Christian Brodbeck

Christian Brodbeck

Assistant Research Professor

University of Connecticut

Research

I study the neural basis of language and speech processing. When humans listen to speech, the acoustic signal that enters the ears is a complex pattern of air pressure fluctuations. Yet, listeners intuitively and almost instantaneously experience meaning in these sounds. My research focuses on the transformations that happen in the brain to enable this.

To study this I mainly use MEG and EEG with reverse correlation. Reverse correlation allows us to think of brain responses as a continuous transformation of the speech signal, rather than relying on pre-defined events in the stimuli. It also allows us to disentangle responses related to different levels of processing, such as the formation of auditory and lexical representations.

I use Python to develop tools to make this research possible, and many of those tools are available in the open source libraries MNE-Python and Eelbrain.

Interests

  • Cognitive neuroscience of language
  • Speech perception
  • Language perception in realistic contexts
  • MEG/EEG

Education

  • PhD in Psychology, Cognition and Perception, 2016

    New York University

  • Licentiate (Master of Science) in Neuropsychology, 2010

    University of Zurich

Recent Publications

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(2023). Cortical tracking of continuous speech under bimodal divided attention. Neurobiology of Language.

DOI URL

(2022). Auditory Word Comprehension is Less Incremental in Isolated Words. Neurobiology of Language.

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(2022). Examining the context benefit in older adults: A combined behavioral-electrophysiologic word identification study. Neuropsychologia.

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(2022). Parallel processing in speech perception with local and global representations of linguistic context. eLife.

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(2022). Cortical tracking of voice pitch in the presence of multiple speakers depends on selective attention. Frontiers in Neuroscience.

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Timeline

 
 
 
 
 

Assistant Research Professor

University of Connecticut

Aug 2020 – Present Storrs
 
 
 
 
 

Post-Doc

University of Maryland

Jun 2016 – Aug 2020 College Park
Research on the neural basis of continuous speech perception with Jonathan Simon.
 
 
 
 
 

Ph.D. in Psychology

New York University

Sep 2011 – May 2016 New York
Research on the neural basis of reference resolution with Liina Pylkkänen.
 
 
 
 
 

Licentiate in Psychology

University of Zurich

Mar 2003 – Nov 2010 Zurich

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