The UT Austin Neurolinguistics Lab provides a collaborative environment to disseminate and advance research in the field of neurolinguistics. We conduct behavioral and neuroscientific studies to investigate the processing and acquisition of speech patterns across multiple languages, including indigenous languages in Latin America. We also offer training in neuroscientific research and computational neuroscience for both graduate and undergraduate students. If you want to learn more about us, feel free to reach out to our lab director, Fernando Llanos. We'd love to hear from you!
LAB SPACE
Our Lab has recently been relocated to the 4th floor of Robert L Patton (RLP) building (room 4.110), on the University of Texas main campus. The space is equipped with several working stations and rooms dedicated to conducting EEG experiments, analyzing neural signals, running computational models, and providing research training. We are currently using an actiCHamp Plus system to collect EEGs.
RECENT WORK
Esther, T. E., Shlesinger, L., & Llanos, F. (in press). The effects of vocal emotions and emotional context on the neural tracking of speech envelopes and listeners’ vigilance states. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2026.1692628
Llanos, F., Wu, Y. C., Abel, T. J., & Holt, L. L. (2025). Accented speech modulates multiple event-related potential components across multiple levels of language processing. Communications Psychology, 3(1), 186. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44271-025-00345-z
Alexander, J. M., & Llanos, F. (2025). High-arousal emotional speech enhances speech intelligibility and emotion recognition in noise. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 157(6), 4085-4096. https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0036812
Gnanateja, G. N., Rupp, K., Llanos, F., Hect, J., German, J. S., Teichert, T., ... & Chandrasekaran, B. (2025). Cortical processing of discrete prosodic patterns in continuous speech. Nature Communications, 16(1), 1947. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-56779-w
Llanos F.., Stump, T., & Crowhurst, M. (2024). Investigating the Neural Basis of the Loud-first Principle of the Iambic–Trochaic Law. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn_a_02241
Downer, B., Milani, S., Grasso, S., Llanos, F., & Mehta, N. (2024). Dual-Language Use and Cognitive Function Among Mexican Americans Aged 65 and Older. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, (Preprint), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.3233/JAD-231187
Llanos, F., & Zinszer, B. (2024). Neurolinguistic approaches to bilingual phonetics and phonology. In M. Amengual (Ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Bilingual Phonetics and Phonology. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009105767.006
Llanos, F., Meemann, K., Smiljanic, R., & Chandrasekaran, B. (2023). The relationship between sentence intelligibility, band importance, and signal covariance. JASA Express Letters, 3(5). https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0019498
Zhao, C., Llanos, F., Chandrasekaran, B., & Kuhl, P. K. (2022). Language experience during the sensitive period narrows infants’ early sensory encoding of speech—music intervention reverses it. Frontiers Human Neuroscience, 16, 941853. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2022.941853
Llanos, F., Gnanateja, G. N., & Chandrasekaran, B. (2022). Principal component decomposition of acoustic and neural representations of time-varying pitch reveals adaptive efficient coding of speech covariation patterns. Brain and Language, 230, 105122. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandl.2022.105122
Llanos, F., Zhao, T. C., Kuhl, P. K., & Chandrasekaran, B. (2022). The emergence of idiosyncratic patterns in the frequency-following response during the first year of life. JASA Express Letters, 2(5), 054401. https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0010493
Gnanateja, G. N., Rupp, K., Remick, M., Llanos, F., Pernia, M., Sadagopan, S., Teichert, T., Abel, T., Chandrasekaran, B. (2021). Frequency-following responses to speech sounds are highly conserved across species and contain cortical contributions. ENeuro, 8(6). https://doi.org/10.1523/ENEURO.0451-21.2021
Llanos, F., German, J. S., Gnanateja, G. N., & Chandrasekaran, B. (2021). The neural processing of pitch accents in continuous speech. Neuropsychologia, 158, 107883. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2021.107883
Feng, G., Gan, Z., Llanos, F., Meng, D., Wang, S., Wong, P. C., & Chandrasekaran, B. (2021). A distributed dynamic brain network mediates linguistic tone representation and categorization. NeuroImage, 224, 117410. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117410
Paulon, G., Llanos, F., Chandrasekaran, B., & Sarkar, A. (2021). Bayesian Semiparametric Longitudinal Drift-Diffusion Mixed Models for Tone Learning in Adults. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 116(535), 1114-1127.. https://doi.org/10.1080/01621459.2020.1801448
Llanos, F., McHaney, J. R., Schuerman, W. L., Yi, H. G., Leonard, M. K., & Chandrasekaran, B. (2020). Non-invasive peripheral nerve stimulation enhances speech category learning in adults. NPJ - Science of Learning, 5(1), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-020-0070-0
LAB MEMBERS
Graduate students
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Teagan E. Esther
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Liron Shlesinger
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Jessica Alexander
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Anushri Kartik-Narayan
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Baorian (Rian Bao)
Undergraduate students
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Paulina Martinez
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Anagha Tirumalai
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Sridevi A Hariharan
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Caroline M Pastrano
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Isaac Young
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Ilana M. Lattka
Alumni
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Sebastian Mancha (Ph.D. student at Univ. of Maryland)
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Niyenth Iyengar (MD student at UT Southwestern Medical School)
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Joel Redmond (MA student in the department of SLHS at UT Austin)
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Former undergraduate research assistants: Amani Turner (Neuroscience), Aaron Cheung (Neuroscience), Brighton C Liu (Neuroscience), Reece K Champion (Neuroscience),
PARTICIPATE !
We are recruiting participants
If you want to participate in our experiments
and get paid for it
contact us at
utneurolinguistics at gmail dot com
