Brain and Language Lab

Working under Professor Narly Golestani (UNIGE), the Brain and Language Lab studies the neural bases of language, multilingualism and of expertise, for example among phoneticians and simultaneous interpreters. Very high field magnetic resonance imaging (7 Tesla) and computational modelling are used to understand the mechanisms of auditory encoding of speech among healthy people, but also to explain how this encoding is changed in people suffering from dyslexia. Also, computational morphometry makes it possible to link fine differences in the anatomy of the auditory cortex with linguistic abilities, as well as with expertise (in phoneticians, multilingual people and musicians) and dysfunction (in dyslexia, for example). The group also aims to understand better the relative contributions of acquisition (through experience or learning) and something that is innate (pre-existing factors) to differences between individuals in the structure of the brain.