Postdoctoral Fellowship in Cognitive Neuroscience (ref 212857)

RITMO is a Centre of Excellence funded by the Research Council of Norway. This interdisciplinary centre focuses on rhythm as a structuring mechanism for the temporal dimensions of human life. Methods from musicology, psychology, neuroscience, and informatics are combined to study rhythm as a fundamental property that shapes and underpins human cognition, behavior and cultural expressions.

All RITMO researchers will be co-located and work in a unique interdisciplinary constellation, with world-leading competence in musicology, psychology and informatics. It is expected that all members of the center contribute to the general activities and collaborations within RITMO. The researchers have access to state-of-the-art facilities in sound/video recording, motion capture, eye tracking, physiological measurements, various types of brain imaging (EEG, fMRI), and rapid prototyping and robotics laboratories.

The overarching aim of the project is to identify the neurophysiological basis of auditory predictions beyond “classical” auditory areas. We will record electrical signals directly from the brains of patients with epilepsy (implanted with electrodes for clinical reasons) while they for example listen to streams of regular sounds that are occasionally replaced by unexpected events. We aim to delineate how distinct brain areas play different roles and interact in encoding auditory regularities, predicting upcoming sounds, and detecting unexpected sounds or silences. The interaction between attention and predictions will also be addressed.

The work of the postdoctoral fellow will have a particular focus on the role of neuronal populations during prediction of regularities of auditory stimuli. The candidate will work with local field potentials (intracranial EEG/iEEG/SEEG/ECoG), and single- and multi-unit activity (SUA/MUA) obtained from patients with epilepsy. We aim to understand how “prediction” and “prediction error” signals are encoded in the human brain, and how these signals are communicated between cortical and subcortical areas.

For more information and how to apply: https://www.jobbnorge.no/en/available-jobs/job/212857/postdoctoral-fellowship-in-cognitive-neuroscience