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
A new study by Raquel Aparicio-Terrés, Samantha López-Mochales, Margarita Díaz-Andreu, and Carles Escera has been published in Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. The paper, entitled “Rhythmicity and Trait Absorption Are Linked to Nonordinary States of Consciousness”, investigates how rhythmic auditory stimulation influences subjective experiences associated with nonordinary states of consciousness (NSCs), and whether these effects are related [...]
18/06/2026
A new study from the Brainlab has been published in Hearing Research, as part of Carla Salgado Farias’ PhD research within the Brainlab, directed by Iria SanMiguel and Marc Via. The article, entitled “Beyond suppression: Self-generation enhances perceived loudness and cortical responses to faint sounds”, demonstrates that faint self-generated sounds are perceived as louder and elicit enhanced early auditory brain [...]
29/05/2026
The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships (MSCA-PF) call is now open, and Brainlab (University of Barcelona) invites outstanding postdoctoral researchers to express their interest in applying with our group as host institution. The MSCA-PF programme is one of the most prestigious European funding schemes, supporting excellent researchers in developing their careers through international mobility, advanced training, and high-impact research projects. At [...]
23/04/2026
