CV

ANNA MARTINEZ-ALVAREZ

July 2022

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RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

Post-doctoral researcher at the Department of Developmental Psychology and Socialization, University of Padua (Italy), within the European ERC Consolidator Grant awarded to Dr Gervain (773202 BabyRhythm). August 2020-present. Post-doctoral researcher at the Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center, University of Paris (France), within the European ERC Consolidator Grant awarded to Dr. Gervain (773202 BabyRhythm). 2019-2020. Pre-doctoral researcher at the Cognition and Brain Plasticity Unit & APAL, University of Barcelona (Spain), within the ERC Starting Grant awarded to Dr. de Diego-Balaguer (313841 TuningLang) 2013-2018. Research assistant at the Department of Spanish Philology, Autonomous University of Barcelona (Spain) 2010-2011. Research technician. at the Center of Theoretical Linguistics, Autonomous University of Barcelona (Spain) 2010.

EDUCATION

PhD in Brain, Behavior and Cognition (Cum Laude) University of Barcelona (2013-2018). MA in Cognitive Science and Language University of Barcelona (2011-2012). BA in Spanish Philology Autonomous University of Barcelona (2007-2011).

PUBLICATIONS

• PEER-REVIEWED ARTICLES

Martinez-Alvarez, A., Benavides-Varela, S., Lapillone, A. & Gervain, J. (2022). Newborns discriminate utterance-level prosodic contours. Developmental Science. In production. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.13304 Birulés, J., Martinez-Alvarez, A., Pons, F., Lewkowicz, D.J. & De Diego-Balaguer, R. (2022). Violation of non-adjacent rule dependencies elicits greater attention to a talker’s mouth in 15-month-old infants. Infancy. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/infa.12489 Martinez-Alvarez, A., Sanz, M., Pons, F. & De Diego-Balaguer, R. (2021). Rethinking attention in time: Expectancy violations reconcile contradictory developmental evidence. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2020.105070 Orpella J, Ripollés P, Ruzzoli M, Amengual JL, Callejas A, Martinez-Alvarez A, Soto-Faraco S, de Diego-Balaguer R (2020). Integrating When and What information in the left parietal lobe allows language rule generalization. Plos Biology DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000895 Martinez-Alvarez, A., Pons, F. & De Diego-Balaguer, R. (2017). Endogenous temporal attention in the absence of stimulus-driven cues emerges in the second year of life. PLOS ONE. 12(9). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0184698 De Diego-Balaguer, R., Martinez-Alvarez, A. & Pons, F. (2016) Temporal attention as a scaffold for language development. Frontiers in Psychology. 7:44. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00044. Theofanopoulou, C., Martins, P.T., Ramirez, J., Zhang, E., Castillo, G., Edward Shi, Alamri, S., Martinez-Alvarez, A., Leivada, E. (2015). Neurological Foundations of Language: Emerging Perspectives. Llengua, Societat i Comunicació, 13, 4-11. Boeckx C., Martinez-Alvarez, A. & Leivada, E. (2014). The functional neuroanatomy of serial order in language. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 32, 1-15. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneuroling.2014.07.001

• UNDER REVIEW/IN PREP. ARTICLES

Martinez-Alvarez, A., Gervain, J., Koulagina,E., Pons, F. & De Diego-Balaguer, R. Prosodic cues enhance infants’ sensitivity to non-adjacent regularities (under review). Martinez-Alvarez, A., Ripollés, P., Sanz, M., Andreu, Ll., Pons, F. & De Diego-Balaguer, R.. Successful rule learning from speech is associated to the allocation of attentional resources in time (in prep.) Martinez-Alvarez, A. & Gervain. Overnight consolidation of linguistic rules in the infant brain (in prep). *Birulés, J., Martinez-Alvarez, A., Pons,F., Pérez-Bellido, A. & De Diego-Balaguer, R. Recent experience effects on infants’ spatial and temporal attention in 15-month-old infants (in prep).

• PUBLISHED ABSTRACTS

Martinez-Alvarez, A.  (2013). The role of the dorsal pathway in primary progressive aphasia. Stem-, Spraak- en Taalpathologie 18 (1), 136-138. Martinez-Alvarez, A.  & S. Martínez-Ferreiro (2013) Fronto-temporal pathways and paraphasias. Stem-, Spraak- en Taalpathologie 18 (1), 139-141. Boeckx, C. Martinez-Alvarez, A. & Leivada (2013). On the theoretical characterization of agrammatism: Resolving a paradox. Stem-, Spraak- en Taalpathologie 18 (1), 22-24.

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

2021

Gemignani, J., Martinez-Alvarez, A., Nallet, C., Martin L., Pasquini, A., Gervain, J. & de la Cruz-Pavía, I. (2021). Infants’ perception of repetition- and diversity-based regularities in speech: A meta-analysis of neural evidence. [Poster] The 46th Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development (BUCLD), November 4-7th, Virtual Conference Gemignani, J., Martinez-Alvarez, A., Nallet, C., Martin L., Pasquini, A., Gervain, J. & de la Cruz-Pavía, I. (2021). A meta-analysis of fNIRS studies on infants’ detection of repetition-and diversity-based regularities in speech. [Poster] The fNIRS Conference, October 18-22nd, Virtual Conference. *Birulés, J., *Martinez-Alvarez, A., Pons,F., Pérez-Bellido, A. & De Diego-Balaguer, R. (2021). 15-month-old infants flexibly gate the impact of spatial serial dependency effects by considering the correctness of previous choices [Poster] The 6th Lancaster Conference on Infant and Early Child Development (LCICD), August 25-27th, Virtual Conference. *Birulés, J., *Martinez-Alvarez, A., Pons,F., Lewkowicz, D.J. & De Diego-Balaguer, R. (2021). Selective attention to a talker’s mouth facilitates non-adjacent dependency learning in 15-month-old infants. [Poster] The 6th Lancaster Conference on Infant and Early Child Development (LCICD), August 25-27th, Virtual Conference. Martinez-Alvarez, A, Benavides-Varela, S. & Gervain, J. (2021). The newborns’ brain detects utterance-level prosodic contours [Presentation] The 34th Annual CUNY Conference on Human Sentence Processing, March 4-6th, Virtual Conference. Martinez-Alvarez, A, Benavides-Varela, S. & Gervain, J. (2021). The neonate’s brain detects utterance-level prosodic contours [Presentation] Budapest Conference on Cognitive Development (BCCCD), January 4-8th, Virtual Conference.

2020

Martinez-Alvarez, A, Benavides-Varela, S. & Gervain, J. (2020). [Oral presentation] The infant brain recognizes utterance-level contours at birth The 45th Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development (BUCLD), November 5-8th, Virtual Conference. Martinez-Alvarez, A, Benavides-Varela, S. & Gervain, J. (2020). Newborns’ ability to detect utterance-level prosodic violations: A NIRS study [Poster] The International Congress of Infant Studies Virtual Meeting (vICIS), July 6-9th, Virtual Conference. Martinez-Alvarez, A.​ & Gervain, J. (2020). The effect of sleep on rule learning and consolidation in 6-month-olds: an fNIRS study [Poster] The International Congress of Infant Studies Virtual Meeting (vICIS), July 6-9th, Virtual Conference.

2019

Martinez-Alvarez, A.​​, Gervain, J., Koulaguina, E., Pons, F. & de Diego-Balaguer, R. (2019). [Oral presentation] Neural networks of non-adjacent rule learning in infancy. Society for the Neurobiology of Language (SNL) 11th Annual Meeting, August 20-22, Helsinki, Finland. Martinez-Alvarez, A. & Gervain, J. (2019). Rule learning and sleep: an fNIRS study of non-adjacent rule learning by 6-month-olds [Poster]. Society for the Neurobiology of Language 11th Annual Meeting, August 20-22, Helsinki, Finland. Martinez-Alvarez, A.​​, Gervain, J., Koulaguina, E., Pons, F. & de Diego-Balaguer, R. (2019). [Oral presentation] Neural basis of prosodic cues supporting non-adjacent rule learning in infancy. Brain, Language and Learning (BLL) Conference, September 26-28, Siena, Italy. Martinez-Alvarez, A. & Gervain, J. (2019). Sleep-dependent effects on infant rule learning: An fNIRS study [Poster]. Brain, Language and Learning (BLL) conference, September 26-28, Siena, Italy. Martinez-Alvarez, A.​​, Gervain, J., Koulaguina, E., Pons, F. & de Diego-Balaguer, R. (2019). [Poster] Prosodic cues enhance non-adjacent rule learning in infancy. Boston University Conference on Language Development (BUCLD), November 7-10, Boston, USA.

2018

Martinez-Alvarez, A.​​, Gervain, J., Koulaguina, E., Pons, F. & de Diego-Balaguer, R. (2018). [Oral presentation] Neural basis of attention cues assisting grammar learning in preverbal infants.  fNIRS biennial meeting of the Society for Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy, October 5-8, Tokyo, Japan. Martinez-Alvarez, A., Ripollés, P., Sanz-Torrent, M., Pons, F. & de Diego-Balaguer, R. (2018). [Oral presentation] Language rule learning is associated with flexible mechanisms of temporal attention: Evidence from adults, typically developing children and children with language impairment. XII Congreso de la Sociedad Española de Psicología Experimental (SEPEX), July 3-6, Madrid, Spain. Martinez-Alvarez, A., Mohammad, T., Garcia-Gorro, C., Orpella-Garcia, J., Callejas, A., Camara, E., de Diego-Balaguer, R. (2018) [Poster]. Explicit and Implicit Timing Deficits in Huntington´s Disease. XII Congreso de la Sociedad Española de Psicología Experimental (SEPEX), July 3-6, Madrid, Spain. Martinez-Alvarez, A., Ripollés, P., Sanz-Torrent, M., Pons, F. & de Diego-Balaguer, R. (2018). [Poster] Temporal orienting of attention supports non-adjacent rule learning: evidence from adults, typically developing children and children with Specific Language Impairment. Bridging Attention and Prediction Workshop, Februrary 6th and 20th, Barcelona, Spain.

2017

Martinez-Alvarez, A., Gervain, J., Pons, F. & de Diego-Balaguer, R. (2017). [Oral presentation] Neural basis of non-repetition based rule learning in infants: a NIRS study. Workshop on Infant Language Development, June 15-17, Bilbao, Spain. Martinez-Alvarez, A., Gervain, J., Pons, F. & de Diego-Balaguer, R. (2017). [Poster] Neural basis of non-repetition based rule learning in infants: a NIRS study. Interdisciplinary Advances in Statistical Learning, June 28-30, Bilbao, Spain. Mohammad, T., Martinez-Alvarez, A., Orpella, J., Callejas, A., Camara, E., de Diego-Balaguer, R. (2017). [Poster] Deficits in both Explicit and Implicit Temporal Orienting in Huntington’s Disease 1st Conference of the Timing Research Forum October 23-25, Strasbourg, France. Mohammad, T., Martinez-Alvarez, A., Orpella, J., García, C., Callejas, A., Camara, E., de Diego-Balaguer, R. (2017). [Poster] Deficits in temporal orienting in both explicit and implicit tasks in Huntington’s disease 13th International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience August 5-8, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

2016

Martinez-Alvarez, A., Ripollés, P., Sanz-Torrent, M., Pons, F. & de Diego-Balaguer, R. (2016). [Poster] Temporal flexibility to orient attention modulates rule learning in childhood. Beyond Language Learning Workshop, September 29-30, Barcelona, Spain. Martinez-Alvarez, A., Ripollés, P., Sanz-Torrent, M., Pons, F. & de Diego-Balaguer, R. (2016). [Poster] Rule learning is modulated by temporal attention in childhood. Society for the Neurobiology of Language 8th Annual Meeting, August 17-20, London, England.

2015

Martinez-Alvarez, A., Christou, S., Buj Pereda, M.J., Andreu, Ll., Sanz-Torrent, M., Pons, F., & de Diego-Balaguer, R. (2015). [Oral presentation] Temporal Endogenous Attention Modulates Rule Learning in Children with Specific Language Impairment. IV Clinical Linguistics International Congress, November 18-20, Barcelona, Spain. Martinez-Alvarez, A., Christou, S., Buj Pereda, M.J., Sanz-Torrent, M., Pons, F., & de Diego-Balaguer, R. (2015). [Poster] Temporal Endogenous Attention and Attention Deficits Involved in Rule Learning in Specific Language Impairment.  Society for the Neurobiology of Language 7th Annual Meeting, October 15-17, Chicago,  USA. de Diego-Balaguer, R., Amengual, J., Ruzzoli, M., Callejas, A., Martinez-Alvarez, A., Soto-Faraco, S. (2015). [Poster] Left Inferior Parietal Lobe engagement during rule learning from speech involves temporal orienting of attention. Society for Neuroscience 45th Annual Meeting, October 17-21, Chicago, USA. Martinez-Alvarez, A., Christou, S., Buj Pereda, M.J., Sanz-Torrent, M., Pons, F., & de Diego-Balaguer, R. (2015). [Poster] Attention Deficits underlying Statistical Learning of Non-Adjacent Dependencies in Specific Language Impairment. Interdisciplinary Advances in Statistical Learning, June 15-27, Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain.

2014

Martinez-Alvarez, A., de Diego-Balaguer, R., & Pons, F. (2014). [Poster] Effects of Temporal Variations on Spatial Anticipation in Infancy. XVIIIth International Conference on Infant Studies, July 3-5, Berlin, Germany.

2013

Martinez-Alvarez, A.  & S. Martínez-Ferreiro. (2013). [Poster] Fronto-temporal pathways and paraphasias. 14th International Science of Aphasia Conference, 20-25 September, Brussels, Belgium. Boeckx C., Rosselló, J., Martinez-Alvarez, A., Martins, P.T. & Leivada, E. (2013). [Poster] The role of the environment in the evolution of the language faculty. Language Sciences in the 21st Century: The Interdisciplinary Challenge, 3-4 October, University of Cambridge, UK. Boeckx C., Martinez-Alvarez, A.  & Leivada, E. (2013). [Poster] On the theoretical characterization of agrammatism: Resolving a paradox. 14th International Science of Aphasia Conference, 20-25 September, Brussels, Belgium. Leivada E., Boeckx, C., Rosselló, J., Martins, P.T. & Martinez-Alvarez, A.  (2013). [Poster] The evolution of the language faculty: Why the environment was key. ESHE – 3rd Annual Meeting, 20-21 September, Vienna, Austria. Boeckx C., Leivada, E., Martinez-Alvarez, A. , Martins, P.T. & Rosselló, J. (2013). [Poster] On the need of a new concept: Syntactic protolanguage. Ways to Protolanguage 3, 25-26 May, Philological School of Higher Education in Wroclaw, Poland. Boeckx, C & Martinez-Alvarez, A.  (2013). [Poster] A multi-step algorithm for serial order: Converging evidence from Linguistics and Neuroscience. GLOW 36: Workshop on Biolinguistics, 2 April, Lund University, Sweden. Martinez-Alvarez, A.  (2013). [Poster] Broca’s region, neural pathways and serial order. 11th International Symposium on Psycholinguistics, 20-23 March, University of La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain. Benítez-Burraco A., Martinez-Alvarez, A. , Leivada, E, Martins, P.T. & Boeckx, C. (2013). [Poster] Language and laterality: A more nuanced view. The Tarragona Laterality Conference, 11-13 February, Tarragona, Spain.

2012

Boeckx C., Martinez-Alvarez, A.  & Leivada, E. (2012). [Poster] Agrammatism, cartography & tree pruning: Resolving a paradox. Three Factors and Beyond (3FB): The Socio-Syntax of (A)typical Language Acquisition and Development, 16-18 November, University of Cyprus. Martinez-Alvarez, A. (2012). [Poster] Broca’s area, brain pathways and linearization. ICREA International Symposium on Biolinguistics, 1-3 October, University of Barcelona, Spain.

RESEARCH STAYS IN FOREIGN LABORATOIRES

Laboratoire Psychologie de la Perception – CNRS-Université Paris Descartes, Paris, France. Supervisor: Dr. Judit Gervain Duration: 4 months (November-December 2016; March-April 2017). Infant Studies Centre – University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. Supervisor Dr. Janet Werker Duration: 3 months (March-June 2015).

ACADEMIC  TRAINING

fNIRS Training Course Université Paris Descartes. October 13th, 2016.Neurocognitive Methods for Infant and Toddler Research course Utrecht University, August 17-21, 2015. Training Program for Young Researchers course. University of Barcelona, January-February, 2015. Genetics & Neurobiology of Language course. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York, July 28-August 3, 2014.

TEACHING TRAINING

Neurociència per a Docents Universitaris: Aprenentatge, Cervell i Metodologies Docents. Institut de Ciències de l’Educació (ICE). Universitat de Barcelona. 2017-2018 (20 hores) Com aprenen els estudiants: estratègies d’aprenentatge. Institut de Ciències de l’Educació (ICE). Universitat de Barcelona. 2017-2018 (14 hores) Què és l’emprenedoria? Què vol dir ser emprenedor? Institut de Ciències de l’Educació (ICE). Universitat de Barcelona. 2017-2018 (15 hores) Les TIC invisibles. Estratègies didàctiques per utilizar les TIC a l’aula Institut de Ciències de l’Educació (ICE). Universitat de Barcelona. 2017-2018 (9 hores)

GRANTS AND AWARDS

Research grant for short-visit stay financed by the Fundació Montcelimar-University of Barcelona (2016). Research grant for short-visit stay financed by the Faculty of Psychology, Universitat de Barcelona (“Programa d’ajuts per a accions especials de recerca”) (2015). Research collaboration Fellowship financed by the Real Academia Española, Instituto de Lexicografía de la Real Academia de la Lengua Española (RAE). Department of Spanish Philology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (2011-2012). Research collaboration Fellowship financed by AGAUR (Catalan Government). Department of Spanish Philology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (2010-2011).

MASTER STUDENT SUPERVISION

2021. Master Student: Ainoa Brotons Vidal. MA thesis: “L’adquisició del vocabulari i el desenvolupament de les habilitats socials en l’educació infantil”, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC). Spain. 2020. Master Student: Laia Figuerola Boltà. MA thesis: “Efecte dels hàbits orofacials en la producció de conjunts fonètics dins l’educació infantil”, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC). Spain. 2020. Master Student: Maria Mezquita Feliu. MA thesis: “Les barreres escolars en relació amb l’atenció educativa inclusiva de l’alumnat amb trastorns de la parla en les aules ordinàries”, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC). Spain. 2019. Master Student: Laura Capdevila Blanquera. MA thesis: “Desenvolupament de la morfologia en relació a la producció de frases en alumnes de primària”, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC). Spain. 2018. Master Student: Laura Fornari (Co-supervision with Dr. Ruth de Diego-Balaguer). MA thesis: “Behavioral and structural analysis of the interaction between language rule learning and temporal attention in Huntington’s Disease”. Instituto Universitario di Studi Superiore IUSS di Pavia, Italy. 2017. Master Student: Tabinda Mohammad (Co-supervision with Dr. Ruth de Diego-Balaguer). MA thesis: “Temporal preparation deficits in patients with striatal atrophy”. Université de Caen Normandie. Institut de Biologie Fondamentale et Appliquée, France.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), Spain Psychology Degree. Course: Psychology of Language 2021-2022 (6 credits ECTS) 2020-2021 (12 credits ECTS) Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), Spain Master ‘Dificultats de l’Aprenentatge i Trastorns del Llenguatge’. Course: Treball Final de Master (TFM). 2020-2021 (6 credits ECTS) 2019-2020 (6 credits ECTS) Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), Spain Master ‘Dificultats de l’Aprenentatge i Trastorns del Llenguatge’. Course: Pràcticum de Recerca (PRC R). 2020-2021 (9 credits ECTS). 2019-2020 (9 credits ECTS). Université Paris Descartes, France Master Course: Outils de conception. Master ‘Sciences, Technologies, Santé’. Faculté des Sciences Fondamentales et Biomédicales. 2019-2020 (9 hours). University of Barcelona, Spain Bachelor in Psychology. Course: Attention and Perception. 2017-2018 (31 hours). 2016-2017 (16 hours). 2015-2016 (15 hours).

CONFERENCE/WORKSHOP ORGANIZATION

Bridging Attention and Prediction (BAP) Workshop, February 6th and 20th 2018, University of Barcelona, Spain. Beyond Language Learning (BLL) Workshop, 29-30 September 2016,  University of Barcelona, Spain. ICREA International Symposium on Biolinguistics, 1-3 October 2012, University of Barcelona, Spain. International Colloquium ‘Leer Hispanoamérica Hoy’, 11-13 May 2011, Department of Spanish Philology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain.

OUTREACH ACTIVITIES

Padova, Italy. Participation at the “VenetoNight 2020” organized by the Babylab at the University of Padova (DPSS) (2020).Paris, France. Participation at the “Semaine du Cerveau 2019” organized by the Babylab Université Paris Descartes-CNRS (2019). Premià de Mar, Barcelona. Talk at the ‘Mar Nova’ School entitled “Com s’aprenen les paraules? / How are words learned?” organized by the Committee of the Communication Network of Mar Nova (June 2018). Paris, France. Oral Communication at the Cité International Universitaire de Paris (Colegio de España) entitled “Qué nos dicen los bebés antes de empezar a hablar / What do infants tell us before they start talking? organized by the Resident Comitte of Colegio de España (2016). Barcelona, Spain. Participation at the Saló de l’Ensenyament de Barcelona (Espai Ciència) organized by Institució CERCA (CEntres de Recerca de CAtalunya). Member of the IDIBELL Stand (2016). Vancouver, Canada. Participation at the “Vancouver Brain Bee 2015” organized by the Neuroscience Graduate Student Association. Organization Assistant (2015).

Ad hoc Peer Reviewer

Current BiologyCognition Developmental Science PLoS One Frontiers in Human Neuroscience Language, Cognition and Neuroscience

PROGRAMMING SKILLS

Tools Open Office (Expert) SPSS (Intermediate) Premiere Pro (Intermediate) Flash Professional (Intermediate) Matlab (Novice/Intermediate) Presentation (Novice/Intermediate) Photoshop (Novice/Intermediate) Eprime (Novice) Corel (Novice) Languages HTML (Intermediate level)

LANGUAGES

Spanish – Native Catalan – Native English – Highly proficient (C1) French – Medium proficiency (B1) Italian – Medium proficiency (B2)