Dr. Hinzen study the structural organization and function of language in the human mind/brain.

His current research largely focuses on how disorders of language and cognition illuminate the relation between these two. The theoretical basis of this research is laid down in a series of monographs (Mind Design, 2006), An Essay on Names and Truth, 2007), and The Philosophy of Universal Grammar, 2013), all from Oxford University Press.

The mental disorders his group studies was psychosis at first, after which they included autism, dementia, aphasia, and syndromic developmental disorders.

Dr. Hinzen have directed three international projects (NWO, 2006-2011; AHRC/DFG, 2009-2012; AHRC, 2014-2017), and three Spanish ones.

In Barcelona he have founded and direct the Grammar & Cognition lab, which pursues the project of a typology of linguistic diversity across clinical populations, using a range of methods from behavioural linguistic analysis to MRI to EEG to machine learning.