PreLOT

Project funded by Volkswagen Stiftung (Open Up grant) at the LMU about precursors to language of thought in infants. 

This project investigates whether decoding inner speech is feasible in young infants. By using an approach that combines recent advances in language and cognitive development, auditory neuroscience, and computational modeling of (electro)physiological brain responses, we aim to pilot a methodology to decode precursors to language in infants. This project will open new avenues in the language acquisition field, language of thought theories and consciousness.

July 2026 - Infant testing is on-going. If you want to participate in the study, please visit: https://www.eyelab.gwi.uni-muenchen.de/studienteilnahme-babys/ 

May 2026 - A first pilot study using pupillometry with adults (N = 16) has been conducted in Potsdam, with promising results!

April 2026 - The first families were invited to the lab!

March 2026 - The research infrastructure had been established, including a dedicated laboratory room with a sound-attenuated booth, the participant recruitment infrastructure, and the experimental scripts and stimuli

November 2025 - Kick-off 

October 2025 - Ethics approval was granted by LMU Medical Faculty Ethics Committee (Projekt Nr.: 25-0785)

Published related work:

Marimon, M. & Langus, A. Pupillary synchrony to natural speech in 6-month-old infants. Salzburg Mind Brain Annual Meeting (SAMBA), 2-3th July, 2026, Salzburg, Austria.

Langus, A., Höhle, B., Sundara, M., Marimon, M. Pupillary synchrony to natural speech in 6-month-old infants. Hanyang International Symposium on Phonetics and Cognitive Sciences of Language 2026, 22-23th May, 2026, Seoul, Korea.