Laia Fibla
I am a FRQSC Postdoctoral Fellow at the Infant Research Laboratory at Concrodia University in Montreal, Canada.
I am developmental psychologist researching how infants acquire language through their environments.
My current research is focused on investigating how children that hear one or multiple languages learn words and build their vocabulary, and how this varies across diverse societies and cultures. I also study how differences in the language that children hear around them shape the structure of the brain, as well as their language skills throughout development.
I use a wide range of experimental techniques from cognitive sciences, including portable and in-lab eyetracking, home audio recordings and computational modelling.
General research interests: Language development, Word learning, Vocabulary, Language exposure, Cross-cultural, Bilingualism, Multilingualism, Brain development, Myelin, Language processing.
Publications
generated by
2024
(6)
Testing theories of the vocabulary spurt with monolingual and bilingual infants.
Dı́az, Miranda, G.; Fibla, L.; Tsui, R. K.; and Byers-Heinlein, K.
Developmental Psychology, 60(8): 1357. 2024.
doi
link
bibtex
@article{gomez2024testing,
title={Testing theories of the vocabulary spurt with monolingual and bilingual infants.},
author={G{\'o}mez D{\'\i}az, Miranda and Fibla, Laia and Tsui, Rachel Ka-Ying and Byers-Heinlein, Krista},
DOI={https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001777},
journal={Developmental Psychology},
volume={60},
number={8},
pages={1357},
year={2024},
publisher={American Psychological Association}
}
Early word learning profiles and vocabulary development: a k-mean clustering approach.
Fibla, L.; Spencer, J. P; and Samuelson, L. K
In
International Congress of Infant Studies (ICIS), Glasgow (UK), 2024.
link
bibtex
@inproceedings{Fibla2024icis1,
title={Early word learning profiles and vocabulary development: a k-mean clustering approach},
author={Fibla, Laia and Spencer, John P and Samuelson, Larissa K},
booktitle={International Congress of Infant Studies (ICIS), Glasgow (UK)},
year={2024}
}
Bilingual primary caregivers and their children match their language choices during interactions.
Fibla, L.; Kosie, J.; Sander-Montant, A.; Tsui, R. K.; Potter, C.; Lew-Williams, C.; and Byers-Heinlein, K.
In
International Congress of Infant Studies (ICIS), Glasgow (UK), 2024.
link
bibtex
@inproceedings{Fibla2024icis2,
title={Bilingual primary caregivers and their children match their language choices during interactions},
author={Fibla, Laia and Kosie, Jessica and Sander-Montant, Andrea and Tsui, Rachel Ka-Ying and Potter, Christine and Lew-Williams, Casey and Byers-Heinlein, Krista},
booktitle={International Congress of Infant Studies (ICIS), Glasgow (UK)},
year={2024}
}
All eyes on word comprehension: A comparative analysis of infant looking-while-listening measures.
Sander-Montant, A.; Byers-Heinlein, K.; and Fibla, L.
In
International Congress of Infant Studies (ICIS), Glasgow (UK), 2024.
link
bibtex
@inproceedings{SanderMontantFibla2024icis,
title={All eyes on word comprehension: A comparative analysis of infant looking-while-listening measures},
author={Sander-Montant, Andrea and Byers-Heinlein, Krista and Fibla, Laia},
booktitle={International Congress of Infant Studies (ICIS), Glasgow (UK)},
year={2024}
}
Spurters vs. non-spurters: Comparing vocabulary size and language exposure in infants who do and do not show a vocabulary spurt.
Gómez Díaz, M.; Fibla, L.; Tsui, R. K.; and Byers-Heinlein, K.
In
International Congress of Infant Studies (ICIS), Glasgow (UK), 2024.
link
bibtex
@inproceedings{GomezDiaztFibla2024icis,
title={Spurters vs. non-spurters: Comparing vocabulary size and language exposure in infants who do and do not show a vocabulary spurt},
author={Gómez Díaz, Miranda and Fibla, Laia and Tsui, Rachel Ka-Ying and Byers-Heinlein, Krista},
booktitle={International Congress of Infant Studies (ICIS), Glasgow (UK)},
year={2024}
}
2023
(4)
Patterns of language switching and bilingual children’s word learning: An experiment across two communities.
Tsui, R. K.; Kosie, J.; Fibla, L.; Lew-Williams, C.; and Byers-Heinlein, K.
. 2023.
doi
link
bibtex
@article{tsui2023patterns,
title={Patterns of language switching and bilingual children’s word learning: An experiment across two communities},
author={Tsui, Rachel KY and Kosie, Jessica and Fibla, Laia and Lew-Williams, Casey and Byers-Heinlein, Krista},
year={2023},
publisher={PsyArXiv},
DOI={https://doi.org/10.1037/tps0000353}
}
Language exposure and brain myelination in early development.
Fibla, L.; Forbes, S. H; McCarthy, J.; Mee, K.; Magnotta, V.; Deoni, S.; Cameron, D.; and Spencer, J. P
Journal of Neuroscience, 43(23): 4279–4290. 2023.
doi
link
bibtex
@article{fibla2023language,
title={Language exposure and brain myelination in early development},
author={Fibla, Laia and Forbes, Samuel H and McCarthy, Jordan and Mee, Kate and Magnotta, Vincent and Deoni, Sean and Cameron, Donnie and Spencer, John P},
DOI={https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1034-22.2023},
journal={Journal of Neuroscience},
volume={43},
number={23},
pages={4279--4290},
year={2023},
publisher={Soc Neuroscience}
}
Cross-Community Differences in Bilingual Infants' Experience with Language Switching.
Kosie, J. E; Tsui, R. K.; Martinez, T.; Sander, A.; Fibla, L.; Byers-Heinlein, K.; and Lew-Williams, C.
In
The 46th Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development (SRCD), Boston, Massachusetts (USA), 2023.
link
bibtex
@inproceedings{kosie2021bucldposter,
title={Cross-Community Differences in Bilingual Infants' Experience with Language Switching},
author={Kosie, Jessica E and Tsui, Rachel KY and Martinez, Taylor and Sander, Andrea and Fibla, Laia and Byers-Heinlein, Krista and Lew-Williams, Cassey},
booktitle={The 46th Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development (SRCD), Boston, Massachusetts (USA)},
year={2023}
}
Caregiver-Child Language Synchrony Across two Bilingual Communities.
Fibla, L.; Kosie, J. E; Tsui, R. K.; Martinez, T.; Sander, A.; Lew-Williams, C.; and Byers-Heinlein, K.
In
The Biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), Salt Lake City, Utah (USA), 2023.
link
bibtex
@inproceedings{Fibla2023srcdposter,
title={Caregiver-Child Language Synchrony Across two Bilingual Communities},
author={Fibla, Laia and Kosie, Jessica E and Tsui, Rachel KY and Martinez, Taylor and Sander, Andrea and Lew-Williams, Cassey and Byers-Heinlein, Krista},
booktitle={The Biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), Salt Lake City, Utah (USA)},
year={2023}
}
2022
(4)
Bilingual language development in infancy: What can we do to support bilingual families?.
Fibla, L.; Kosie, J. E; Kircher, R.; Lew-Williams, C.; and Byers-Heinlein, K.
Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 9(1): 35–43. 2022.
doi
link
bibtex
@article{fibla2022bilingualpolicy,
title={Bilingual language development in infancy: What can we do to support bilingual families?},
author={Fibla, Laia and Kosie, Jessica E and Kircher, Ruth and Lew-Williams, Casey and Byers-Heinlein, Krista},
DOI={10.1177/23727322211069312},
journal={Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences},
volume={9},
number={1},
pages={35--43},
year={2022},
publisher={SAGE Publications Sage CA: Los Angeles, CA}
}
Factors structuring lexical development in toddlers: The effects of parental education, language exposure, and age.
Scaff, C.; Fibla, L.; and Cristia, A.
Journal of Child Language,1–21. 2022.
doi
link
bibtex
@article{scaff2022factors,
title={Factors structuring lexical development in toddlers: The effects of parental education, language exposure, and age},
author={Scaff, Camila and Fibla, Laia and Cristia, Alejandrina},
journal={Journal of Child Language},
pages={1--21},
year={2022},
publisher={Cambridge University Press},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000922000186}
}
Infants' exposure to language switching in bilingual homes across two communities.
Kosie, J. E; Fibla, L.; Tsui, R. K.; Martinez, T.; Sander, A.; Byers-Heinlein, K.; and Lew-Williams, C.
In
The International Congress of Infant Studies (ICIS), Ottawa, ON (Canada), 2022.
link
bibtex
@inproceedings{Kosie2022icistalk,
title={Infants' exposure to language switching in bilingual homes across two communities},
author={Kosie, Jessica E and Fibla, Laia and Tsui, Rachel KY and Martinez, Taylor and Sander, Andrea and Byers-Heinlein, Krista and Lew-Williams, Cassey},
booktitle={The International Congress of Infant Studies (ICIS), Ottawa, ON (Canada)},
year={2022}
}
Children's exposure to language switching in bilingual homes across two communities.
Fibla, L.; Kosie, J. E; Tsui, R. K.; Martinez, T.; Sander, A.; Potter, C.; Byers-Heinlein, K.; and Lew-Williams, C.
In
the Bi-Ennial Conference of the Cognitive Development Society (CDS). Madison, WI (USA), 2022.
link
bibtex
@inproceedings{Fibla2022CDSposter,
title={Children's exposure to language switching in bilingual homes across two communities.},
author={Fibla, Laia and Kosie, Jessica E and Tsui, Rachel KY and Martinez, Taylor and Sander, Andrea and Potter, Christine and Byers-Heinlein, Krista and Lew-Williams, Cassey},
booktitle={the Bi-Ennial Conference of the Cognitive Development Society (CDS). Madison, WI (USA)},
year={2022}
}
2021
(4)
Is there a bilingual disadvantage for word segmentation? A computational modeling approach.
Fibla, L.; Sebastian-Galles, N.; and Cristia, A.
Journal of Child Language,1–28. 2021.
doi
link
bibtex
@article{fiblabilwordseg,
title={Is there a bilingual disadvantage for word segmentation? A computational modeling approach},
DOI={10.1017/S0305000921000568},
author={Fibla, Laia and Sebastian-Galles, Nuria and Cristia, Alejandrina},
journal={Journal of Child Language},
pages={1–28},
year={2021},
publisher={Cambridge University Press}
}
The links between Language Exposure and Brain Structure in early childhood.
Fibla, L.; Forbes, S. H; Samuelson, L. K; Magnotta, V. A; Deoni, S.; and Spencer, J. P
In
The 2021 Virtual Biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), 2021.
link
bibtex
@inproceedings{Fibla2021srcdposter,
title={The links between Language Exposure and Brain Structure in early childhood},
author={Fibla, Laia and Forbes, Samuel H and Samuelson, Larissa K and Magnotta, Vincent A and Deoni, Sean and Spencer, John P},
booktitle={The 2021 Virtual Biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD)},
year={2021}
}
2020
(4)
WordSeg: Standardizing unsupervised word form segmentation from text.
Bernard, M.; Thiolliere, R.; Saksida, A.; Loukatou, G. R; Larsen, E.; Johnson, M.; Fibla, L.; Dupoux, E.; Daland, R.; Cao, X. N.; and others
Behavior research methods, 52(1): 264–278. 2020.
doi
link
bibtex
@article{bernard2020wordseg,
title={WordSeg: Standardizing unsupervised word form segmentation from text},
author={Bernard, Mathieu and Thiolliere, Roland and Saksida, Amanda and Loukatou, Georgia R and Larsen, Elin and Johnson, Mark and Fibla, Laia and Dupoux, Emmanuel and Daland, Robert and Cao, Xuan Nga and others},
journal={Behavior research methods},
volume={52},
number={1},
pages={264--278},
year={2020},
publisher={Springer},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-019-01223-3}
}
% presentations
Early Language Processing and Language Exposure across-cultures: UK and India.
Fibla, L.; Samuelson, L. K; Singh, V.; Kumar, A.; and Spencer, J. P
In
The virtual International Congress of Infant Studies (vICIS), 2020.
link
bibtex
@inproceedings{Fibla2020vicistalk,
title={Early Language Processing and Language Exposure across-cultures: UK and India},
author={Fibla, Laia and Samuelson, Larissa K and Singh, Vinay and Kumar, Aarti and Spencer, John P},
booktitle={The virtual International Congress of Infant Studies (vICIS)},
year={2020}
}
The LENA system applied to the Awadhi dialect: Measuring language exposure in rural India.
Fibla, L.; Singh, J.; Singh, V.; Kumar, A.; Samuelson, L. K; and Spencer, J. P
In
The virtual International Congress of Infant Studies (vICIS), 2020.
link
bibtex
@inproceedings{Fibla2020vicisposter,
title={The LENA system applied to the Awadhi dialect: Measuring language exposure in rural India},
author={Fibla, Laia and Singh, Jyoti and Singh, Vinay and Kumar, Aarti and Samuelson, Larissa K and Spencer, John P},
booktitle={The virtual International Congress of Infant Studies (vICIS)},
year={2020}
}
Language exposure and brain structure in early childhood.
Fibla, L.; Forbes, S. H; Samuelson, L. K; Magnotta, V. A; Deoni, S.; and Spencer, J. P
In
The Flux 2020 Virtual Congress, 2020.
link
bibtex
@inproceedings{Fibla2020vflux,
title={Language exposure and brain structure in early childhood},
author={Fibla, Laia and Forbes, Samuel H and Samuelson, Larissa K and Magnotta, Vincent A and Deoni, Sean and Spencer, John P},
booktitle={The Flux 2020 Virtual Congress},
year={2020}
}
2019
(2)
Early Language Processing and Brain Development: A comparative study between the UK and India.
Fibla, L.; Spencer, J. P; and Samuelson, L. K
In
The Biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), Baltimore (USA), 2019.
link
bibtex
@inproceedings{Fibla2019srcd,
title={Early Language Processing and Brain Development: A comparative study between the UK and India},
author={Fibla, Laia and Spencer, John P and Samuelson, Larissa K},
booktitle={The Biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), Baltimore (USA)},
year={2019}
}
2018
(4)
Learning homophones in context: Easy cases are favored in the lexicon of natural languages.
Dautriche, I.; Fibla, L.; Fievet, A.; and Christophe, A.
Cognitive psychology, 104: 83–105. 2018.
doi
link
bibtex
@article{dautriche2018learning,
title={Learning homophones in context: Easy cases are favored in the lexicon of natural languages},
author={Dautriche, Isabelle and Fibla, Laia and Fievet, Anne-Caroline and Christophe, Anne},
journal={Cognitive psychology},
volume={104},
pages={83--105},
year={2018},
publisher={Elsevier},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogpsych.2018.04.001}
}
Validation of the Early Language Processing assessment across UK and India.
Fibla, L.; Spencer, J. P; and Samuelson, L. K
In
The 2nd BPS East of England Conference, University of East Anglia, Norwich (UK), 2018.
link
bibtex
@inproceedings{Fibla2018bps,
title={Validation of the Early Language Processing assessment across UK and India},
author={Fibla, Laia and Spencer, John P and Samuelson, Larissa K},
booktitle={The 2nd BPS East of England Conference, University of East Anglia, Norwich (UK)},
year={2018}
}
Early Language Processing: A comparative study between the UK and India.
Fibla, L.; Spencer, J. P; and Samuelson, L. K
In
University of Bologna and University of Pittsburgh Joint international workshop on Understanding and Promoting change from early to complex skills in typical and atypical development: A cross-population Approach, Bologna (Italy), 2018.
link
bibtex
@inproceedings{Fibla2018bologna,
title={Early Language Processing: A comparative study between the UK and India},
author={Fibla, Laia and Spencer, John P and Samuelson, Larissa K},
booktitle={University of Bologna and University of Pittsburgh Joint international workshop on Understanding and Promoting change from early to complex skills in typical and atypical development: A cross-population Approach, Bologna (Italy)},
year={2018}
}
2017
(2)
Bimodal language switching: New insights from signing and typing.
Schaeffner, S.; Fibla, L.; and Philipp, A. M
Journal of Memory and Language, 94: 1–14. 2017.
doi
link
bibtex
@article{schaeffner2017bimodal,
title={Bimodal language switching: New insights from signing and typing},
author={Schaeffner, Simone and Fibla, Laia and Philipp, Andrea M},
journal={Journal of Memory and Language},
volume={94},
pages={1--14},
year={2017},
publisher={Elsevier},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2016.11.002}
}
Vocabulary differences between monolingual and bilingual toddlers: a touch-screen study.
Fibla, L.; Maniel, C.; and Cristia, A.
In
IASCL 2017: 14th International Congress for the Study of Child Language, Lyon (France), 2017.
link
bibtex
@inproceedings{fibla2017touchscreen,
title={Vocabulary differences between monolingual and bilingual toddlers: a touch-screen study},
author={Fibla, Laia and Maniel, Charlotte and Cristia, Alejandrina},
booktitle={IASCL 2017: 14th International Congress for the Study of Child Language, Lyon (France)},
year={2017}
}
2016
(1)
Word comprehension and multilingualism among toddlers: A study using touch screens in daycares.
Fibla, L.; Maniel, C.; and Cristia, A.
In
Proceedings of the joint workshop on NLP for Computer Assisted Language Learning and NLP for Language Acquisition, pages 18–23, Umeå, Sweden, nov 2016. LiU Electronic Press
![Word comprehension and multilingualism among toddlers: A study using touch screens in daycares [link]](//bibbase.org/img/filetypes/link.svg "Paper")
Paper
link
bibtex
1 download
@inproceedings{fibla2016wordmanuscript,
title={Word comprehension and multilingualism among toddlers: A study using touch screens in daycares},
author={Fibla, Laia and Maniel, Charlotte and Cristia, Alejandrina},
booktitle={Proceedings of the joint workshop on {NLP} for Computer Assisted Language Learning and {NLP} for Language Acquisition},
month = {nov},
year={2016},
address = {Ume{\aa}, Sweden},
publisher = {LiU Electronic Press},
url={https://aclanthology.org/W16-6503},
pages={18--23}
}
2015
(3)
Learning homophones: Syntactic and semantic contexts matter.
Dautriche, I.; Fibla, L.; and Christophe, A.
In
Boston University Conference on Language Acquisition, Boston (USA), 2015.
link
bibtex
@inproceedings{dautriche2015learning,
title={Learning homophones: Syntactic and semantic contexts matter},
author={Dautriche, Isabelle and Fibla, Laia and Christophe, Anne},
booktitle={Boston University Conference on Language Acquisition, Boston (USA)},
year={2015}
}
Socio-economic differences in Argentinean toddlers’ language environments.
Rosemberg, C.; Menti, A.; Stein, A.; Alam, F.; Migdalek, M.; Ojea, G.; Fibla, L.; and Cristia, A.
In
Workshop on Extensive and Intensive Recordings of Children's Language Environment (WEIRCLE), Paris (France), 2015.
link
bibtex
@inproceedings{fibla2015ses,
title={Socio-economic differences in Argentinean toddlers’ language environments},
author={Rosemberg, Celia and Menti, Alejandra and Stein, Alejandra and Alam, Florencia and Migdalek, Maia and Ojea, Gladys and Fibla, Laia and Cristia, Alejandrina},
booktitle={Workshop on Extensive and Intensive Recordings of Children's Language Environment (WEIRCLE), Paris (France)},
year={2015}
}
Is there a bimodal advantage in language switching?.
Schaeffner, S.; Fibla, L.; and Philipp, A. M
In
Tagung experimentell arbeitender Psychologen (TeaP), Hildesheim (Germany), 2015.
link
bibtex
@inproceedings{Schaeffner2015bimodal,
title={Is there a bimodal advantage in language switching?},
author={Schaeffner, Simone and Fibla, Laia and Philipp, Andrea M},
booktitle={Tagung experimentell arbeitender Psychologen (TeaP), Hildesheim (Germany)},
year={2015}
}
Under Review
(2)
Measuring Language Processes Early in Development with the new ELP Task.
Fibla, L.; Spencer, J. P; and Samuelson, L. K
. Under Review.
link
bibtex
@article{fiblaELP,
title={Measuring Language Processes Early in Development with the new {ELP} Task},
author={Fibla, Laia and Spencer, John P and Samuelson, Larissa K},
journal={},
volume={},
pages={},
year={Under Review},
publisher={}
}
Measuring early Language Processes in rural India.
Fibla, L.; Samuelson, L. K; Sing, V.; Kumar, A.; and Spencer, J. P
. Under Review.
link
bibtex
@article{fiblaELPIndia,
title={Measuring early Language Processes in rural {India}},
author={Fibla, Laia and Samuelson, Larissa K and Sing, Vinay and Kumar, Arti and Spencer, John P},
journal={},
volume={},
pages={},
year={Under Review},
publisher={}
}
In Prep
(2)
Words and Seasons in Early Bilingualism.
Fibla, L.; and Byers-Heinlein, K.
. In Prep.
link
bibtex
@article{fiblaWordsSeasons,
title={Words and Seasons in Early Bilingualism},
author={Fibla, Laia and Byers-Heinlein, Krista},
journal={},
volume={},
pages={},
year={In Prep},
publisher={}
}
The LENA system applied to the Awadhi dialect.
Fibla, L.; Sing, J.; Sing, V.; Kumar, A.; Samuelson, L. K; and Spencer, J. P
. In Prep.
link
bibtex
@article{fiblalenaindia,
title={The {LENA} system applied to the {Awadhi} dialect},
author={Fibla, Laia and Sing, Jyoti and Sing, Vinay and Kumar, Arti and Samuelson, Larissa K and Spencer, John P},
journal={},
volume={},
pages={},
year={In Prep},
publisher={}
}
![Word comprehension and multilingualism among toddlers: A study using touch screens in daycares [link]](http://bibbase.org/img/filetypes/link.svg "Paper")