • The sound of special places: exploring rock art soundscapes and the sacred (ARTSOUNDSCAPES). European Union. ERC-2017- ADG. 787842 – ERC Advanced Grant. Carles Escera

 

    • Ajut per incentivar i consolidar la recerca d’excel·lència ja existent a les universitats públiques de Catalunya. Programa ICREA Academia 2020. Fundació Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats. Carles Escera.

 

    • Brainlab-Grup de Recerca en Neurociència Cognitiva. Agència de Gestió d’Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca. 2017SGR974. Carles Escera.

 

    • Caracterización de la respuesta de seguimiento de frecuencia (RSF) en recién nacidos como posible biomarcador de desarrollo neurocognitivo. Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades. PGC2018-094765-B-I00. Carles Escera.

 

    • Contracte del Programa Juan de la Cierva-Formació 2018. Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad. FJCI-2018-36034. Carles Escera.

 

    • Contracte del Programa Juan de la Cierva-Incorporació 2018. Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad. IJC2018-037374-I. Carles Escera.

 

    • Control ejecutivo en personas con ansiedad a las matemáticas: Inhibición, flexibilidad cognitiva y respuesta al error. Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades. PID2020-117140GB-I00. Maria Isabel Nuñez-Peña.

 

    • Estudio de la vía subcortical humana para el procesamiento de amenaza auditiva. Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades. PID2020-116311GA-I00. Judith Dominguez.

 

    • Papel de los genes y de factores epigenéticos en la modulación de potenciales cerebrales asociados al procesamiento del lenguaje y de la música. Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades. PGC2018-099013-A-I00. Marc Via.

 

    • Speech in Preverbal Infants with Growth Restriction: a Marker of Neurocognitive Development. Agència de Gestió d’Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca. 2018 BP 00025. Carles Escera.

 

    • Trastornos del espectro alcohólico fetal (TEAF): Identificación precoz y biomarcadores de riesgo para alteraciones neurocognitivas mediante el potencial de seguimiento de frecuencia (PSF). Fundación Alicia Koplowitz. Carles Escera.

Featured Publications

 

 

    • Arenillas-Alcón, S., Costa-Faidella, J., Ribas-Prats, T., Gómez-Roig, M. D., & Escera, C. (2021). Neural encoding of voice pitch and formant structure at birth as revealed by frequency-following responses. Scientific Reports, 11(1), 6660. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-85799-x

 

    • Gorina-Careta, N., Kurkela, J., Hämäläinen, J., Astikainen, P., & Escera, C. (2021). Neural generators of the frequency-following response elicited to stimuli of low and high frequency: A magnetoencephalographic (MEG) study. NeuroImage, 231, 117866. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.117866

 

    • Font-Alaminos, M., Cornella, M., Costa-Faidella, J., Hervás, A., Leung, S., Rueda, I., & Escera, C. (2020). Increased subcortical neural responses to repeating auditory stimulation in children with autism spectrum disorder. Biological Psychology, 149, 107807. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2019.107807

 

    • Cacciaglia, R., Costa-Faidella, J., Zarnowiec, K., Grimm, S., & Escera, C. (2019). Auditory predictions shape the neural responses to stimulus repetition and sensory change. NeuroImage, 186, 200–210. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.11.007

 

    • Ribas-Prats, T., Almeida, L., Costa-Faidella, J., Plana, M., Corral, M. J., Gómez-Roig, M. D., & Escera, C. (2019). The frequency-following response (FFR) to speech stimuli: A normative dataset in healthy newborns. Hearing Research, 371, 28–39. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heares.2018.11.001

 

    • Malmierca, M. S., Niño-Aguillón, B. E., Nieto-Diego, J., Porteros, Á., Pérez-González, D., & Escera, C. (2019). Pattern-sensitive neurons reveal encoding of complex auditory regularities in the rat inferior colliculus. NeuroImage, 184, 889–900. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.10.012

 

    • Parras, G. G., Nieto-Diego, J., Carbajal, G. V, Valdés-Baizabal, C., Escera, C., & Malmierca, M. S. (2017). Neurons along the auditory pathway exhibit a hierarchical organization of prediction error. Nature Communications, 8(1), 2148. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-02038-6

 

 

    • Selinger, L., Zarnowiec, K., Via, M., Clemente, I. C., & Escera, C. (2016). Involvement of the Serotonin Transporter Gene in Accurate Subcortical Speech Encoding. Journal of Neuroscience, 36(42), 10782 LP – 10790. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1595-16.2016