Research

I'm a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Zurich. I  carry out experimental research to study the cognitive mechanisms related to language processing. My present work focuses on typologically distant languages (Basque, Shipibo and Spanish) and aims at exploring how processing mechanisms vary due to case marking and word order differences in their grammars.

I have previously worked on projects to study aspects of Basque syntax and phonology as well as on language processing in code-switching contexts.

Research interests

I'm generally interested in how the human brain supports language: how do humans understand and produce language effortlessly? Which are the neural underpinnings that support the different processes involved in understanding and producing language? I'm also interested in the intersection between language diversity and language processing: I believe that cross-linguistic work is necessary to obtain a full understanding of how languages are processed in the brain.

To investigate these topics, I use mostly EEG and I analyze the neural oscillations involved in language processing.

Education

PhD in Linguistics, 2019-2023

University of Zurich

Master in Theoretical and Experimental Linguistics, 2018-2019                                                  

University of the Basque Country

Bachellor in Modern Languages and Literatures, 2012-2016 

University of Barcelona

Publications

Isasi-Isasmendi, A., Sauppe, S., Andrews, C., Huber, E., Meyer, M., and Bickel, B. (under review). Neural correlates of processing case in adults and children.

Egurtzegi, A., Sauppe, S., Isasi-Isasmendi, A., Martinez de la Hidalga, G., Bornkessel- Schlesewsky, I., Schlesewsky, M., Laka, I., Meyer, M., Bickel, B., and Andrews, C. (under revision). The effect of animacy on the agent preference: Self-paced reading evidence from Basque.

Isasi-Isasmendi, A. and Epelde, I. (in press). Constraints in code-switching: a case study from Basque and Spanish.

Wilson, V. A. D., Sauppe, S., Brocard, S., Ringen, E., Daum, M. M., Wermelinger, S., Gu, N., Andrews, C., Isasi-Isasmendi, A., Bickel, B., and Zuberbühler, K. (2023). Primate origins of human event cognition. bioRxiv. doi: 10.1101/2023.11.23.568086

Huber, E., Sauppe, S., Isasi-Isasmendi, A., Bornkessel-Schlesewsky, I., Merlo, P., and Bickel, B. (2023). Surprisal from language models can predict ERPs in processing predicate-argument structures only if enriched by an Agent Preference principle. Neurobiology of Language. doi: 10.1162/nol_a_00121

Isasi-Isasmendi, A., Sauppe, S., Andrews, C., Laka, I., Meyer, M., and Bickel, B. (2023). Incremental sentence processing is guided by a preference for agents: EEG evidence from Basque. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience. doi: 10.1080/23273798.2023.2250023

Isasi-Isasmendi, A., Andrews, C., Flecken, M., Laka, I., Daum, M. M., Meyer, M., Bickel, B., and Sauppe, S. (2023). The agent preference in visual event apprehension. Open Mind, 7:240–282. doi: 10.1162/opmi_a_00083