Date: Sept 2024 to Jan 2025

Place: Online/Remote

Competences and reflection on the learning undertaken: This course has been very beneficial to understanding all the pieces of a research proposal. The required readings and sources helped me understand general social science research and all the key aspects I needed to consider when writing my proposal. Additionally, the assessments were relevant for proposal writing and adjacent skills, including a video presentation and peer feedback. These helped refine my proposal and other skills, such as presentation and constructive, critical feedback skills. The timelines for the submission were challenging to manage along with other responsibilities. Still, even that helped me understand the pressure I may work under during the entire PhD study.

I wish there had been a live, synchronous aspect to the course, as both the professor and the tutor were highly knowledgeable, and it would have been a rich experience to hear directly from them. However, the tutor was readily available via email and accommodating to personal circumstances, making my journey a bit easier.

Date: September 2024-January 2025

Place: Online/Remote

Competences and reflection on the learning undertaken: This course has been a fantastic help to understand better some of the methodologies I plan to use in my research, such as the case study. The materials provided were relevant, and the assignments were highly practical, refining my qualitative skills, which I really appreciated and learned from. Through the course, I have had the opportunity to parctice using Nvivo, a software widely employed for qualitative research. I had previously used it, but not systematically, to carry out high-quality qualitative data extraction and analysis. I feel more confident and prepared to use this software and plan to build on my learning.

Date: From Sep 2024 to March 2025

Place: Online/Remote

Competencies and reflection on the learning undertaken: Writing the research proposal has been a challenging activity that has thrust me into the joys and difficulties of PhD life. When I first enrolled, I came to the proposal writing with an already defined idea on the topic. As I explored the literature, I added some elements outside my initial thoughts. While it seemed a good path forward as far as a research topic goes, one of my supervisors didn’t think that could yield significant results, and I could risk that all my work during my PhD may not be as helpful and valuable as it could be. After thinking about it, I shifted the focus of my topic slightly. However, this set me back several months, and while I was hoping to have my proposal ready by mid to late January of 2025, I submitted my proposal just a few hours ago (April 1st). This has been a stressful and somewhat discouraging experience. However, I am pleased with my final proposal. Despite the time constraints, I created a cohesive proposal and put forward a topic for research that is needed and personally engaging. Throughout the process, I have had the full support of both of my supervisors, who have responded to my many questions and guided me when needed.

I have done research before and currently do. However, through this process, I have developed new knowledge on the “ins and outs” of research proposal writing that I didn’t have, such as the level of detail required in the methodology section. I have also sharpened my skills in working under pressure while managing my job and personal life responsibilities. This process has also helped me evaluate and more firmly decide if this path (the PhD) I want to follow. The answer is yes. Despite the difficulties, this is worth my time and effort personally and professionally.

Presentació presencial del projecte de tesis al Seminario Permanente de Bioètica de la Universitat de València el 22 de març de 2025 on vaig tenir la oportunitat de posar el treball realitzat fins al moment en comú amb professionals de l’àmbit de la medicina, infermeria, filosofia, educació i ciutadania.

In March 2025, we published the second article of my thesis, titled ‘HowChildren With and Without Developmental Language Disorder Use Prosody and Gestures to Process
Phrasal Ambiguities’. In this article, we investigated how children with and without Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) utilize prosodic and gestural cues to resolve phrasal ambiguities. We presented sentences with potential multiple interpretations to children, comparing conditions with only prosodic cues versus conditions with both prosodic and gestural cues. The results showed that children, including those with DLD, were able to use prosodic cues effectively to interpret phrasal ambiguities. However, adding gestures to prosody did not significantly enhance the children’s accuracy. Additionally, eye-tracking data indicated that while gestures did not impact final interpretations, they influenced visual attention patterns during sentence processing.

Through this research, I gained insights into the complexity of multimodal language comprehension and the nuanced ways children with language difficulties process linguistic information. Specifically, I learned about the importance of carefully distinguishing between immediate processing (captured through eye movements) and final comprehension outcomes (captured through explicit choices). This distinction emphasized to me that multimodal cues like gestures can guide children’s attention differently, even when they do not directly impact comprehension accuracy. Additionally, conducting an eye-tracking experiment helped me understand the methodological challenges and advantages of using real-time measures to investigate subtle linguistic phenomena.

In March 2025, we published an article entitled “Prosody and gestures help pragmatic processing in children with Developmental Language Disorder” in the Journal of Communication Disorders. This study investigated how prosodic (intonation) and gestural (body language) cues assist children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) in comprehending pragmatic meanings, such as interrogative sentences and indirect requests. Using visual-world eye-tracking tasks, the results showed that while prosodic cues alone are helpful, their combination with gestures significantly enhances pragmatic comprehension, especially in more complex scenarios and among older children with DLD.

Through this publication process, I gained valuable insights into the importance of multimodal communication strategies in language intervention and learned advanced methodologies in experimental design and eye-tracking data analysis. Additionally, collaborating closely with a diverse research team greatly enhanced my interdisciplinary research skills and understanding of pragmatic language development.

Date: March 27-30, 2025

Place: NH Ventas (Madrid)

Event: XVI congreso Nacional de Neuropsicología

Co-authored and presented a poster titled “Bilingüismo y cognición: el impacto de la competencia y uso del lenguaje en adultos mayores sanos”. The poster was developed in collaboration with Gonzalo Sánchez-Benavides, Oriol Grau-Rivera, Miguel Santos-Santos, Laia Subirats, Ferran Prados and Marco Calabria.

The presentation focused on the impact of bilingualism on the cognition of cognitively healthy older adults, aged 45 to 70, who are part of the Alzheimer’s and Families (ALFA) study. To this end, we considered the participants’ diverse bilingual experiences based on their age of acquisition, proficiency level, and active lifelong use of Catalan and Spanish.

Date: 12/05/2025

Place: UOC Edifici C

Summary: PhD student Francesco Ciongoli and I delivered a presentation to all attendees of the Brain Awareness Week session, hosted by Dr. Marco Calabria, Dr. Elena Muñoz, Dr. Juan Luis Garcia and Dr. Ferran Prados. Our presentation focused on the various methodologies used in our lab for neuroimaging acquisition and brain stimulation. We provided a live demonstration of a transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) montage, along with real-time acquisition of functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) data.

This year, we began sharing the initial findings of the thesis at national and international conferences and symposiums. Participating in these academic events offers invaluable opportunities for both professional and personal development. The process of preparing and submitting abstracts has strengthened academic writing skills, improving the ability to clearly communicate complex research ideas. Additionally, presenting research findings through posters and oral presentations helps improve public speaking and scientific communication skills.

So far, we have attended the annual Spanish meeting in the field of Neuropsychology (FANPSE). Engaging with keynote lectures and panel discussions has been especially inspiring, as it provides valuable insights into the latest advancements in the field and helps contextualize our research within the broader academic landscape.