Dr Bo Yao

Senior Lecturer

Research Overview

Research Interests

My research dives deep into the cognitive neuroscience of language and inner speech. I focus on unraveling the neural mechanisms that underlie the diverse phenomenology and functions of inner speech. Specifically, I investigate how inner speech encodes language meaning and structure to influence cognition and how it can account for unusual experiences like voice-hearing and auditory verbal hallucinations in a predictive coding framework. This work has broader implications for understanding the neural basis of language, cognition, and mental health. To tackle these questions, I use a diverse toolkit of methods including mixed effects modelling, EEG, s/fMRI, eye tracking, neurostimulation, and computational modelling. I am open to supervising PhD projects in the areas of language cognition and inner speech, using a variety of techniques such as reaction times, eye tracking, EEG, and fMRI.

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