Andreea Geambasu is a guest researcher at the Centre for Linguistics.

More information about Andreea Geambasu

Fields of interest

• Cognitive development
• Language acquisition
• Language evolution
• Multilingualism
• (Infant) research methodology
• Replication studies

Research

In 2018, I completed my PhD thesis in language acquisition as part of an NWO-funded, interdisciplinary project studying the cognitive mechanisms underpinning the ability to form abstract rules from a given input. This ability is fundamental for the learning of grammar. With colleagues from the Institute for Biology Leiden (IBL) and from the Institute for Logic Language and Computation (ILLC) at the University of Amsterdam, we studied the evolution of linguistic capacities across species (songbirds and humans) and at how these capacities relate to cognitive constraints. For my thesis, I investigated the abstract rule learning abilities of adults and of infants between 6 and 14 months old under the supervision of prof. dr. Claartje Levelt. I focused on whether infants are able to extract abstract rules from patterns in auditory and visual input, and how different aspects of the presentation and testing method may influence this ability. I used behavioral methods to study how domain-general (e.g., perception, memory) or domain-specific (e.g., phonological or visual similarity) constraints may help or hinder rule learning. In addition to theoretical issues, my thesis also focuses on a number of methodological considerations, particularly related to replication studies and their importance in scientific research.

Teaching

2013 – 2017    –          Methods in Child Language Research (MA course)

2019-present   –          Experimental Methods I – Design & Techniques (BA course)

2019-present   –          Experimental Methods II – Practicals & Projects (BA course)

2019-present   –          Methods in Experimental Linguistics (MA course)

Education

2012-2018      –          PhD Linguistics, Leiden University

2009-2011      –          MSc Brain and Cognitive Science, University of Amsterdam

2004-2007      –          BA Linguistics, University of California, San Diego

Other affiliations and activities

Certified Bedrijfshulpverlening (BHV; emergency response officer)

LUCL Dataverse administrator & data management steward

LIBC (Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition)

Baby Circle (Dutch network of infant researchers)

Publications