Viridiana Benitez’s research is in the area of cognitive development, with a focus on understanding how young children learn words, how they track the statistical patterns of their environment, and how language experience, such as bilingualism, affects word learning, attention, and memory. To answer these questions, Professor Benitez works with infants, children, and adults who have monolingual or bilingual language learning experiences. Benitez received a bachelor's in psychology at the University of Houston, a doctorate in developmental psychology at Indiana University, and completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Wojcik, E.H., Zettersten, M., Benitez, V.L. (in press). The map trap: Why and how word learning research should move beyond mapping. WIREs Cognitive Science.
Clifford, B.N., Tockdale, L.A., Coyne, S.M., Rainey, V., & Benitez, V.L. (in press). Speaking of state of mind: Maternal mental health predicts children’s home language environment and expressive language. Journal of Child Language.
Benitez, V.L., Castellana, M., & Potter, C. (2022). How many palabras? Codeswitching and lexical diversity in children’s Spanish-English picture books. Languages, 7(1), 69.
Winstone, L.K., Benitez, V.L., Van Huisstede, L. (2021). Patterns of maternal interactive behaviors and dual vocabulary development in Mexican-American children. Developmental Psychology, 57(11), 1866-1879.
Benitez, V.L., & Saffran, J.R. (2021). Two for the price of one: Concurrent learning of words and phonotactic regularities from continuous speech. PLoS ONE, 16(6): e0253039.
Benitez, V.L., Zettersten, M., & Wojcik, E. (2020). The temporal structure of naming events differentially affects children’s and adults’ cross-situational word learning. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 200, 104961.
Benitez, V.L.*, Bulgarelli, F.*, Byers-Heinlein, K., Saffran, J.R., & Weiss, D. (2020). Statistical learning of multiple speech streams: A challenge for monolingual infants. Developmental Science, 23(2) e12896. *Equal authorship contribution.
Vargas, E.D., & Benitez, V.L. (2019). Latino parents’ links to deportees are associated with developmental disorders in their children. Journal of Community Psychology, 45(5), 1151-1168.
Benitez, V.L., & Saffran, J.R. (2018). Predictable events enhance word learning in toddlers. Current Biology, 28, 1-7.
Zettersten, M., Wojcik, E., Benitez, V.L., & Saffran, J.R. (2018). The company objects keep: Linking referents together during cross-situational word learning. Journal of Memory and Language, 99, 62-73.
Benitez, V.L.*, Vales, C.*, Hanania, R., & Smith, L.B. (2017). Sustained selective attention predicts flexible switching in preschoolers. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 156, 29-42. *Equal authorship contribution
Benitez, V.L., Yurovsky, D., & Smith, L.B. (2016). Competition between multiple words for a referent in cross-situational word learning. Journal of Memory and Language, 90, 31-48.
Morse, A F., Benitez, V.L., Belpaeme, T., Cangelosi, A., & Smith, L.B. (2015). Posture affects how robots and infants map words to objects. PLoS ONE, 10(3): e0116012.
Benitez, V.L., & Smith, L.B. (2012) Predictable locations aid early object name learning. Cognition, 125(3), 339-352.
Yoshida, H., Tran, D.N., Benitez, V., & Kuwabara, M. (2011). Inhibition and adjective learning in bilingual and monolingual children. Frontiers in Developmental Psychology, 2, 1-14.
Spring 2022 | |
---|---|
Course Number | Course Title |
PSY 399 | Supervised Research |
PSY 498 | Pro-Seminar |
PSY 499 | Individualized Instruction |
PSY 501 | Supervised Teaching |
PSY 598 | Special Topics |
PSY 599 | Thesis |
PSY 792 | Research |
Fall 2021 | |
---|---|
Course Number | Course Title |
PSY 399 | Supervised Research |
PSY 499 | Individualized Instruction |
SHS 592 | Research |
PSY 599 | Thesis |
Spring 2021 | |
---|---|
Course Number | Course Title |
PSY 341 | Developmental Psychology |
PSY 399 | Supervised Research |
PSY 499 | Individualized Instruction |
PSY 592 | Research |
PSY 599 | Thesis |
Fall 2020 | |
---|---|
Course Number | Course Title |
PSY 399 | Supervised Research |
PSY 499 | Individualized Instruction |
PSY 592 | Research |
PSY 599 | Thesis |
Spring 2020 | |
---|---|
Course Number | Course Title |
PSY 399 | Supervised Research |
PSY 498 | Pro-Seminar |
PSY 499 | Individualized Instruction |
PSY 592 | Research |
Fall 2019 | |
---|---|
Course Number | Course Title |
PSY 341 | Developmental Psychology |
PSY 399 | Supervised Research |
PSY 499 | Individualized Instruction |
Spring 2019 | |
---|---|
Course Number | Course Title |
PSY 341 | Developmental Psychology |
PSY 399 | Supervised Research |
PSY 498 | Pro-Seminar |
PSY 499 | Individualized Instruction |
PSY 598 | Special Topics |
Fall 2018 | |
---|---|
Course Number | Course Title |
PSY 341 | Developmental Psychology |
PSY 399 | Supervised Research |
PSY 499 | Individualized Instruction |
Spring 2018 | |
---|---|
Course Number | Course Title |
PSY 341 | Developmental Psychology |
PSY 399 | Supervised Research |
PSY 499 | Individualized Instruction |
Fall 2017 | |
---|---|
Course Number | Course Title |
PSY 341 | Developmental Psychology |
PSY 399 | Supervised Research |
PSY 499 | Individualized Instruction |