Dr Bo Yao
Senior LecturerResearch 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.
Please visit the Language, Inner Speech, and Neuroscience (LISN) Lab for more details.
Laying the Groundwork for EEG Classification of Auditory Verbal Hallucinations: Multi-Objective Feature Attribution in Explainable Machine Learning for Inner Speech
01/10/2024 → 30/09/2026
Research
Can a silent mind know thyself? The role of inner speech in self-awareness
01/03/2023 → 28/02/2025
Research