
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
Starting date: January/February 2026 The Brainlab – Cognitive Neuroscience Research Group (Universitat de Barcelona) is seeking an outstanding candidate with strong motivation for the neuroscience of music and its impact on early development, through experiments on brain plasticity and electrophysiology (brain oscillations and potentials). The candidate will join the project (funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and […]
06/11/2025
How does music shape the brain, emotions, and creativity? Jordi Costa, psychologist and neuroscientist at the University of Barcelona, Sant Joan de Déu Hospital, and member of the Brainlab research group, takes center stage in the premiere episode of La Gran Orquestra, a new video podcast that bridges art, science, and health. Launched on October 20 and available on Spotify, […]
22/10/2025
🗓 October 20, 15:00 📍 Sala de Graus, University of Barcelona The Brainlab – Cognitive Neuroscience Research Group of the Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology is pleased to announce a talk by Dr. Bence Neszmelyi, who will join the group as a Beatriu de Pinós Postdoctoral Fellow starting in March 2026 for a three-year period. In this talk, Dr. […]
06/10/2025


