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Pablo Bernabeu

Researcher
University of Oxford

pablo.bernabeu@education.ox.ac.uk
pcbernabeu@gmail.com

               

Interests

  • Education & digital technologies
  • Cognitive psychology & neuroscience
  • Linguistics
  • Data science & programming
  • Research methods & open science
  View CV

I conduct research and data analysis on digitally-enhanced childhood learning as part of the Learning in Families through Technology (LiFT) project at the Department of Education at the University of Oxford.

Previously, I held a postdoctoral fellowship at UiT The Arctic University of Norway, contributing to a project on language learning, crosslinguistic influence and executive functions. Prior to that, I completed a PhD in Psychology at Lancaster University, having previously earned a research master’s in Language and Communication from Tilburg University.

Beyond education and digital technologies, my interests include cognitive psychology and neuroscience, linguistics, data science, research methods and open science.

I have worked with a wide range of research methods, including behavioural and EEG experiments, corpus analysis and computational modelling.

Materials from my research are available at osf.io/25u3x.

Want to find out more? Please drop me an email.

Recent Work

  • Researcher, June 2025 -- May 2027

    Department of Education, University of Oxford

    -  Additional service: Assistant, Inaugural convening of AI in Education at Oxford University; AI Ambassador, AI Competency Centre; Member, Research Computing Advisory Board, University of Oxford; Member, Research Assistant hiring committee; Assessor, doctoral qualifying examination. Peer-review: NeuroImage.

  • Postdoctoral Fellow, Nov 2022 -- Feb 2025

    Center for Language, Brain and Learning, UiT The Arctic University of Norway

    -  I worked 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 worked on a 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, I contributed to designing our main study and developing materials in Norwegian and English, as well as creating materials in Spanish and English for a partner study in Spain. After documenting and pretesting these materials, I prepared a preregistration for the studies. Additionally, I recruited participants, designed the protocol for electroencephalography (EEG) sessions, and trained students and research assistants in both the protocol and EEG methodology more broadly. I also established and managed an EEG lab, conducted numerous sessions, supervised those led by research assistants, and monitored the longitudinal progress per participant. Moreover, I presented the study design at conferences and collaborated with research assistants to preprocess, visualise and analyse EEG and behavioural data.

    -  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 (25%), Nov--Dec 2022

    AcqVA Aurora Center, 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, 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.

  • Research Master Language and Communication, 2013--2017

    Tilburg University and Radboud University (the Netherlands)

    -  Grade: 7.54 out of 10 (Distinction)

    -  In my thesis, conducted at Tilburg University and at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, I investigated how word comprehension during reading is modulated by modality-specific information (i.e., visual, auditory, and haptic). Consistent with a large body of research, I observed that conceptual processing is not restricted to abstract linguistic representations, but is modulated by the perceptual information in words and by people's individual experiences in perceptual domains. Outside of my thesis, I investigated the influence of specific languages in nonverbal cognition. Specifically, I reviewed research examining how and why people's perception of motion may be modulated by the way in which their first language encodes motion events in sentences. Furthermore, I investigated the co-evolution of language and other cognitive systems. Throughout this research, I used a range of multidisciplinary methods including word classification surveys, corpus analysis and electroencephalography.

    -  Student member, Master’s curriculum and accreditation committee

  • BA English, 2007--2013

    Autonomous University of Madrid (Spain)

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

    -  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

Further Courses