Magdalena Kachlicka

Postdoctoral Researcher

Research Interests

I’m a researcher exploring the auditory world – speech, music and environmental sounds. My current research focuses on the neural encoding of environmental sounds and speech, their sensory attributes, and meanings. I explore aspects of auditory processing using behavioural methods and EEG. I’m particularly interested in perceptual and neural processes of auditory categorisation and transformations of sound signals entering the ear up to the auditory cortex and higher auditory areas. I’m also investigating the roles of auditory processing, attention, and salience in language learning (speech perception and production) and developing language training and assessment methods.

Education

PhD Psychology; Birkbeck, University of London (2020-2023)

MPhil Cognitive Science; University College London (2018-2020)

MSc Psychological Research Methods (Distinction); Birkbeck, University of London (2017-2018)

BSc Psychology (Summa Cum Laude); University of Nicosia, Cyprus (2015-2017)

Research Experience

Institute of Education, University College London – Research Assistant (2020-2023)

Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck University of London – Research Assistant (2018-2020)

Experimental Psychology Lab at University of Cyprus (Nicosia, Cyprus) – Research Intern (2017)

University of Social Sciences and Humanities – SWPS (Poznan, Poland) – Research Assistant (2015-2020)

Research Publications

Conference Papers

Mitchell, A., Oberman, T., Aletta, F., Erfanian, M., Kachlicka, M., Lionello, M., & Kang, J. (2020). Making cities smarter with new soundscape indices. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 146, 2873. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.5136970

Aletta, F., Oberman, T., Mitchell, A., Erfanian, M., Lionello, M., Kachlicka, M., & Kang, J. (2019). Associations between soundscape experience and self-reported wellbeing in open public urban spaces: a field study. The Lancet, 394(S17). https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(19)32814-4

Poster Presentations

Kachlicka, M.*, Symons, A. E., Ruan, Y., Saito, K., Dick, F., Tierney, A. T. (2024). Effects of targeted perceptual training on L2 suprasegmental cue weighting strategies. 33rd Conference of the European Second Language Association (3-6 July 2024, Montpellier, France)

Kachlicka, M., Symons. A. E., Saito, K., Dick, F., & Tierney, A. T. (2023). Effects of first language background and musical experience on cue weighting, attention, and dimensional salience in speech and music. Society for Neurobiology of Language Annual Meeting (24-26 October 2023, Marseille, France)

Kachlicka, M., van den Bosch, J., Kang, J., Dick, F. (2022). Representations of natural sound categories. FENS Summer School on Artificial and Natural Computations for Sensory Perception (22-28 May 2022, Bertinoro, Italy)

Talks

‘How does prior experience change the way we listen to sounds and learn new languages’ at the University of Miami, US (June 2024)

“Auditory processing in second language learning” at the Brain & Language Seminar, University of Helsinki, Finland (February 2019)

Grants and Awards

Albert Valdman award for outstanding publication in SSLA, 2022

Travel Award, Computational Cognitive Modeling for Language Summer School, University of California Irvine, 2022

Language Learning Dissertation Award, Research Grant, 2022

Bloomsbury Studentship, Birkbeck University, 2020-2023

ERC Studentship, ERC Advanced Grant to Prof Jian Kang No. 740696, 2018-2020

JUCE Diversity Scholarship, Audio Developers Conference, 2019

Student Travel Award, Real World Communication Workshop, University of Connecticut, 2018

Kenway Legacy Scholarship, Birkbeck University, 2017-2018

Scholarship Based on Academic Performance, University of Nicosia, 2016-2017