Language is a highly complex, structured and dynamic system of multiple elements that unfold sequentially over time, complex rules that govern them, and arbitrary relationships that define the links between different representational levels involving word forms and meanings. Bilingualism confers further richness and both functional and neuroanatomical complexity to this system. While language interacts with multiple cognitive processes to carry out complex yet seemingly effortless linguistic operations in the neurotypical brain, both language and non-linguistic cognitive processes may undergo breakdown following acquired brain damage and neural degeneration.
Our research work combines tools and approaches from psycholinguistics, cognitive neuroscience, and neuropsychology to study the interplay between neural damage, language processing and multiple aspects of cognition (i.e., memory, learning and executive function) in clinical populations with language impairment. While our research aims to inform basic knowledge on language processing in non-pathological conditions using the lesion study approach, it ultimately seeks to better understand critical factors that contribute to language treatment response and long-term outcomes in individuals with language deficits including people with aphasia and neurodegenerative disorders. We are also interested in studying how languages interact in the bilingual brain in the presence of neural damage, characterizing the role of cross-language similarities and individual differences in bilingual language learning history, identifying better ways to assess deficits and predict recovery and therapy response in bilingual populations.
Former members and supervised students
- Veerle Roukens. Project: Exploring the impact of lifestyle factors on cognitive and emotional functioning via small vessel disease biomarkers in healthy older adults and stroke patients. Study program: Internship for master students, Leiden University Medical Center completed at Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
- Laura Casas Valls. Thesis: The effects of bilingualism on cognitive performance in MCI: A comparison between monolinguals and bilinguals. Study program: Master de Neuropsicología y Neurología de la Conducta. Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona, Barcelona Spain.
- Lara Navarrete Orejudo. Thesis: Expressive and receptive novel word learning in post-stroke aphasia. Study program: Grado en Psicología. Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
Publications
In press
Scimeca, M., & Peñaloza, C. Aphasia in bi-/multi-lingual language users. To appear in: Hatchard, R., Ryan, B., & Wallace, S. E. Routledge International Handbook of Aphasia. Routledge, UK. In press.
Peñaloza, C., Miikkulainen, R., Grasemann, U., & Kiran, S. Computational approaches to bilingualism. To appear in: Altarriba, J., & Heredia, R. R. An Introduction to Bilingualism: Principles and Processes (Third Edition). Routledge, UK. In press.
Laine, M., Peñaloza, C., Eräste, T., Kunnari, A., Rodríguez-Fornells, A. (2025). Spontaneous strategies used during novel word learning. Language Learning. In press.
Russell-Meill, M., Carpenter, E., Marte, M. J., Scimeca, M., Peñaloza, C., & Kiran, S. (2025). Measurement of cross-language and cross-domain generalization following semantic feature-based anomia therapy in bilingual aphasia. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation. In press.
2025
Tessaro, B., Brownsett, S.L.E., Hameau, S., Simic, T., Nickels, L., Gilmore, N., Peñaloza, C., Robson, H., Salis, C. (2025). Assessment of cognition in aphasia: Perspectives for clinicians and researchers. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, 1-40.
Peñaloza, C., Marte, M., Billot, A., & Kiran, S. (2025). Cross-language interaction during sequential anomia treatment in three languages: Evidence from a trilingual person with aphasia. Cortex, 189, 107-130.
Arslan, S. & Peñaloza, C. (2025). Across countries and cultures: The assessment of aphasia in linguistically diverse clinical populations. Aphasiology, 1-6.
Marte, M. J., Carpenter, E., Scimeca, M., Russell, M., Peñaloza, C., Grasemann, U., Miikkulainen, R., & Kiran, S. (2025). Machine learning predictions of language recovery in bilinguals with post stroke aphasia: Aligning insights with clinical evidence. Stroke, 1-11.
2024
Martínez-Ferreiro, S., Arslan, S., Fyndanis, V., Howard, D., Kuvač-Kraljević, J., Matić-Škorić, A., Munarriz-Ibarrola, A., Norvik, M., Peñaloza, C., Pourquie, M., Simonsen, H. G., Swinburn, K., Varlokosta, S., Soroli, E. (2024). Guidelines and recommendations for cross-linguistic aphasia assessment: A review of 10 years of Comprehensive Aphasia Test adaptations. Aphasiology, 1-25.
Calleja, M., Ferrer, J., Peñaloza, C. & Saborido, R. (2024). Desarrollo de competencias diagnósticas en estudiantes de ciencias de la salud mediante el uso de pacientes virtuales basados en inteligencia artificial. In: J. Rodríguez Góngora (Ed.). Claves para una educación del siglo XXI (pp. 533-542). Madrid: Dykinson.
Current funding
