Prof. Urs Maurer

 

Main Goals, Keywords

Our group is interested in the neural underpinnings of individual differences that occur when children learn to speak and read a foreign language in school. In particular, we use EEG-based electrical brain imaging to investigate neural changes that occur in 2^nd graders learning English as a foreign language. We focus on children with dyslexia and on children with a migration background (effects of bilingualism vs. effects of socioeconomic status, SES).

Keywords: language, reading, dyslexia, bilingualism, SES

Group Members

1 professor, 1 scientific collaborator, 3 PhD students, 1 research assistant

Previous and Current Research

• Neural basis of individual differences in foreign language learning in school: effects of dyslexia and immigration (research professorship funded by the SNSF).

• Perceptual expertise for reading in English (PI: B. D. McCandliss, New York/Nashville; with J. D. Zevin, New York).

• Reading acquisition in typical and dyslexic readers: a longitudinal study from kindergarten to 9^th grade using ERP and fMRI techniques (PI: D. Brandeis, Zürich).

• The biological basis of dyslexia: a European project linking brain imaging, behavioral and genetic data (EU Project Neurodys; coordinator: G. Schulte- Koerne, Munich; local PI: D. Brandeis, Zurich).

Future Projects

• Investigating differences at the behavioral and neural level between adults and children learning a foreign language.
• Behavioral and neural evaluation of training programs for language learning that target specific impairments in different risk groups.

Techniques and Equipment

Event-related potential (ERP) analysis of EEG data (topographical approach, source localization) together with cognitive experiments.

Portable 128-sensor EEG system, presentation system for cognitive experiments, ERP analysis and source localization software.

Selected Publications

• Kronschnabel J, Schmid R, Maurer U, Brandeis D. Visual print tuning deficits in dyslexic adolescents under minimized phonological demands. Neuroimage. 2013 Jul 1;74:58-69. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.02.014. Epub 2013 Feb 18.
• Yoncheva YN, Maurer U, Zevin JD, McCandliss BD. Effects of rhyme and spelling patterns on auditory word ERPs depend on selective attention to phonology. Brain Lang. 2013 Mar;124(3):238-43. doi: 10.1016/j.bandl.2012.12.013. Epub 2013 Feb 9.
• Zevin JD, Datta H, Maurer U, Rosania KA, McCandliss BD. Native language experience influences the topography of the mismatch negativity to speech. Front Hum Neurosci. 2010 Nov 17;4:212. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2010.00212.
• Maurer U, Schulz E, Brem S, der Mark Sv, Bucher K, Martin E, Brandeis D. The development of print tuning in children with dyslexia: evidence from longitudinal ERP data supported by fMRI. Neuroimage. 2011 Aug 1;57(3):714-22. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.10.055. Epub 2010 Oct 30.

Selected Lectures, Seminars, Colloquia

EEG Felder und Hirnfunktionen (Coordination: D. Brandeis)

Funding

Swiss National Science Foundation

URL

http://www.psychologie.uzh.ch/fachrichtungen/kogneuro.html