Psychology - Decoding Sense-Making from Brain Waves

Supervisor: Dr Francesca Branzi

Supervisor bio: 

I am a cognitive neuroscientist with a background in psycholinguistics interested in the neural basis of language and semantic cognition. In 2015, I completed a PhD on the cognitive and neural correlates of language production and executive function in multilingual speakers at Pompeu Fabra University (Barcelona, Spain), supported by a Fellowship from the Spanish Government (FPU). From this, I gained experience working with fMRI and ERP/EEG methods. In 2015, I was a postdoctoral scientist at the Basque Center for Cognition, Brain and Language (San Sebastian, Spain). In 2016, I was a Marie Curie Fellow at the University of Manchester and then at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit (University of Cambridge) where I worked on different projects on the neural basis of semantic cognition using naturalistic tasks (narratives, music), computational linguistic methods, fMRI and rTMS. In summer 2021, I began a lectureship position at the University of Liverpool.

Research Interests and Approach

Language is one of the few uniquely human cognitive abilities and a key feature of human interactions with communicative intent. Not surprisingly, language is at the basis of our culture and civilisation.
What cognitive and neural mechanisms enable us to produce and understand language? How does language cognition interact with other cognitive domains? The goal of our research program is to address these questions and provide a detailed characterisation of the brain regions and cognitive processes that support language in different populations, including individuals who speak one or more languages (multilinguals) and neurological patients. Our research is characterised by a multi-disciplinary and multi-method approach (e.g., patient studies and cognitive neuroscience methods) and prioritises the use of tasks that resemble as much as possible to real-life experiences.

Email: francesca.branzi@liverpool.ac.uk

School: Psychology

Department: Psychology

Module code: PSYC001

Suitable for students of: This project would particularly suit students with background in Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience who are keen to learn EEG methods.

Desired experience or requirements: Students should have excellent (1) understanding of Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience topics, (2) English editing capabilities and (3) time management skills.

Places available: 2

Start dates: Session 1 (15th June 2026)

Project length: 4 or 8 weeks

Virtual option: No

Hybrid option: No

Project description:

This project aims to develop a novel, neurally grounded theory of how we make sense of the world around us by testing how we compare internal predictions about incoming information with sensory inputs, and how this process interacts with individuals’ control abilities across different language profiles.
Previous research has suggested that the angular gyrus (AG), a part of the brain found only in apes and humans, may play a key role in this sense-making process across different domains and tasks. The AG has also been proposed to support cognitive control abilities, particularly in bilinguals, who face higher control demands as a result of regularly switching between languages.

Another context with heavy control demands is social cognition, in which individuals must infer and track others’ beliefs, desires, and intentions—even when these differ from their own. However, it remains unclear how the AG supports these processes.
The goal of the current project is to investigate whether, and in what ways, the AG supports control processes alongside domain-general sense-making in monolingual and bilingual populations, and across both linguistic and social domains.

We are looking for two students to assist with stimulus preparation as well as data collection (including behavioural and EEG data). Students will become familiar with setting up an experimental study using electroencephalography (EEG), including stimulus preparation and validation, and will take part in data collection and processing in the EEG lab in the Department of Psychology of the University of Liverpool.

Additional requirements:

This project requires in-person participation to support EEG testing. Contributions from student assistants will be acknowledged in forthcoming publications. In addition to their involvement in the project, students will have the opportunity to participate in our weekly lab meetings, which include experts in cognitive neuroscience and cognitive psychology.