Morse Scholar Alumni 2016–2017
Current Position
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology
Learning & Development Lab
Early Childhood Cognition Research Group
Arizona State University
Contact
About
Viridiana is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at Arizona State University and directs the Learning & Development Lab. She also co-founded the Early Childhood Cognition Research Group at ASU.
Her research focuses on understanding how cognition and experience shape word learning across development. She studies this question by working with infants, children, and adults from monolingual and bilingual backgrounds using experimental and observational methods.
The ultimate goal of her research is to identify the factors that support or hinder word learning in order to promote the success of children growing up in diverse language learning environments.
Education
| 2006 | AA | Social Sciences | San Jacinto Community College |
| 2008 | BS | Psychology | University of Houston |
| 2013 | PhD | Developmental Psychology | Indiana University-Bloomington |
| 2016–2017 | Morse Scholar | Major Professor: Jenny Saffran, PhD | Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison |
In the News
- Online platform streamlines study recruitment, reduces costs
March 15, 2024 - Award-winning professor launches hybrid learning experience for online students
December 22, 2022 - Expecting to learn: Language acquisition in toddlers improved by predictable situations
August 16, 2018 - New ASU psychology professor studies how we learn language
March 07, 2018
Videos
Viridiana Benitez Feature
Viridiana Benitez, ASU Professor Studying Bilingualism
Selected Publications
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Li, Y., & Benitez, V. L. (2024). Probing the role of multilingualism and working memory in cross-situational word learning. Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition, 10.1037/xlm0001361. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/xlm0001361
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Benitez, V. L., & Robison, M. K. (2022). Pupillometry as a Window into Young Children’s Sustained Attention. Journal of Intelligence, 10(4), 107. https://doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence10040107
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Wojcik, E. H., Zettersten, M., & Benitez, V. L. (2022). The map trap: Why and how word learning research should move beyond mapping. Wiley interdisciplinary reviews. Cognitive science, 13(4), e1596. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcs.1596
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Prather, R. W., Benitez, V. L., Brooks, L. K., Dancy, C. L., Dilworth-Bart, J., Dutra, N. B., Faison, M. O., Figueroa, M., Holden, L. R., Johnson, C., Medrano, J., Miller-Cotto, D., Matthews, P. G., Manly, J. J., & Thomas, A. K. (2022). What Can Cognitive Science Do for People?. Cognitive science, 46(6), e13167. https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.13167
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Clifford, B. N., Stockdale, L. A., Coyne, S. M., Rainey, V., & Benitez, V. L. (2022). Speaking of State of Mind: Maternal Mental Health Predicts Children’s Home Language Environment and Expressive Language. Journal of child language, 49(3), 469–485. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000921000131
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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. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001024
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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. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0253039