Postdoctoral Researcher (M/F) in Auditory Neuroscience: Goal-Directed Attention

Job Description

Missions

Within the ERC-Synergy project NASCE (“Natural Auditory SCEnes in Humans and Machines”), the successful candidate will develop a research project on goal-directed attention during listening to natural sound scenes. The aim is to investigate how listeners' goals modify the selection of sound sources and their neural representations, while controlling stimulus properties.
The work will combine behavioural experiments and human electrophysiology, primarily magnetoencephalography (MEG). The researcher will lead their studies from protocol design through to publication of the results. The specific hypotheses and approaches will be defined jointly with the researcher, taking into account their expertise and NASCE's objectives.

Activity

• Design, program and validate selective-listening experiments that manipulate listeners' goals and instructions using controlled sound scenes.
• Develop stimuli and experimental software; verify event synchronisation and measurement quality.
• Conduct pilot studies and collect behavioural and MEG data with partner facilities, adapting protocols in light of the results.
• Develop, test and document behavioural and electrophysiological analyses: preprocessing, source reconstruction, time-frequency analyses and multivariate methods (RSA, encoding and decoding models).
• Relate attentional effects to acoustic and semantic representations of sounds, in collaboration with NASCE's modelling and imaging teams.
• Prepare manuscripts and scientific presentations; share data and code in accordance with the relevant authorisations and open-science principles.
• Contribute to methodological guidance for doctoral students on experimental design and data analysis, alongside the postdoc's own studies.

Your Profil

Skills

• PhD in cognitive neuroscience, neuroscience, biomedical engineering or a related discipline, with substantial experience in experimental neuroscience in humans.
• At least master's-level training in biomedical engineering, electrical engineering, signal processing or equivalent training, with a strong foundation in applied mathematics and programming.
• Hands-on experience in designing and conducting experiments with human participants, as well as acquiring and analysing MEG and/or EEG data, is essential.
• Excellent command of Python for scientific computing and data analysis (NumPy/SciPy, MNE-Python or equivalent tools), and experience in developing experimental software.
• Demonstrated ability to independently design, implement, test and document experimental or analytical methods, beyond applying existing procedures. Candidates must be able to illustrate their personal contributions with concrete examples.
• Strong knowledge of signal processing, statistics and human neurophysiology; ability to interpret brain signals and assess the limitations of measurements and analyses.
• Experience in attention, auditory perception, multivariate analyses or connectivity is an asset. Experience with intracranial EEG (SEEG) is welcome but not essential.
• Scientific rigour, independence, organisational skills and the ability to work in an interdisciplinary team; experience with version-controlled code (Git) and reproducible research.
• Excellent written and spoken English; knowledge of French is an asset but not essential.

Your Work Environment

The position is hosted at the Institut de Neurosciences de la Timone (INT, UMR 7289, CNRS/Aix-Marseille University), on the Timone campus in Marseille. The researcher will join Bruno Giordano's group within the BraiNets team.
The NASCE project (ERC-Synergy) brings together expertise in neuroscience, artificial intelligence and cognitive psychology to understand auditory scene analysis in brains and machines. The researcher will work with researchers, engineers and doctoral students involved in auditory neuroscience, MEG, intracranial EEG and computational modelling.
They will collaborate with NASCE's European partners, particularly Elia Formisano's team at Maastricht University on ultra-high-field functional MRI and AI modelling. Their project will be developed to complement the consortium's other work on attention and interactions between brain regions.

Constraints and risks

No constraints or particular risks.

Compensation and benefits

Compensation

Between €3131 and €4341 monthly gross, depending on experience

Annual leave and RTT

44 jours

Remote Working practice and compensation

Pratique et indemnisation du TT

Transport

Prise en charge à 75% du coût et forfait mobilité durable jusqu’à 300€

About the offer

About the CNRS

The CNRS is a major player in fundamental research on a global scale. The CNRS is the only French organization active in all scientific fields. Its unique position as a multi-specialist allows it to bring together different disciplines to address the most important challenges of the contemporary world, in connection with the actors of change.

CNRS

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