I got my PhD at the University of Barcelona (1996) about individual differences in impulsiveness (using psychophysiological measures). Afterwards, in 1999 and 2002, I worked at the University of Magdeburg (Germany) as a post-doctoral researcher. The main topics of research were bilingual language processing, executive functions and the brain correlates of error detection and error correction. In 2002, I got a “Ramón y Cajal” research position from the Spanish Government and afterwards I joined ICREA as a Research Professor.

Research interests

My main interest has been on the cognitive neuroscience of language and executive functions, particularly on language learning and human action monitoring (human error detection and correction processes). I have tried to combine the use of different neuroimaging techniques (electrophysiological and magnetic resonance imaging), crucial in order to better understand human cognitive functions. The last years I have also been very interested in developing new paradigms related to the main research questions in which I am currently interested: how do we learn a new language? In this respect, we have carried out a large number of experiments with the aim of evaluating and testing different models, which will be further explored using neuroimaging tools. Finally, we have been also studying in which degree genetic variability related to certain neurotransmitters (dopamine) influences cognitive processing, and specially, the way in which we process erroneous actions and reward experiences.