Publications  

Starting from the very beginning: Unraveling third language (L3) development with longitudinal data from artificial language learning and related epistemology

The burgeoning field of third language (L3) acquisition has increasingly focused on intermediate stages of language development, aiming …
González Alonso, J., Bernabeu, P., Silva, G., DeLuca, V., Poch, C., Ivanova, I., & Rothman, J. (2024). — International Journal of Multilingualism research methods, psycholinguistics
PDF Code Project Poster Slides DOI

Investigating object orientation effects across 18 languages

Mental simulation theories of language comprehension propose that people automatically create mental representations of objects …
Chen, S.-C., Buchanan, E. M., Kekecs, Z., Miller, J. K., Szabelska, A., Aczel, B., Bernabeu, P., Forscher, P. S., Szuts, A., Vally, D. Z., Al-Hoorie, A. H., Helmy, M., Silva, C. S. A. da, Silva, L. O. da, Moraes, Y. L. de, Hsu, R. M. C. S., Mafra, A. L., Valentova, J. V., Varella, M. A. C., … Chartier, C. R. (2023). — OSF Preprints conceptual processing, replication
PDF Code Dataset Video DOI

Language and vision in conceptual processing: Multilevel analysis and statistical power

Research has suggested that conceptual processing depends on both language-based and vision-based information. We tested this interplay …
Bernabeu, P., Lynott, D., & Connell, L. (2022). — OSF conceptual processing, embodied cognition, statistical power, research methods, statistics
PDF Code Dataset DOI Online book Poster

Language and sensorimotor simulation in conceptual processing: Multilevel analysis and statistical power

Research has suggested that conceptual processing depends on both language-based and sensorimotor information. In this thesis, I …
Bernabeu, P. (2022). — Lancaster University conceptual processing, embodied cognition, statistical power`, research methods, statistics
PDF Code Dataset DOI PDF at Lancaster U. Online book

Preregistration: The interplay between linguistic and embodied systems in conceptual processing

This preregistration outlines a study that will investigate the dynamic nature of conceptual processing by examining the interplay …
Bernabeu, P., Lynott, D., & Connell, L. (2021). — OSF conceptual processing, individual differences, psycholinguistics
PDF DOI

More refined typology and design in linguistic relativity: The case of motion event encoding

Linguistic relativity is the influence of language on other realms of cognition. For instance, the way movement is expressed in a …
Bernabeu, P., & Tillman, R. (2019). — Dutch Journal of Applied Linguistics linguistic relativity
PDF Poster DOI

Dutch modality exclusivity norms for 336 properties and 411 concepts

Part of the toolkit of language researchers is formed of stimuli that have been rated on various dimensions. The current study presents …
Bernabeu, P. (2018). — PsyArXiv Preprints linguistic materials, conceptual replication
PDF Code Dataset DOI Data dashboard

Modality switch effects emerge early and increase throughout conceptual processing: Evidence from ERPs

We tested whether conceptual processing is modality-specific by tracking the time course of the Conceptual Modality Switch effect. …
Bernabeu, P., Willems, R. M., & Louwerse, M. M. (2017). — In G. Gunzelmann, A. Howes, T. Tenbrink, & E. J. Davelaar (Eds.), Proceedings of the 39th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 1629-1634). Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society. conceptual processing, conceptual replication
PDF Code Dataset Poster DOI Stimulus data dashboard Results data dashboard Conference proceedings Master's thesis

Modality switches occur early and extend late in conceptual processing: Evidence from ERPs

The engagement of sensory brain regions during word recognition is widely documented, yet its precise relevance is less clear. It would …
Bernabeu, P. (2017). — PsyArXiv Preprints conceptual processing, psycholinguistics, event-related potentials
PDF Code Dataset Poster DOI Stimulus data dashboard Results data dashboard Conference paper

Language evolution: Current status and future directions

The topic of language evolution is characterised by the scarcity of records, but also by a large flow of research produced within …
Bernabeu, P., & Vogt, P. (2015). — Tenth Language at the University of Essex (LangUE) Postgraduate Conference evolution of language
PDF

Web applications and dashboards  

Articles republished on R-bloggers

WebVTT caption transcription app

This open-source, R-based web application allows the conversion of video captions (subtitles) from the Web Video Text Tracks (WebVTT) …
2021 research and teaching applications, R

Web application for the simulation of experimental data

This open-source, R-based web application is suitable for educational or research purposes in experimental sciences. It allows the …
Bernabeu, P., & Lynott, D. (2020) research and teaching applications, R

Data dashboard: Butterfly species richness in Los Angeles

Dashboard with open data from a study by Prudic et al. (2018), that compares citizen science with traditional methods in butterfly …
2020 data visualisation, R

Web application: Dutch modality exclusivity norms

This app presents linguistic data over several tabs. The code combines the great front-end of Flexdashboard—based on R Markdown and …
2018 linguistic materials, research methods, web-application, R

Web application: Modality switch effects emerge early and increase throughout conceptual processing

We tested whether conceptual processing is modality-specific by tracking the time course of the Conceptual Modality Switch effect. …
2017 conceptual processing, R

Workshops

Introduction to R, statistics, visualisation, reproducible documents, web applications and dashboards, HTML, CSS, web hosting (further details).

Date Title Event and location Registration
Aug 2020 Open data and reproducibility: R Markdown, data dashboards and Binder v2.1 (co-led with Florencia D'Andrea) CarpentryCon@Home, The Carpentries [online] Link
July 2020 Open data and reproducibility: R Markdown, data dashboards and Binder (co-led with Eirini Zormpa) UK Cognitive Linguistics Conference, University of Birmingham [online] Link
May 2020 R Markdown Lancaster University [online]

Presentations

Date Format Title Event
Oct, Nov 2024 Posters Smart starts: Cognitive differences predict prior knowledge involvement in language learning (1) XIV Conference of the Spanish Society for Experimental Psychology (SEPEX), Almería;
(2) 65th Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, New York
Nov 2024 Co-organisation and presentations Tasks tailored for several electroencephalography and behavioural stations. Short presentations given on electroencephalography, language acquisition and executive functions. Public outreach event of the UiT Center for Language, Brain and Learning (C-LaBL), hosted at the Arctic University Museum of Norway.
Oct, Nov 2023; June, July, Aug, Sept 2024 Posters and speed talk Investigating language learning and morphosyntactic transfer longitudinally using artificial languages (1) AcqVA Aurora Centre, UiT The Arctic University of Norway;
(2) PoLaR Lab, UiT The Arctic University of Norway;
(3) 9th Conference of the Scandinavian Association for Language and Cognition, Norwegian University of Science and Technology;
(4) Highlights in the Language Sciences 2024, Radboud University;
(5) 13th International Conference on Third Language Acquisition and Multilingualism, University of Groningen;
(6) 30th Conference on Architectures and Mechanisms for Language Processing (AMLaP), University of Edinburgh
July 2024 Poster Language and vision in conceptual processing: Multilevel analysis and statistical power Highlights in the Language Sciences 2024, Radboud University
Mar, July, Sept 2024 Poster Making research materials Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (1) AcqVA Aurora Closing Event, UiT The Arctic University of Norway;
(2) Highlights in the Language Sciences 2024, Radboud University;
(3) 30th Conference on Architectures and Mechanisms for Language Processing (AMLaP), University of Edinburgh
Mar 2024 Poster Is third language learning influenced by working memory, implicit learning and inhibitory control? AcqVA Aurora Closing Event, UiT The Arctic University of Norway
Mar 2024 Poster Effects of cognitive individual differences on cross-linguistic effects in L3 acquisition AcqVA Aurora Closing Event, UiT The Arctic University of Norway
May 2023 Reading group discussion Discussion of Labotka et al. (2023): Testing the effects of congruence in adult multilingual acquisition with implications for creole genesis Reading group of the PoLaR Lab, UiT The Arctic University of Norway
Jan 2023 Reading group discussion Discussion of Jost et al. (2019): Input complexity affects long-term retention of statistically learned regularities in an artificial language learning task Reading group of the PoLaR Lab, UiT The Arctic University of Norway
Oct 2022 Talk Language and sensorimotor simulation in conceptual processing: Multilevel analysis and statistical power AcqVA Aurora Centre, UiT The Arctic University of Norway
Sept 2022 Talk The interplay between linguistic and embodied systems in conceptual processing Presented by Dr. Dermot Lynott at the 22nd Meeting of the European Society for Cognitive Psychology (ESCOP), in Lille, France
Feb 2022 Talk Language and vision in conceptual processing: Multilevel analysis and statistical power Language and Cognition Seminars, Dept. Psychology, Lancaster University
May 2021 Talk Linguistic and embodied systems in conceptual processing: Variation across individuals and items Lancaster University Postgraduate Psychology Conference 2021
May 2021 Talk Towards reproducibility and maximally-open data Open Science Week 2021, Open Scholarship Community Galway
Nov 2020 Talk Mixed-effects models in R, and a new tool for data simulation New Tricks Seminars, Dept. Psychology, Lancaster University
Oct 2020 Talk Reproducibilidad en torno a una aplicación web Reprohack en español, LatinR Conference 2020
Apr 2020 Talk Embedding open research and reproducibility in the UG and PGT curricula (with Andrew Stewart and Phil McAleer) Collaborations Workshop, Software Sustainability Institute
Sept 2019 x 2 Talk Presentations at two open days on the education and the research at our department Department of Psychology, Lancaster University
Dec 2018 Talk Presenting data interactively online using R Shiny Research Software Forum, Lancaster University
Nov 2018 Talk Linguistic and embodied systems in conceptual processing: Role of individual differences Psychology postgraduate medley, Lancaster University
Jan 2017 x2; Apr, July, Nov 2017 Poster Modality switch effects emerge early and increase throughout conceptual processing: Evidence from ERPs (1) Event representations in episodic and semantic memory, University of York;
(2) Netherlands Graduate School of Linguistics, Radboud University;
(3) Juniorendag, Utrecht University;
(4) 39th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, London;
(5) 58th Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Vancouver
June 2016 Talk Conceptual processing at different speeds: Probing linguistic and embodied systems Synapsium, Radboud University
May 2016 Poster Norming study of modality exclusivity in Dutch, and an ongoing EEG study of linguistic and embodied conceptual processing Psycholinguistics in Flanders, University of Antwerp
June 2015 Talk New reviews and insights on language evolution Tenth Language at the University of Essex (LangUE) Conference, University of Essex
Feb, May 2015 Talk Shallow and deep conceptual representation: An ERP design (1) Theme Meetings, Radboud University;
(2) Neurobiology of Language Lab meeting, MPI Psycholinguistics
Jan, Mar 2015 Poster Linguistic relativity in motion (1) Netherlands Graduate School of Linguistics, University of Amsterdam;
(3) Juniorendag, Radboud University
Avatar

Pablo Bernabeu

Postdoctoral fellow at UiT –
The Arctic University of Norway

p.bernabeu@uit.no
pcbernabeu@gmail.com

               

Interests

  • cognitive psychology and neuroscience
  • psycholinguistics
  • multilingualism
  • semantic / conceptual processing
  • open science
  • research methods

After completing a research master's, I became a PhD student and graduate teaching assistant in Psychology at Lancaster University. In my thesis, I investigated how conceptual processing—that is, the comprehension of the meaning of words—is supported by linguistic and sensorimotor brain systems, and how research on this topic is influenced by methodological aspects such as the operationalisation of variables and the sample size of experiments.

Currently, I am a postdoctoral fellow at UiT The Arctic University of Norway. I work at the Department of Language and Culture, and specifically within the PoLaR Lab and C-LaBL. As the local manager of the LESS Project (Language Economy through Transfer Source Selectivity), I work on a six-session longitudinal study that investigates how bilingual people acquire an additional language, how this process is influenced by the characteristics of the languages, and how the process is instantiated in the brain. As part of this work so far, I contributed to the design of our study, developed most of the materials for our study and for a partner study in Spain, documented the creation of the materials and pretested them, wrote a preregistration, recruited participants, designed the protocol for the electroencephalography (EEG) sessions, trained students and research assistants in this protocol and in EEG more generally, set up and managed an EEG lab, conducted many of the sessions and oversaw those conducted by our research assistants, monitored the longitudinal progress per participant, presented the design of the study at conferences, preprocessed the EEG and behavioural data in collaboration with research assistants, and performed the statistical analysis.

I am also interested in the relationships between language and other cognitive domains, as well as in the origins and evolution of language.

I employ a range of tools, including behavioural and electroencephalographic experiments, corpus analysis, statistics and programming. The materials, the data and the analyses produced in my research are available at https://osf.io/25u3x.

My CV is available here.

Recent work

  • Postdoctoral fellow, Nov 2022 – Feb 2025

    UiT The Arctic University of Norway

    -  Additional service: co-organisation of multiple events, including the lunch meetings of AcqVA Aurora and C-LaBL, and a public outreach event of C-LaBL. Peer-review for Cognition, Cognitive Science and EuroSLA conference.

  • Statistical consultant, Nov 2022

    UiT The Arctic University of Norway

    -  I worked as a statistical consultant for the CLICK Project (Cross-Linguistic Influence of Competing Knowledge), which investigated multilingualism in heritage speakers. I worked with questionnaire and eye-tracking data.

Education

  • PhD Psychology with graduate teaching scholarship, 2018–2022

    Lancaster University (United Kingdom)

    -  Additional service: peer-review for Cognitive Science and for Psychological Science Accelerator; development of website for open science group in my department.

    -  Activities

  • Research Master Language and Communication, 2013–2017

    Tilburg University and Radboud University (Netherlands)

    -  Grade: 7.54 out of 10 (Distinction)

    -  Thesis project involving electroencephalography, conducted at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics.

    -  Tilburg University Scholarship for Academic Excellence, 2014/2015

    -  Student member, Master’s curriculum and accreditation committee

  • BA English, 2007–2013

    Autonomous University of Madrid (Spain)

    -  One-year Erasmus exchange at University of Jyväskylä, Finland

    -  One-year exchange at University of Barcelona, Spain

    -  Six-month Spanish teaching placement in Kaunas, Lithuania

    -  Grade: 7.30 out of 10 (2:1 Hons)

Further courses

  • Advanced R programming, 2017

    Johns Hopkins University via Coursera

  • Improving your statistical inferences, 2017

    Eindhoven University of Technology via Coursera

  • Neurobiology of language, 2017

    Netherlands Graduate School of Linguistics

    -  Course focussed on multilingualism, including the interesting and hotly-debated topic of cognitive benefits.

  • Big data in society, 2016

    Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

    -  I honed my experience in R and learned about techniques such as topic modelling and crowdsourcing.

    -  Coursework

  • Linear mixed-effects models in R, 2016

    Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics

  • Statistics: Analyzing in R, 2016

    Radboud University

  • Introduction to cognitive neuroscience, 2015

    Radboud University Summer School

    -  I became acquainted with the cognitive neuroscience approach to language, perception and action.

  • Language science: Current methods and interdisciplinary perspectives, 2015

    Radboud University Summer School

    -  Psycholinguistic, neurobiological and computational approaches to language.

  • Transcranial brain stimulation, 2015

    Donders Institute, Radboud University

    -  I gained theoretical and practical experience in the technique of transcranial brain stimulation. This technique occupies a privileged position in the area of conceptual processing (i.e., the comprehension of words in the brain), as it allows tapping into the causality of experimental effects with a greater precision than most other techniques.

  • Neurobiology of language, 2015

    Netherlands Graduate School of Linguistics

    -  I learned about the functional mapping of language in the brain, and the toolkit used for this research.

  • Psycholinguistics: Self-monitoring, 2015

    Netherlands Graduate School of Linguistics

    -  I learned about how speech errors can serve as a window into the psychology of language.

  • Part of Neuroimaging 1, 2014

    Radboud University

    -  I followed the first two months of this course as a listener to learn the principles of electroencephalography, event-related potentials, magnetoencephalography and functional magnetic resonance imaging.

Teaching and supervision

Since my PhD, I have advised several students and colleagues about conducting behavioural and EEG experiments, and about data management, preprocessing and analysis. Furthermore, during my postdoc, I have co-supervised a master's thesis.

My PhD scholarship was teaching-based, so I contributed to the curriculum of the Lancaster University Department of Psychology for 180 hours a year. Specifically, each year, I led 30 seminars and marked 80 essays in developmental, cognitive and social psychology, while also helping in 30 statistics lab sessions. This activity is detailed below.

Course and remit
2021–22 Introduction to developmental psychology (115) — Seminars and essay marking
Introduction to neuroscience (112) — Seminars
Introduction to cognitive psychology (111) — Seminars and essay marking
Social psychology in the digital age (113) — Seminars
Statistics for psychologists I (121) using R — Lab sessions
2020–21 Introduction to developmental psychology (115) — Seminars and essay marking
Introduction to neuroscience (112) — Seminars
Introduction to cognitive psychology (111) — Seminars and essay marking
Social psychology in the digital age (113) — Seminars
Statistics for psychologists I and II (121 and 122) using R — Lab sessions
2019–20 Understanding psychology (101) — Seminars and essay marking
Cognitive psychology (201) — Seminars and essay marking
Master's statistics (401) using R — Lab sessions
2018–19 Understanding psychology (101) — Seminars and essay marking
Investigating psychology: Analysis (102) using SPSS — Lab sessions

Furthermore, during my PhD, I was a representative for graduate teaching assistants in my department for a year.

Finally, I am a Certified Carpentries Instructor, and have led several workshops on data analysis using R. Earlier in my career, I taught English to secondary-education students in Spain, and Spanish to adults in Lithuania.

Other funding and awards
2021 Joint second place in the Open Scholarship Prize Competition organised by Open Scholarship Community Galway Prize obtained after a final series of presentations
2020 RepliCATS Grant, University of Melbourne Obtained for completing 20 RepliCATS research assessments
2020 Gorilla Grant from Gorilla and Prolific Conducting a large-sample experiment on the internet.
2020 Software Sustainability Institute Fellowship Organising training and practice activities in research software. I focussed on data presentation using R.
2017 Psychonomic Society Graduate Travel Award for 58th Annual Meeting Presenting a poster on research from my master's.
2017 Grindley Grant from Experimental Psychology Society Presenting a poster on research from my master's at conference ‘Event representations in episodic and semantic memory’.
2017 Grindley Grant from Experimental Psychology Society Presenting a poster on research from my master's at Cognitive Science Society Conference.
2017 Student Volunteer, Cognitive Science Society Conference Presenting a poster on research from my master's.
2016 Funding for experiment from Neurobiology of Language Dept., Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics Conducting an EEG experiment for my master's thesis.

Other work
May – July 2018
 Service analyst. Onfido, London, UK.
I contributed to the verification of semi-automated identity checks. In addition to random sampling, I used Power BI to extract sections from a large data set, and created a self-updating data dashboard in Excel containing tables and plots that summarised the data.
Dec 2015 – Feb 2016
 Data Science market research and student recruitment (part-time). Tilburg University
I contributed to the elaboration of a leaflet, and informed prospective students at open days.
2015 – 2016
 Student representative at master’s fairs in Spain (part-time). Radboud University, Tilburg University
I worked at three fairs with Radboud University, and at one with Tilburg University.
2013 – 2016
 Presenter of my master's programme at open days (part-time). Tilburg University
2013 – 2016
 Communication, website and student recruitment (part-time). Academia Bravosol, Madrid, Spain
2011 – 2013
 Teacher of English and Spanish (part-time). Academia Bravosol, Madrid, Spain

Skills
Science Electroencephalography (lab setup, recording, preprocessing, analysis), BrainVision (e.g., ), transcranial brain stimulation, eye tracking, open science, online experiments, jsPsych, OpenSesame, Gorilla
Statistics Frequentist and Bayesian statistics. Linear mixed-effects models (e.g., ), principal component analysis (), etc.
Programming in R Statistics, R Markdown, web applications, bibliometrics, Binder environments (e.g., ), analysis of Big Data, natural language processing (e.g., ), Tidyverse (e.g., )
Data, web, typesetting Basic Python, Git, Unix, high-performance computing, HTML, CSS, Javascript, LaTeX, Zotero (e.g., )
Business and administration Documentation, quantitative and qualitative service analysis. Power BI, Zendesk, Jira, Confluence, Asana
Languages English: C1. Spanish: native. Catalan: B1. French: B1. Dutch: A2. Italian: A2, Norwegian: A1

Videos

2024 ·  Lowering impedance in electroencephalography using a blunt needle, electrolyte gel and wiggling

2024 ·  Briefing participants to prevent muscle artifacts in electroencephalography sessions

2021 ·  Linguistic and embodied systems in conceptual processing: Variation across individuals and items

2020 ·  Reproducibilidad en torno a una aplicación web

2020 ·  Workshop on R Markdown, dashboards and Binder (see programme and materials)

2020 ·  Personal profile and experience at Lancaster University Department of Psychology

2020 ·  Embedding open research and reproducibility in the UG and PGT curricula

2019 ·  Part of application for Gorilla Grant

2019 ·  Part of application for Software Sustainability Institute Fellowship

2019 ·  Demonstration of procedure for PSA experiments

Blog and resources

Short essays, tutorials, inquiries, and functions for the implementation of experiments, data analysis and other purposes.
Some of the posts involving R code were republished on R-bloggers, R Weekly, Data Science Central and dev.to.

Reducing the impedance in electroencephalography using a blunt needle, electrolyte gel and wiggling

Reducing the impedance in electroencephalography (EEG) is crucial for capturing high-quality brain activity signals. This process …
2024 research methods

Passive constructions and asymmetries between languages

Researchers often make participants jump through hoops. Due to our personal blind spots, it seems easier to realise the full extent of …
2024 linguistics

A makeshift EEG lab

Say, you need to set up a makeshift EEG lab in an office? Easy-peasy—only, try to move the hardware as little as possible, …
2024 research methods

R functions for checking and fixing vmrk files from BrainVision

Electroencephalography (EEG) has become a cornerstone for understanding the intricate workings of the human brain in the field of …
2024 research methods, R

Preventing muscle artifacts in electroencephalography sessions

Electroencephalographic (EEG) signals are often contaminated by muscle artifacts such as blinks, jaw clenching and (of course) yawns, …
2024 research methods, electroencephalography

Job: Part-time research assistant in experimental research

We are seeking to appoint a part-time research assistant to help us recruit participants and conduct an experiment. In the current …
2024 job

rscopus_plus: An extension of the rscopus package

Sometimes it’s useful to do a bibliometric analysis. To this end, the rscopus_plus functions (Bernabeu, 2024) extend the R package …
2024 R, bibliometrics

How to end trial after timeout in jsPsych

I would like to ask for advice regarding a custom plugin for a serial reaction time task, that was created by @vekteo, and is available …
2024 research methods

A session logbook for a longitudinal study using conditional formatting in Excel

Longitudinal studies consist of several sessions, and often involve session session conductors. To facilitate the planning, …
2023 research methods

Motivating a preregistration (especially in experimental linguistics)

The best argument to motivate a preregistration may be that it doesn’t take any extra time. It just requires frontloading an important …
2023 research-methods

Do you speak a Scandinavian language(s) and English, but no other languages? Delta i et EEG-eksperiment

Ved å delta i vårt eksperiment og gjøre noen enkle oppgaver på en datamaskin, kan du bidra til forskning og tjene 250 kr i timen …
2023 science

Learning how to use Zotero

Is it worth learning how to use a reference management system such as Zotero? Maybe. The hours you invest in learning how to use Zotero …
2023 research methods

FAQs on mixed-effects models

I am dealing with nested data, and I remember from an article by Clark (1973) that nested should be analysed using special models. I’ve …
2023 linear mixed-effects models, R

FAIR standards for the creation of research materials, with examples

In the fast-paced world of scientific research, establishing minimum standards for the creation of research materials is essential. …
2023 research methods, R

Two-second delay after logger in OpenSesame

The result shows a varying delay of around 2 seconds on average. It would be very helpful for us if we could cut down this delay, as it …
2023 research-methods

Preprocessing the Norwegian Web as Corpus (NoWaC) in R

The present script can be used to pre-process data from a frequency list of the Norwegian as Web Corpus (NoWaC; Guevara, 2010). Before …
2023 R

An inline script for OpenSesame to send EEG triggers via serial port

The OpenSesame user base is skyrocketing but—of course—remains small in comparison to many other user bases that we are used to. …
2023 research methods

How to correctly encode triggers in Python and send them to BrainVision through serial port (useful for OpenSesame and PsychoPy)

I'm sending the triggers in a binary format because Python requires this. For instance, to send the trigger 1, I run the code …
2023 research methods

ggplotting power curves from the ‘simr’ package

The R package ‘simr’ has greatly facilitated power analysis for mixed-effects models using Monte Carlo simulation (which involves …
2023 R

How to break down colour variable in sjPlot::plot_model into equally-sized bins

Whereas the direction of main effects can be interpreted from the sign of the estimate, the interpretation of interaction effects often …
2023 R, statistics

How to map more informative values onto fill argument of sjPlot::plot_model

Whereas the direction of main effects can be interpreted from the sign of the estimate, the interpretation of interaction effects often …
2023 R, statistics

How to visually assess the convergence of a mixed-effects model by plotting various optimizers

To assess whether convergence warnings render the results invalid, or on the contrary, the results can be deemed valid in spite of the …
2023 R, statistics

Intermixing stimuli from two loops randomly in OpenSesame

I’m developing a slightly tricky design in OpenSesame (a Python-based experiment builder). My stimuli comprise two kinds of sentences …
2023 research methods

Simultaneously sampling from two variables in jsPsych

I am using jsPsych to create an experiment and I am struggling to sample from two variables simultaneously. Specifically, in each …
2023 research methods

Table joins with conditional “fuzzy” string matching in R

Here’s an example of fuzzy-matching strings in R that I shared on StackOverflow. In stringdist_join, the max_dist argument is used to …
2023 R

A new function to plot convergence diagnostics from lme4::allFit()

When a model has struggled to find enough information in the data to account for every predictor—especially for every random …
2023 R, linear mixed-effects models

Assigning participant-specific parameters automatically in OpenSesame

OpenSesame offers options to counterbalance properties of the stimulus across participants. However, in cases of more involved …
2023 research methods

Pronominal object clitics in preverbal position are a hard nut to crack for Google Translate

Unlike English, some Romance languages not only allow—but sometimes require—pronominal object clitics in preverbal position (Hanson …
2023 linguistics

Specifying version number in OSF download links

In the preparation of projects, files are often downloaded from OSF. It is good to document the URL addresses that were used for the …
2023 research methods

Covariates are necessary to validate the variables of interest and to prevent bogus theories

The need for covariates—or nuisance variables—in statistical analyses is twofold. The first reason is purely statistical and the second …
2023 research methods, statistics

Cannot open plots created with brms::mcmc_plot due to lack of discrete_range function

I would like to ask for advice regarding some plots that were created using brms::mcmc_plot(), and cannot be opened in R now. The plots …
2023 statistics

A table of results for Bayesian mixed-effects models: Grouping variables and specifying random slopes

Here I share the format applied to tables presenting the results of Bayesian models in Bernabeu (2022). The sample table presents a …
2022 R, statistics

A table of results for frequentist mixed-effects models: Grouping variables and specifying random slopes

Here I share the format applied to tables presenting the results of frequentist models in Bernabeu (2022). The sample table presents a …
2022 R, statistics

Plotting two-way interactions from mixed-effects models using alias variables

Whereas the direction of main effects can be interpreted from the sign of the estimate, the interpretation of interaction effects often …
2022 R, data visualisation

Plotting two-way interactions from mixed-effects models using ten or six bins

Whereas the direction of main effects can be interpreted from the sign of the estimate, the interpretation of interaction effects often …
2022 R, data visualisation

Why can't we be friends? Plotting frequentist (lmerTest) and Bayesian (brms) mixed-effects models

Frequentist and Bayesian statistics are sometimes regarded as fundamentally different philosophies. Indeed, can both qualify as …
2022 R, statistics

Bayesian workflow: Prior determination, predictive checks and sensitivity analyses

This post presents a run-through of a Bayesian workflow in R. The content is closely based on Bernabeu (2022), which was in turn based …
2022 R, statistics

Avoiding (R) Markdown knitting errors using knit_deleting_service_files()

The function knit_deleting_service_files() helps avoid (R) Markdown knitting errors caused by files and folders remaining from previous …
2021 R

Walking the line between reproducibility and efficiency in R Markdown: Three methods

As technology and research methods advance, the data sets tend to be larger and the methods more exhaustive. Consequently, the analyses …
2021 R

Tackling knitting errors in R Markdown

When knitting an R Markdown document after the first time, errors may sometimes appear. Three tips are recommended below.

  1. Close PDF …
2021 R

Parallelizing simr::powercurve() in R

The powercurve function from the R package ‘simr’ (Green & MacLeod, 2016) can incur very long running times when the method used …
2021 R, research methods

Brief Clarifications, Open Questions: Commentary on Liu et al. (2018)

Liu et al. (2018) present a study that implements the conceptual modality switch (CMS) paradigm, which has been used to investigate the …
2021 research methods, psycholinguistics

Collaboration while using R Markdown

In a highly recommendable presentation available on Youtube, Michael Frank walks us through R Markdown. Below, I loosely summarise and …
2020 research methods

Notes about punctuation in formal writing

When writing formal pieces, some pitfalls in the punctuation are easy to avoid once you know them. Punctuation marks such as the comma, …
2020 writing

Stray meetings in Microsoft Teams

Unwanted, stranded meetings, overlapping with a general one in a channel, can occur when people click on the Meet (now)/📷 button, …
2020 research and teaching applications

R Markdown amidst Madison parks

This document is part of teaching materials created for the workshop ‘Open data and reproducibility v2.1: R Markdown, dashboards …
2020 programming, R

How to engage Research Group Leaders in sustainable software practices

There is an increasing number of training courses introducing early career researchers to sustainable software practices but relatively …
Rand et al. (2020) research

Incentives for good research software practices

Software is increasingly becoming recognised as fundamental to research. In a 2014 survey of UK researchers undertaken by the …
Cooper et al. (2020) software

Data is present: Workshops and datathons

This project offers free activities to learn and practise reproducible data presentation. Pablo Bernabeu organises these events in the …
2020 education, programming, R

Event-related potentials: Why and how I used them

Event-related potentials (ERPs) offer a unique insight in the study of human cognition. Let's look at their reason-to-be for the …
2020 event-related potentials

Review of the Landscape Model of reading: Composition, dynamics and application

Throughout the 1990s, two opposing theories were used to explain how people understand texts, later bridged by the Landscape Model of …
2018 psycholinguistics

Naive principal component analysis in R

Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is a technique used to find the core components that underlie different variables. It comes in very …
2018 statistics, R

At Greg, 8 am

The single dependent variable, RT, was accompanied by other variables which could be analyzed as independent variables. These included …
2017 statistics

Modality switch effects emerge early and increase throughout conceptual processing: Evidence from ERPs

Research has extensively investigated whether conceptual processing is modality-specific—that is, whether meaning is processed to a …
2017 psycholinguistics

The case for data dashboards: First steps in R Shiny

Dashboards for data visualisation, such as R Shiny and Tableau, allow the interactive exploration of data by means of drop-down lists …
2017 R, data dashboards, open data

EEG error: datasets missing channels

Most of the recordings are perfectly fine, but a few present a big error. Out of 64 original electrodes, only two appear. These are the …
2016 research-methods

Modality exclusivity norms for 747 properties and concepts in Dutch: A replication of English

This study is a cross-linguistic, conceptual replication of Lynott and Connell’s (2009, 2013) modality exclusivity norms. The …
2016 linguistic materials

Conceptual modality switch effect measured at first word?

Traditionally, the second word presented (whether noun or adjective) has been the point of measure, both for RTs and ERPs. Yet, could …
2015 psycholinguistics

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