Cognitive Neuroscience Research Group
The Brainlab, led by Carles Escera, belongs to the Institute of Neurosciences of the University of Barcelona and the Institut de Recerca Sant Joan de Déu. We are located at the Faculty of Psychology, Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology.
We are a small, multinational, interdisciplinary group, including psychologists, biologists, engineers, and physicists. We seek to unravel the brain mechanisms of cognitive functions, including attention, auditory and speech perception, motor-sensory interactions, and executive control. Also, we are interested in emotional and musical processing, and in cognitive dysfunction in a broad spectrum of neurological, neurodevelopment and mental disorders.
To achieve our goals, we combine the recording of the human electroencephalogram (EEG) to analyze evoked and event-related brain potentials (such as the Frequency-Following Response – FFR, the Middle Latency Response –MLR, or the Mismatch Negativity –MMN) and oscillatory brain activity, with magnetoencephalography (MEG), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and neurogenetic analysis. Part of our research is conducted in collaboration with labs located worldwide, such as the University of Helsinki and University of Jyväskylä (Finland), the Fukushima Medical University (Japan), the University of Leipzig (Germany) and the University of Salamanca (Spain). We are committed to higher-education training, at Master (Neuroscience and Research in and Behavior and Cognition programs) and PhD (Biomedicine/Neurosciences) levels.
Research lines
Cognitive auditory neuroscience
Carles EsceraPredictive processes in motor-sensory interactions
Iria SanMiguelNeural dynamics of affective processing
Judith Domínguez-BorràsCoherent oscillations at pitch rates in sensorimotor integration and voice production
Jordi Costa FaidellaCognitive neurogenetics
Marc ViaNumerical cognition and math anxiety
Maria Isabel Nuñez-Peña
News
About ONAKids ONAkids is a medtech innovation project of the Brainlab-Cognitive Neuroscience Research Group at the University of Barcelona lead by Prof. Carles Escera and developed under the Industria del Coneixement Program (AGAUR: Llavor, Producte, Innovadors) in collaboration with The Collider – Mobile World Capital. The project focuses on early screening of language development disorders in newborns through a non-invasive EEG-based solution combined with […]
08/01/2026
The Beatriu de Pinós Postdoctoral Fellowship (BP 2025) is a prestigious and highly competitive program funded by the Government of Catalonia (AGAUR) aimed at attracting outstanding international postdoctoral researchers to Catalonia. This fellowship offers an excellent opportunity to develop an independent research project in a top-level neuroscience environment, such as BrainLab. What does the fellowship offer? 3-year full-time employment contract […]
22/12/2025
The University of Barcelona has secured funding and institutional approval to establish the Barcelona Center for Applied Neurosciences (BCAN), a major new research facility that will be based at the Mundet campus in Barcelona. The University of Barcelona leads the project through its Institute of Neurosciences (UBneuro), with institutional support from the Government of Catalonia and the Barcelona Provincial Council. The initiative is open to other […]
18/12/2025
