Viridiana Benitez
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Mail code: 1104Campus: Tempe
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Viridiana Benitez’s research is in the area of cognitive development, with a focus on understanding how cognition and language experience support word learning across development. To answer these questions, Professor Benitez works with infants, children, and adults who have monolingual or bilingual language learning experiences. Coming from an immigrant family, Professor Benitez is a first generation college graduate. Benitez first attended community college, receiving an associate of arts in social sciences at San Jacinto College. She then transferred to the University of Houston, where she received a bachelor's of science in psychology. Benitez went on to complete a doctorate in developmental psychology at Indiana University, where she was a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow, and postdoctoral training at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she was a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellow.
- Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2014-2017
- Ph.D. Developmental Psychology, Indiana University 2013
- B.S. Psychology, University of Houston 2008
- A.A. San Jacinto College 2006
Benitez, V.L. & Robison, M.K. (2022). Pupillometry as a window into young children’s sustained attention. Journal of Intelligence, 10(4), https://doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence10040107.
Wojcik, E.H., Zettersten, M., Benitez, V.L. (2022). The map trap: Why and how word learning research should move beyond mapping. WIREs Cognitive Science, 13(4), e1596.
Prather, R., Benitez, V.L., Kendall Brooks, L., Dancy, C.L., Dilworth-Bart, J., Dutra, N.B., Faison, M.O., Figueroa, M., Holden, L.T.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.
Clifford, B.N., Tockdale, 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.
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.
Courses
2023 Summer
Course Number | Course Title |
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PSY 799 | Dissertation |
PSY 792 | Research |
2023 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
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PSY 792 | Research |
SHS 592 | Research |
SHS 592 | Research |
2022 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
PSY 792 | Research |
SHS 592 | Research |
PSY 341 | Developmental Psychology |
PSY 341 | Developmental Psychology |
2022 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
PSY 599 | Thesis |
PSY 792 | Research |
PSY 501 | Supervised Teaching |
PSY 498 | Pro-Seminar |
PSY 598 | Special Topics |
2021 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
SHS 592 | Research |
PSY 599 | Thesis |
2021 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
PSY 599 | Thesis |
PSY 341 | Developmental Psychology |
PSY 592 | Research |
PSY 341 | Developmental Psychology |
2020 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
PSY 592 | Research |
PSY 599 | Thesis |
2020 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
PSY 592 | Research |
PSY 498 | Pro-Seminar |
2019 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
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PSY 341 | Developmental Psychology |
PSY 341 | Developmental Psychology |
2019 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
PSY 341 | Developmental Psychology |
PSY 498 | Pro-Seminar |
PSY 598 | Special Topics |
2018 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
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PSY 341 | Developmental Psychology |