How does the brain allow us to communicate?

The ability to communicate through language is a remarkably complex skill. Our work focuses on the neurological mechanisms that underlie the production and perception of speech and voice. We use multimodal (functional, structural, diffusion) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), electroencephalography (EEG) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to study the neurological mechanisms involved in these processes. We are interested in the links between brain structure (e.g., cortical thickness, gray matter volume, connectivity) and function, and communication skills, including speech rate, articulatory quality and the ability to perceive sounds that are ambiguous or presented in the noise (e.g., in a restaurant). We are also interested in the relationship between communication and cognitive functions, such as attention, inhibitory control, and working memory.