People

Dr. Laura Bosch

Associate Professor at the Department of Psicologia Bàsica. University of Barcelona.
PhD Psychology (1990), Universitat de Barcelona

Email: laurabosch@ub.edu

My research has focused primarily on the early stages of language acquisition in both populations following a normal development, such as risk populations. Consider different child development milestones such as the initial capacities to recognize and differentiate the mother tongue of other languages, changes in speech perception during the first year of life, ways of segmenting initial word recognition Family of words and the construction of the first lexicon. We study the role of linguistic exposure in the acquisition of the specific characteristics of the mother tongue comparing populations of children who grow up in environments monolingual and bilingual families. A general objective of the research is currently underway to explore the connection between the baby and the initial capacities of linguistic and cognitive growth that occurs in the second year of life.

Dr. Ferran Pons

Associate Professor at the Department of Psicologia Bàsica. University of Barcelona.

PhD Psychology (2004), Universitat de Barcelona

Email: ferran.pons@ub.edu

My interests are focused on the cognitive mechanisms and factors involved in language acquisition. My research explores different aspects of speech perception from birth to the production of the first words. I am interested in exploring the role of experience as well as the perceptual reorganization observed during the first year of life. My current research examines infant's abilitiy to perceive the relationship between the auditory and visual speech, as well as the mechanisms involved in these processes.

Dra. Marta Ramon-Casas

Professor Lector

Dept. Psicologia Bàsica (UB)

Doctorat en Psicologia (2009), Universitat de Barcelona

Email: mramon@ub.edu

My interests are about the acquisition of vocabulary, phonological representation of the first lexicon and bilingualism. What are the differences between the first words of a child a bilingual and monolingual? There are differences between bilingual depending on the degree of similarity between their two languages? And what processes take place in the differential recognition and learning words? I am interested also issues in speech processing risk populations, studying the possible presence of difficulties in the recognition vocabulary and phonological representation.

Dr. Clément François

Post-doctoral Researcher

PHD Neuroscience per la Université Aix-Marseille

Email: fclement24@hotmail.com

I'm interested in the relationship between music and speech processing and in the mechanisms of brain plasticity occuring in development. I previously studied the influence of musical expertise and training on speech segmentation in children and adults using both behavioral and electrophysiological methods. I am currently running a project in collaboration with the neonatology unit of Sant Joan De Deu Hospital, with Dr Rodriguez-Fornells and Dr Bosch. The main aim of this project is to understand how the cortical correlates of speech segmentation (as measured by EEG) develop during the first year of human infant life, from few days after birth to 6 and then 10 months of age, in full-term and in pre-term infants.

Maria Teixidó

PhD Student (Ciència Cognitiva i Llenguatge-UB)

Llicenciada en Lingüistica i noves tecnologies, Universitat Pompeu Fabra (2010)

Màster de Ciència Cognitiva i Llenguatge de la Universitat de Barcelona (2012)

Email: maria.teib@gmail.com

Always fascinated me how babies are able to acquire a system of codes abstract so little time. I'm interested in how babies build the foundation of this system during the first year of life and study it through the forerunners of language as segmentation and mapping of words.

Irune Fernández

PhD Student (Personalitat i Comportament-UB)

Llicenciada en Psicologia, Universitat Illes Balears (2010)
Màster en Cognició i Evolució Humana, Universitat Illes Balears (2011)

Email: irunefernandez@ub.edu

Interested in visual perception. My research focuses on how babies and children are able to associate dimesiones visuospatial (eg size, height, etc.) with different sounds.

Anna Martinez

PhD Student (Ciència Cognitiva i Llenguatge-UB)

Llicenciada en Filologia Hispànica, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (2010)

Màster de Ciència Cognitiva i Llenguatge (UB) (2011)

Email: a.martinez.alvarez@ub.edu / www.martinez-alvarez.com

My current research explores whether language learning requires attentional mechanisms during the first years of life, combining data from studies with babies and children with specific language impairment. My research interests also extend to areas such as Biolingüística, infant cognition and bilingualism. We also collaborate with the research group on Cognition and Brain Plasticity (UB) and the group of Biolingüística (UB).

Joan Birulés

PhD Student (Brain, Cognition and Behaviour - UB)

Bachelor's Degree in Biomedical Sciences - University of Barcelona Master's Degree in Neuroscience - University of Barcelona

Email: jonabirules@ub.edu

My research is centered around understanding the mechanisms involved in cognitive development during the first years of life; The first study of the project concerns the role of audiovisual perception in language acquisition.

Interested in early childhood development, especially in the acquisition of language and cognitive skills related. As well as in the assessment of risk factors that may present in developing children born very prematurely or alterations during pre, peri and post natal.