Within this line of research, we are working on the following topics:
- The study and modulation of the neural mechanisms underlying cognitive processes through non-invasive brain stimulation techniques.
- The study of language acquisition, learning and processing in populations with typical and pathological development.
- The acquisition of language, phonology, gestures and pragmatics.
Specific thesis projects offered inside of this line of research include the following:
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Thesis Proposals |
Researchers |
Research Group |
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Intervention for oral language abilities in children with developmental language disorder (DLD) through physical education
Language is one of the most essential human abilities, yet many children experience difficulties in acquiring oral and written language, particularly those with neurodevelopmental conditions such as developmental language disorder (DLD). Research has shown that physical activity, especially aerobic exercise, enhances learning and cognitive functioning by promoting neurophysiological processes such as increased cerebral blood flow, neurogenesis and synaptic plasticity.
This doctoral project aims to explore how physical education activities can be integrated into language intervention programmes for children with DLD to enhance oral language abilities –particularly vocabulary, morphosyntax and discourse skills. The research goals are:
• To design and implement a set of physical education-based language intervention sessions targeting core oral language abilities in children with DLD.
• To assess the cognitive and linguistic benefits of integrating moderate aerobic exercise into language learning tasks.
• To evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of such interventions in real educational settings, in collaboration with teachers and speech-language therapists.
We conduct experimental and applied research using behavioural, linguistic and neurocognitive measures, in partnership with local schools and rehabilitation centres. The PhD thesis will be carried out in collaboration with other members of the Cognition and Language Research Group (GRECIL) at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, and with national and international collaborators.
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Dr Llorenç Barrachina Andreu |
GRECIL |
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Interaction between speech and body gestures in language learning and communication
This line of research investigates language from a multimodal perspective, i.e. taking into account that communicative meanings are conveyed by elements like the melody of speech and the movements of the body. I use a psycholinguistics approach to investigate it from different perspectives:
I work on the following main research questions (but any project related to the acquisition of phonology, gesture, and pragmatics in typical and clinical populations is welcomed):
These research questions are answered using experimental methods such as eye-tracking, act-out tasks, or educational interventions. The PhD thesis will be carried out in collaboration with other members of the Research Group on Cognition and Language (GRECIL) at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, and with other national and international collaborators
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Dr Núria Esteve Gibert |
GRECIL |
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Intervention, evidence-based practice and development of language and communication disorders in childhood. Children with communication and language disorders require evidence-based treatments and assessments, which can be delivered by on-site and on-line (i.e., telepractice) interventions, to fully progress in their life achievements.
Moreover, best practices in speech therapy (also called logopedia, fonoaudiología, orthophonie or logopédie) in clinical and educational settings require of effective and efficient implementation practices taking into consideration clinical expertise, best evidences (external - scientific literature; internal – data and observations) and patient perspectives.
Another interest of this research line is investigating gesture, pragmatic and language development and intervention (assessment and treatment) in early age populations (new born to 6 years) with typical development and neurodevelopmental conditions, such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and developmental language disorder (DLD; also called specific language impairment).
This research line focuses on the following general research questions:
This line of research is particularly interested in the following research and clinical approaches:
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Dr Alfonso Igualada Pérez |
GRECIL |
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Understanding mechanisms of language development and how disturbances lead to variability in outcome
The general objective of my research and the work I would supervise for PhD students is to advance the understanding of how children learn language and why this can happen at different speeds.
The methodologies encompass multiple ways of observing and measuring the influences on child development stemming from:
a. interacting internal (e.g. cognitive differences)
b. external (e.g. family environment) influences
Using statistical methods to understand how children’s early cognitive and social abilities (experimental, brain imaging) interact with the quality of the home and intervention environments (observation, health psychology methods).
Specific projects (students may offer alternative ideas within the general area)
Language and cognition in deaf children.
There exists variability in language development in children born deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) with and without cochlear implant. The majority of DHH children have age-appropriate spoken language development compared with their hearing peers (Dettman et al, 2016). Despite this progress some DHH children’s language development continues to be variable. It is estimated that around 30% of children still experience delays (Bruijnzeel, Ziylan, Stegeman, Topsakal & Grolman, 2016). Research studies report that these problems are also apparent in more complex areas of language and during more demanding cognitive tasks (Geers, et al. 2009). Increased difficulties with higher-load tasks suggests that cognitive abilities supporting language development are also variable in DHH infants (Edwards & Isquith, 2020).
The PhD study will test the communication-scaffolding hypothesis (Morgan, Curtin & Bottin 2021) and ask two main questions:
1. Is language development mediated by pre implant parent interaction and EEG synchronicity recordings?
2. Is language development mediated by pre implant measures of cognitive and social abilities?
Language and cognition in Children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD).
Children with DLD represent the largest group of clinical paediatric participants in research and practice (Leonard, 1996) . Compared with linguistic profiles relatively little is known about their language and cognitive differences (Bishop et al, 2014). The research will look at how the executive function system is involved in the language disorder and what is the mechanism whereby language and cognitive factors interact to produce these outcomes.
The PhD study will test the language-EF relationship in children with DLD and ask two main questions
1. Is language and cognitive development related in typically developing children and those with DLD?
2. What factors (SES, intervention, bilingualism etc) mediate language and cognitive development?
The PhD thesis will be carried out in collaboration with other members of the Research Group on Cognition and Language (GRECIL) at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya and the Universitat de Barcelona, and with other national and international collaborators.
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Prof. Gary Morgan |
GRECIL |
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Emotional competence and well-being in children with neurodevelopmental disorders and their families
The world of emotions and emotional regulation is complex, still full of unknowns as far as research is concerned. However, the new diagnostic approach to neurodevelopmental and learning disorders has broadened our framework of understanding of these disorders. In this framework, socio-emotional difficulties prove key in furthering our knowledge of the disorders' impact on the lives of children with them. This research line proposes a comprehensive approach to the disorders in which the children's families play an important and active part. We aim to better understand the emotional competence difficulties suffered by patients' families, as well as the emotions and difficulties they face throughout the process of finding professional help and securing a diagnosis and treatment.
Main questions:
• Are emotional well-being and mental health problems associated with neurodevelopmental and learning disorders?
• How do these disorders impact the emotional, behavioural and social spheres of children and their families?
• How are emotional well-being and mental health problems evaluated by educational services' professional teams?
Answers to these research questions are sought using experimental methods such as eye-tracking, act-out tasks and educational interventions.
The PhD thesis will be carried out in collaboration with other members of the Cognition and Language Research Group (GRECIL) at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya and the University of Barcelona, and with other national and international collaborators.
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Dr Nadia Ahufinger |
GRECIL |
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Inclusion of the feminist perspective in the identification and assessment of children with learning and language difficulties and related interventions
It is important to bear in mind that the science has been developed within an androcentric and patriarchal system and has therefore incorporated sexist bias in the different stages of the research process. There is a lack of studies with a feminist perspective on neurodevelopmental and learning disorders analysing, for example, the social and cultural aspects associated with sexist stereotypes fostering a bias towards a greater detection of boys and underdiagnosis of girls. In this regard, we want to incorporate methodologies tailor-made for assessing sex and gender variables and their interactions. This could help improve our understanding of the role of the differences between boys and girls in their development, and permit the use of resources and interventions better tuned to the profile in question.
Main questions:
• Do neurodevelopmental and learning disorders manifest equally in boys and girls?
• What do we know about the biological differences of sexes in relation to these disorders?
• What role does socialization based on sexist stereotypes play in these disorders?
• Does neurodevelopmental disorder research consider the differences between boys and girls?
This research line attempts to answer all these questions through literature reviews and experimental studies.
The PhD thesis will be carried out in collaboration with other members of the Cognition and Language Research Group (GRECIL) at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya and the University of Barcelona, and with other national and international collaborators.
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Dr Nadia Ahufinger |
GRECIL |
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Clinical Neuropsychology and Applied Neuroscience: brain injury
The Clinical Neuropsychology and Applied Neuroscience research line is focused on the study of the neural mechanisms underlying different pathologies that present an abnormal or altered brain functioning. We also focus on the use of non invasive brain stimulation techniques as a therapeutic approach to improve, stimulate and rehabilitate cognitive functions in neurodegenerative disease (mainly Alzheimer’s disease) and in acquired brain injury (traumatic brain injury and stroke).
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Dr Elena Muñoz Marrón |
NeuroADaSLab |
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Reduction of nicotine addiction through non-invasive brain stimulation techniques
Nicotine addiction is often characterized by dysfunctional cognitive control, an uncontrolled reward impulse and an altered decision-making process. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) can be used to increase self-control in habitual tobacco users, reducing anxiety caused by abstinence and giving up nicotine consumption. This technique has already been successfully used to reduce craving and tobacco consumption, but the optimal parameters to implement it as a common treatment are yet to be established. Our main goal is to improve tDCS treatment parameters used to help smoking cessation.
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Dr Elena Muñoz Marrón |
NeuroADaSLab |
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The effect of background music on cognition in patients with neurodegenerative diseases
This research line aims to explore whether background music serves as a cognitive enhancer for individuals with neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Specifically, it seeks to determine if background music:
Additionally, this research will examine musical preferences to understand the role of individual factors in modulating the effects of music on memory and learning.
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Dr Marco Calabria |
NeuroADaSLab |
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Neuropsychology of speech production and language control
This research line aims to investigate:
To address these research questions, cognitive neuropsychological methodologies (single-case or group studies) and psycholinguistic approaches will be employed.
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Dr Marco Calabria |
NeuroADaSLab |
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Bilingualism in age-related disorders: from cognition to neural networks
This research line aims to investigate:
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Dr Marco Calabria mcalabria@uoc.edu |
NeuroADaSLab |
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Early detection of cognitive decline using computerized tests
The objective of this project is to disentangle the role of attention, executive functions, and processing speed in the first symptoms of cognitive decline observed in the preclinical stages of the Alzheimer’s disease.
The aim of the study is to determine which computerized tests are more sensitive to subtle changes in attention and executive functions at the moment that the patient experience cognitive complaints and during the period in which they are progressing to the initial stages of the Alzheimer’s disease.
This information will provide us with a solid base to develop more precise cognitive tests that can be used to detect and monitor cognitive decline along the disease spectrum.
The final objective of this project is to design brand new computerized tests that can be used by experimented neuropsychologists in clinical settings that go beyond -and complement- the measures that are currently applied in memory units.
The PhD candidate will participate in the study, contributing to selecting these instruments and applying them to patients and controls in clinical settings such as hospitals. In addition, they will collaborate with the analysis and interpretation of the data and its subsequent publication in different international journals or congresses. Finally, they will take part in the development of the new computerized tests.
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cpadillafr@uoc.edu
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NeuroADaSLab |
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Predictive models of conversion from mild cognitive impairment to dementia
This project aims to review current methods of quantifying cognitive scores derived from classical neuropsychological testing, focusing on how these methods can be enhanced to more accurately measure subtle cognitive decline during the preclinical stages of Alzheimer's disease.
To this end, the research proposes the adoption of novel measures that quantify within-person variability across multiple tests administered at a single time point and can be calculated across all cognitive domains or within specific domains. This approach offers additional predictive utility without substantially increasing the testing burden.
Furthermore, the project advocates for new forms of analysing cross-sectional and longitudinal data, moving beyond categorical outcomes (i.e., change in diagnostic status). This includes employing composite standardized scores to quantify continuous cognitive change between repeated assessments, which is a more sensitive analytical approach, as it corrects for practice effects, test-retest reliability, regression to the mean and baseline performance, thus providing a refined measure of clinically significant cognitive decline. Analysing these advanced measures and data types, particularly over a longitudinal interval, allows for the detection of certain predictive patterns of change, which can then be explored using non-supervised learning algorithms.
The PhD candidate will first review existing neuropsychological and state-of-the-art quantitative methods, using this foundation to operationalize and validate novel, sensitive cognitive indices. A major effort will be devoted to rigorous longitudinal data analysis, employing advanced psychometric techniques to model continuous cognitive change and identify subtle, clinically significant decline. Furthermore, the candidate will use unsupervised machine learning (e.g., clustering) to detect intrinsic subtypes in the conversion from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to dementia. The ultimate goal is to develop and cross-validate a robust, data-driven predictive model to accurately identify individuals at high risk of rapid cognitive conversion, which will be instrumental for enriching clinical and research trial cohorts.
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cpadillafr@uoc.edu
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NeuroADaSLab |
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Neural basis of cognitive control
This research line is focused on the study of the involvement and functional dissociation of the dorsolateral and ventrolateral prefrontal cortices in different cognitive processes.
In particular, cognitive control involves the activation of two main neural systems with differentiated functions: a dorsal system, which includes the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and a ventral system, which includes the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex.
This line of research aims to deepen the understanding of the dissociation and interaction of these two systems through the application of Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation Techniques (NIBS). We are particularly interested in characterizing the neural bases of different processes related to cognitive control:
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dredolar@uoc.edu
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Cognitive Neurolab |