- B231, Portland Square, Drake Circus, Plymouth, PL4 8AA
- +44 1752 584822
- caroline.floccia@plymouth.ac.uk
Profiles
Professor Caroline Floccia
Professor in Developmental Psychology
School of Psychology (Faculty of Health)
Professor Caroline Floccia can be contacted through arrangement with our Press Office, to speak to the media on these areas of expertise.
- Language development
- Developmental psychology
Email publicrelations@plymouth.ac.uk to enquire.
Biography
Biography
Associate Head of School (research)
Qualifications
Education
1991/96: Doctorate in cognitive science (psychology)
« Speech perception and learning in neonates: a methodological study of the High Amplitude Sucking procedure.»
Under the supervision of Professor Jacques Mehler and Dr Josiane Bertoncini, Laboratory for Cognitive Science and Psycholinguistics, CNRS-EHESS, Paris. Doctorate obtained 25th November 1996 with honours.
1990/91: DEA in cognitive science (equivalent to MSc)
University of Paris VI and EHESS (Paris)
PhD grants from the French Ministry of Research (December 1991 – November 1994)
1987/90: Civil engineer
Superior School for Civil Engineering, Paris
1984/87: Preparatory School in Maths and Physics
Employment history
- August 2018-present: Professor in Developmental Psychology.
- October 2010-August 2018: Reader in developmental psychology, School of Psychology, University of Plymouth.
- September 2006-October 2010: Lecturer in developmental psychology, School of Psychology, University of Plymouth.
- September 2005-August 2006: Research Delegation at the CNRS, Laboratory Speech and Language, University of Provence.
- September 1997-2006: Permanent Lecturer in cognitive development, University of Franche-Comté, Laboratory of Psychology (EA3188).
- October 1995-September 1997: Research and teaching associate, University of Geneva, Laboratory of Experimental Psycholinguistics, under the supervision of Professor Ulrich Frauenfelder.
- December 1994-August 1995: post-doctoral researcher (HCM), ULB, Brussels, Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, under the supervision of Professor José Morais.
Teaching
Teaching
Teaching interests
Psycholinguistics, language development, cognitive development.
Research
Research
Research interests
My research interests have been focused on speech perception in adults, children and infants within a psycholinguistic perspective. The common feature of these research topics has been the study of linguistic representations used in online information processing. Recently, I have been particularly interested in accents and dialects processing and learning throughout development, as well as bilingual development.
Grants & contracts
- 2020-2023: CI GCRF Research grant, Language development in Arabic-speaking children in the early years: Tackling the roots of academic and social inequalities, £1,782,594 including £671,827 for University of Plymouth
- 2013-2016: PI ESRC Research grant, Lexical development in bilingual toddler. £830,364, including £741,182 for Plymouth University.
- 2010-2013: PI ESRC/ANR Bilateral grant, Representations of consonants and vowels in French and English from infancy to adulthood, £454,100 plus £167,058 for the French team.
- 2009-2010: PI – “Phonological representations in bidialectal listeners”. ESRC Small Grants, £79,578.
- 2008-2010: PI – “The effect of bilingualism and bidialectalism on word learning in 14- to 20-month-old children”. Nuffield Social Sciences Small Grant, £7,004.
- 2008-2009: CI - Alliance Project (British Council), “The processing of consonants and vowels in French- and English-speaking children and adults”, awarded to Dr Jeremy Goslin, £3,640.
Publications
Publications
Key publications
Key publications are highlighted
Journals
Articles
(2023) 'Vowels and Consonants Matter Equally to British English-Learning 11-Month-Olds’ Familiar Word Form Recognition' Journal of Child Language 1-24 , DOI Open access
(2022) 'Promoting early language development in the Arab world and sustainable development goals 3, 4, 10 and 17' International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology 1-6 , DOI Open access
(2021) 'Facebook sharenting in mothers of young children: The risks are worth it but only for some' Technology, Mind, and Behavior 2, (4) , DOI Open access
(2021) 'Supplemental Material for Facebook sharenting in mothers of young children: The risks are worth it but only for some' Technology, Mind, and Behavior 2, (4) , DOI Open access
(2021) 'An Adaptation of the MacArthur-Bates CDI in 17 Arabic Dialects for Children Aged 8 to 30 Months' Language Learning and Development 1-22 , DOI Open access
(2020) 'Quantifying Sources of Variability in Infancy Research Using the Infant-Directed-Speech Preference' Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science 3, (1) 24-52 , DOI Open access
(2020) 'Translation equivalent and cross-language semantic priming in bilingual toddlers' Journal of Memory and Language , DOI Open access
(2019) 'Gestures and words in naming: Evidence from cross-linguistic and cross-cultural comparison' Language Learning 69, (3) 709-746 Publisher Site , DOI Open access
(2018) 'Children's scale errors are a natural consequence of learning to associate objects with actions: A computational model' Developmental Science e12777-e12777 , DOI Open access
(2018) 'Translation, cultural adaptation and validation of the cognistat for its use in Arabic speaking population with acquired brain injury' European Journal of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine , DOI Open access
(2018) 'Children's scale errors: A by-product of lexical development?' Developmental Science 22, (2) 0-0 , DOI Open access
(2018) 'I: INTRODUCTION' Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development 83, (1) 7-29 , DOI Open access
(2018) 'II: METHODS' Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development 83, (1) 30-42 , DOI Open access
(2018) 'III: ANALYSES AND RESULTS FOR STUDY 1: ESTIMATING THE EFFECT OF LINGUISTIC DISTANCE ON VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT' Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development 83, (1) 43-60 , DOI Open access
(2018) 'IV: RESULTS FOR STUDIES 2 AND 3: THE UKBTAT MODEL AND ITS APPLICATION TO NONTARGET ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE LEARNERS' Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development 83, (1) 61-67 , DOI Open access
(2018) 'V: GENERAL DISCUSSION' Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development 83, (1) 68-80 , DOI Open access
(2018) 'Vocabulary of 2-Year-Olds Learning English and an Additional Language: Norms and Effects of Linguistic Distance' Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development , DOI Open access
(2017) 'Decreased attention to object size information in scale errors performers' Infant Behavior and Development 47, 72-82 , DOI Open access
(2017) 'A Collaborative Approach to Infant Research: Promoting Reproducibility, Best Practices, and Theory-Building' Infancy , DOI Open access
(2017) 'Rapid detection of snakes modulates spatial orienting in infancy' International Journal of Behavioral Development 0, 0165025417693955-0165025417693955 Publisher Site , DOI Open access
(2016) 'Infants' First Words are not Phonetically Specified: Own Name Recognition in British English-Learning 5-Month-Olds' Infancy 22, (3) 362-388 , DOI Open access
(2016) 'Inner speech sustains predictable task switching: direct evidence in adults' Journal of Cognitive Psychology 28, (5) 585-592 , DOI Open access
(2016) 'British English infants segment words only with exaggerated infant-directed speech stimuli' Cognition 148, 1-9 , DOI Open access
(2015) 'A methodological investigation of the Intermodal Preferential Looking paradigm: Methods of analyses, picture selection and data rejection criteria' Infant Behavior and Development 40, 151-172 , DOI Open access
(2015) 'Call me Alix, not Elix: vowels are more important than consonants in own-name recognition at 5 months' Dev Sci 18, (4) 587-598 , DOI Open access
(2015) 'Monodialectal and multidialectal infants' representation of familiar words' J Child Lang 42, (2) 447-465 , DOI Open access
(2014) 'Utterance-Final Lengthening Is Predictive of Infants' Discrimination of English Accents' LANGUAGE LEARNING 64, 27-44 , DOI Open access
(2014) 'English-learning one- to two-year-olds do not show a consonant bias in word learning' J Child Lang 41, (5) 1085-1114 , DOI Open access
(2014) 'Differential processing of consonants and vowels in the auditory modality: A cross-linguistic study' JOURNAL OF MEMORY AND LANGUAGE 72, 1-15 , DOI Open access
(2014) 'How much exposure to English is necessary for a bilingual toddler to perform like a monolingual peer in vocabulary assessment?' International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders 49, (6) 649-671 , DOI Open access
(2012) 'Parent or community: where do 20-month-olds exposed to two accents acquire their representation of words?' Cognition 124, (1) 95-100 , DOI Open access
(2012) 'Activation of phonological and semantic codes in toddlers' JOURNAL OF MEMORY AND LANGUAGE 66, (4) 612-622 , DOI Open access
(2012) 'An ERP investigation of regional and foreign accent processing' Brain and Language 2, (122) 92-102 , DOI Open access
(2012) 'Linguistic processing of accented speech across the lifespan' Front Psychol 3, , DOI Open access
(2012) 'Syllable effects in a fragment-detection task in italian listeners' Front Psychol 3, , DOI Open access
(2010) 'Lexical stress and phonetic processing in word learning in 20-to 24-month-old English-learning children' DEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE 14, (3) 602-613 , DOI Open access
(2010) 'Infants’ Discrimination of Familiar and Unfamiliar Accents in Speech' Infancy , DOI Open access
(2009) 'Regional and foreign accent processing in English: can listeners adapt?' J Psycholinguist Res 38, (4) 379-412 , DOI Open access
(2009) 'Categorization of regional and foreign accent in 5-to 7-year-old British children' INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BEHAVIORAL DEVELOPMENT 33, (4) 366-375 , DOI Open access
(2009) 'Bias for consonantal information over vocalic information in 30-month-olds: cross-linguistic evidence from French and English' J Exp Child Psychol 102, (4) 522-537 , DOI Open access
(2008) 'Perception and awareness of accents in young children' British Journal of Developmental Psychology 26, (3) 409-433 Open access
(2007) 'Comparing French syllabification in preliterate children and adults' Applied Psycholinguistics 28, (2) 341-367 , DOI Open access
(2006) 'Does a regional accent perturb speech processing?' Journal of Experimental Psychology-Human Perception and Performance 32, (5) 1276-1293 Open access
(2003) 'Discriminating spoken words in French: The role of the syllable and the CV phonological skeleton' Language and Cognitive Processes 18 (3), 241-267 , DOI
(2003) 'Linguistic and conceptual development from one to six years: an introduction' Developmental Science 6, (2) 119-121
(2000) 'Unfamiliar voice discrimination for short stimuli in newborns' DEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE 3, (3) 333-343 , DOI
(1998) 'Discrimination of pitch contours by neonates' Infant Behavior and Development 21, (4) 779-784 , DOI
(1997) 'High-amplitude sucking and newborns: the quest for underlying mechanisms' J Exp Child Psychol 64, (2) 175-198 , DOI
(1995) 'Morae and syllables: rhythmical basis of speech representations in neonates' Lang Speech 38 ( Pt 4), 311-329 , DOI
(1993) 'From Initial Speech Perception to Language-Specific Processing: An Overview of Cross-Linguistic Research' 265-279 , DOI
Chapters
(1999) 'The Recognition of Spoken Words' Language Comprehension: A Biological Perspective Springer Berlin Heidelberg 1-40 , DOI
(1998) 'The Recognition of Spoken Word' Language Comprehension: A Biological Perspective Springer Berlin Heidelberg 1-40 , DOI
Conference Papers
(2016) 'Five-month-old infants’ discrimination of unfamiliar languages does not accord with "rhythm class"' Speech Prosody 2016 ISCA , DOI
(2015) 'Assessment of Cognitive Function in Arabic Speaking Population with Stroke: A pilot study' 262-262
(2014) 'Children in a wonderland: How language and scale errors may be linked' 2014 Joint IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning and Epigenetic Robotics (ICDL-EpiRob) Genoa, Italy 0-/-1/20140-/-1/2014IEEE 269-274 , DOI
(2014) 'Special session: Dynamic interactions between visual experiences, actions and word learning' 2014 Joint IEEE International Conferences on Development and Learning and Epigenetic Robotics (ICDL-Epirob) 0-/-1/20140-/-1/2014IEEE , DOI
(2012) 'Inner Speech and Task Switching in Adults' in Miyake N; Peebles D; Cooper RP cognitivesciencesociety.org Publisher Site
(2011) 'Modeling U Shaped Performance Curves in Ongoing Development' 3034-3039