Scientific Focus
At the MEG Lab of the Cooperative Brain Imaging Center (CoBIC), Goethe University Frankfurt, our research focuses on the foundational principles of Cognitive and Neural Dynamics. We aim to understand how temporal dynamics encode and transmit information across brain regions. These fundamental brain dynamics are essential to a wide range of cognitive processes, including the interplay of bottom-up and top-down processing, attention, anticipation, perception of time and space, sensorimotor coordination, and auditory and language perception and comprehension. Our research seeks to identify universal mechanisms underlying the dynamic nature of cognition and brain function.
Current projects in our group focus on:
- Time Perception and Temporal Anticipation
- Dynamics of Sensorimotor Synchronization
- Top-down and Bottom-up Processing Mechanisms in the Brain
- Brain Dynamics during Recovery of Consciousness (human electrocorticography in collaboration with Neurology)
- Effects of the Presence of Others on the Perception of Fundamental Physical Parameters
Methods
- Magnetoencephalography
- Psychophysics
- Computational Neuroscience
- Electroencephalography
- Peripheral physiology (e.g., heart rate, respiration, skin conductance)
- Eye tracking
Selected Publications
“Neural signatures of Temporal Anticipation in Human Cortex represent Event Probability Density” Grabenhorst M., Poeppel D., Michalareas G. NATURE COMMUNICATIONS 16, 2602 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-57813-7
“The Timing of Cortical Activation in Associator Grapheme-Colour Synaesthetes using MEG” Michalareas G., Kusnir F., Thut G., Gross J. NEUROPSYCHOLOGIA, 2023, 181, 108491. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2023.108491
“Two sources of uncertainty independently modulate temporal expectancy.” Grabenhorst M., Maloney LT., Poeppel D., Michalareas G. PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, 2021, 118(16), e2019342118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2019342118
“The anticipation of events in time.” Grabenhorst, M.*, Michalareas, G.*, Maloney, L., Poeppel, D. (2019). NATURE COMMUNICATIONS, 2019 vol: 10 (1) pp: 5802 *equally contributing first author https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-13849-0
“Alpha-beta and Gamma Rhythms Subserve Feedback and Feedforward Influences among Human Visual Cortical Areas.” Michalareas, G., Vezoli, J., van Pelt, S., Schoffelen, J.M., Kennedy, H. and Fries, P. NEURON, 89, Jan 20, 2016 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2015.12.018