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Developmental Psychology - Monica Vanoncini

Monica Vanoncini (MSc)

PhD-student in the Research Focus Cognitive Sciences (RFCS)

 

Campus Golm
Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24-25
14476 Potsdam
Bldg 14, Room 1.35

 

consulting hours
by appointment

For questions regarding the supervision of bachelor and master theses in developmental psychology, please contact:

In 2016, Monica obtained her Bachelor´s degree in Speech and Language Therapy at the University of Milan (Italy). She did her thesis on the effects of myofunctional therapy in patients with atypical swallowing, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Antonio Schindler and Dr. Giacomo Begnoni. Since then, Monica worked as a Speech and Language Therapist at the Centro S. Maria al Castello in Milan. During that time, she completed an advanced training course on Specific Learning Disorders (200h).

In 2018, she received a fully-funded scholarship from the European Union to join the European Master´s in Clinical Linguistics (EMCL+). She was trained at the University of Eastern Finland (Finland), University of Groningen (The Netherlands) and University of Potsdam (Germany). Monica interned at the Center for Language and Brain at the Higher School of Economics (Russia), where she worked on her Master´s thesis, “The contribution of the auditory and motor cortex in the processing of action and sound verbs”, under the supervision of Dr. Adrià Rofes (University of Groningen) and Dr. Olga Dragoy (Center for Language and Brain, HSE). She graduated in August 2020.

In September 2020, Monica started her PhD position at the University of Potsdam, funded by the university's Research Focus Cognitive Sciences (RFCS) and supervised by Dr. Ezgi Kayhan, Prof. Dr. Natalie Boll-Avetisyan, and Prof. Dr. Birgit Elsner. Using several methods such as fNIRS, electrocardiography, eye tracking, she examines the role of multilevel interpersonal synchrony in language development in infants and toddlers. Monica visited the Wiener Kinderstudien Lab in Vienna (November 2020 – June 2022) to work with Prof. Dr. Stefanie Höhl.

In October 2022, Monica joined the DFG-funded research unit “Crossing the Borders”. Together with Prof. Dr. Birgit Elsner and Prof. Dr. Isabell Wartenburger, they investigate the interplay of bottom-up and top-down processes in the segmentation of speech and action.

Publications

Vanoncini, M., Hoehl, S., Elsner, B., Wallot, S., Boll-Avetisyan, N., & Kayhan, E. (2024). Mother-infant social gaze dynamics relate to infant brain activity and word segmentation. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 65, 101331. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2023.101331

Vanoncini, M., Boll-Avetisyan, N., Elsner, B., Höhl, S., & Kayhan, E. (2022). The role of mother-infant emotional synchrony in speech processing in 9-month-old infants. Infant Behavior and Development, 69, 101772. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2022.101772.Open Access article: https://psyarxiv.com/shu5g/[awarded Paper of the Month by the Research Focus Cognitive Sciences - November 2022]

Vanoncini, M., Pozdnyakova, V., Dragoy, O., & Rofes, A. (2021). Motor and auditory priming in a lexical decision task with action and sound verbs. The Russian Journal of Cognitive Science, 8(3), 13–32. https://doi.org/10.47010/21.3.2

Conference contributions

Oral presentations

Vanoncini, M., Boll-Avetisyan, N., Elsner, B., Höhl, S., & Kayhan, E. “Mother-Infant Cardiac Synchrony is Related to Word Segmentation at 9 Months of Age”. 2023 SRCD Biennial Meeting, March 23-25, 2023. Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.

Vanoncini, M., Boll-Avetisyan, N., Elsner, B., Höhl, S., & Kayhan, E. “Mother-Infant Neural Synchrony and its Role in Language Development”. Summer School: Hands-on fNIRS data analysis for fundamental, applied and clinical research, August 2-6, 2021. Tübingen, Germany [selected for accommodation funding by the fNIRS-SummerSchool Committee]

Vanoncini, M., Dragoy, O., Pozdnyakova, V., & Rofes, A. “The Contribution of the Motor and Auditory Cortex in Priming Action and Sound Verbs: a Pilot Study”. International Online Conference of Psycholinguistic and Neurolinguistics Research: Methods, Materials, and Approaches (PSYNEUROLING), 17-18 December, 2020.

Poster presentations

Vanoncini, M., Boll-Avetisyan, N., Elsner, B., Höhl, S., & Kayhan, E. “The role of mother-infant emotional synchrony in speech processing in 9-month-old infants”. The International Congress of Infant Studies (ICIS), July 7-10, 2022. Ottawa, Canada

Vanoncini, M., Boll-Avetisyan, N., Elsner, B., Höhl, S., & Kayhan, E. “The effect of mother-infant physiological synchrony on early lexical acquisition”. The International Congress of Infant Studies (ICIS), July 7-10, 2022. Ottawa, Canada

Vanoncini, M., Boll-Avetisyan, N., Elsner, B., Höhl, S., & Kayhan, E. “The role of mother-infant emotional synchrony in speech processing in 9-month-old infants”. Workshop on Infant Language Development (WILD), June 9-11, 2022. Donostia/San Sebastian, Spain

Vanoncini, M., Boll-Avetisyan, N., Elsner, B., Höhl, S., & Kayhan, E. “The effect of mother-infant cardiac synchrony on early lexical acquisition”. IMPRS Conference, June 1-3, 2022

Vanoncini, M., Boll-Avetisyan, N., Elsner, B., Höhl, S., & Kayhan, E. “Die Rolle des Rhythmus beim Erlernen von Emotionen und Sprachen”. Potsdamer Tag der Wissenschaften, May 7th, 2022. Potsdam, Germany

Vanoncini, M., Boll-Avetisyan, N., Elsner, B., Höhl, S., & Kayhan, E. “The role of mother-infant emotional synchrony in speech processing in 9-month-old infants”. 9th MindBrainBody Symposium, March 16-18, 2022

Vanoncini, M., Boll-Avetisyan, N., Elsner, B., Höhl, S., & Kayhan, E. “Mother-infant physiological synchrony and its role in language development”. 6th Lancaster International Conference on Infant and early Child Development (LCICD), August 25-27, 2021

Vanoncini, M., Boll-Avetisyan, N., Elsner, B., Höhl, S., & Kayhan, E. “The effect of mother-infant cardiac attunement on early lexical acquisition”. CEU Summer University on “Representing the world in the developing mind: From objects to context”, July 12-17, 2021.

Vanoncini, M., Boll-Avetisyan, N., Elsner, B., Höhl, S., & Kayhan, E. “Interpersonal synchrony and its role in language development in 9-month-old infants”. SRCD Virtual Biennial Meeting, April 7-9, 2021.