The research at the Institute of Comparative Linguistics covers various areas, including psycholinguistics, comparative linguistics, evolutionary linguistics, descriptive linguistics, Indo-European linguistics and the evolutionary neuroscience of language. The doctoral position will be hosted in the evolutionary neuroscience of language group.
As part of an Ambizione project funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, the role of selective attention in language processing is being investigated.
Auditory stimuli to which we direct our attention (e.g. the speech signal of our interlocutor) are amplified in the brain by «top-down» control signals, and those which we ignore (e.g. ambient noise in the background) are suppressed. This is shown, for example, in the selective neural tracking of the speech signal observed and the lateralization of the alpha oscillatory brain activity during spatial hearing.
There is evidence that these neuronal processes of attention control are impaired in hearing loss and tinnitus. However, it is still unclear which sub-processes are affected: the amplification of target stimuli or the suppression of background noise.
The aim of the project is to use electroencephalography (EEG) to identify neuronal markers of these attention sub-processes in people with hearing loss and tinnitus.
Subsequently, the relevance of the identified markers during attention control is investigated using non-invasive electrical brain stimulation and neurofeedback.
Your responsibilities
- Implementation of the experiments (development of stimuli and feedback settings in cooperation with scientific and industrial partners)
- Organization of the clinical study (patient recruitment, EEG data acquisition, study monitoring)
- EEG data analysis
- Documentation and publication of the results
- Supervision of Bachelor and Master theses
Your profile
- University degree (Master) ideally in cognitive neuroscience, psychology, neurolinguistics, biomedical engineering or a related field
- Previous knowledge of data collection and evaluation with EEG is an advantage
- Knowledge of programming and signal processing (e.g. with Matlab or Python) and good knowledge of statistics (R, JASP, or SPSS)
- Very good oral and written German and English skills
- High degree of self-initiative, reliability and flexibility
- Dynamic, team player, good communication and organizational skills
What we offer
We offer varied work in an interdisciplinary environment with international research collaboration. As a doctoral student, you have the opportunity to attend a graduate school in neuroscience and/or linguistics. You also benefit from the cutting-edge research infrastructure (LiRI – Linguistic Research Infrastructure) and the proximity of our research group to industry partners in the field of hearing technology and biomedical engineering.
The gross salary for doctoral students is defined by the rates set by the Swiss National Science Foundation (CHF 47,040 in the 1st year; 48,540 in the 2nd year; 50,040 in the 3rd and 4th years).
Place of work
Affolternstrasse 56, 8050 Zürich, Switzerland
Start of employment
Start of employment by arrangement (position is available immediately for 3 years with an option to extend). Application deadline: July 11, 2022.
Please submit your complete application including curriculum vitae (CV), letter of motivation, diplomas, and all existing job references (1 PDF-File). Please enclose also the name and contact details of 1-2 reference persons.