Cognition and Brain Plasticity Group

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RUTH DE DIEGO BALAGUER

ICREA Researcher

Education: Psychology Degree, PhD in Psychology

Research interest: Language, Huntington Disease

Research Interest
My research combines information from brain-damaged patients and imaging in healthy individuals to understand whether words and rules of language require different neural and cognitive mechanisms to be acquired since the earliest stages of contact with a new language. I am particularly interested in the role of the striatum as a brain structure that could make the interface between language and other cognitive functions necessary in the learning process.

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Contact: ruth.dediego at icrea.cat

PUBLICATIONS

López-Barroso, D., de Diego-Balaguer, R., Cunillera, T., Camara, E., Münte, T.F., Rodríguez-Fornells, A. (2011). Language learning under working memory constraints correlates with microstructural differences in the ventral language pathway. Cerebral Cortex. 21(12):2742-2750

de Diego-Balaguer, R., Fuentemilla, Ll., Rodriguez-Fornells, A. (2011). Brain dynamics sustaining rapid rule extraction from speech. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. 23(10):3105-20

de Diego-Balaguer, R. López-Barroso, D. (2010). Cognitive and Neural Mechanisms Sustaining Rule Learning from Speech. Language Learning. 60(s2):151-187

de Diego-Balaguer, R., Rodríguez-Fornells, A. (2010). Contributions to the functional neuroanatomy of morphosyntactic processing in L2. Language Learning. 60:231-259

Rodríguez-Fornells A, Cunillera T, Mestres-Missé A, de Diego-Balaguer, R. (2009). Neurophysiological mechanisms involved in language learning in adults. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 364:3711-3735.

de Diego-Balaguer, R., Couette M., Dolbeau G., Dürr A., Youssov K., Bachoud-Lévi A.-C. (2008). Striatal Degeneration impairs Language Learning: Evidence from Huntington's Disease. Brain. 131(Pt 11):2870-81.

De Gelder B., Van den Stock J., de Diego Balaguer R., Bachoud-Lévi A.-C. (2008). Huntington's disease impairs recognition of angry and instrumental body language. Neuropsychologia. 46:369-373

de Diego Balaguer, R., Toro, J.M., Rodríguez-Fornells, A., Bachoud-Lévi, A.C. (2007) Different neurophysiological mechanisms underlying word and rule extraction from speech. PLoS ONE. 2(11):e1175

Rodríguez-Fornells, A., Cunillera, T., Mestres, A., de Diego-Balaguer, R. (2007). Event-related brain potentials applied to the study of language and second-language learning. Catalan Journal of Linguistics. Catalan Journal of Linguistics. Língüistica teórica: análisis i perspectives II. 179-217.

Rodríguez-Fornells, A., de Diego Balaguer, R., Münte, TF. (2006). Executive functions in bilingual language processing. Language Learning. 56:133-190

de Diego Balaguer R, Rodríguez-Fornells A, Rotte M, Bahlmann J, Heinze HJ, Münte TF. Neural Circuits Subserving the Retrieval of Stems and Grammatical Features in Regular and Irregular Verbs. Human Brain Mapping. 27:874-888

Sebastián-Gallés, N., Rodríguez-Fornells, A., de Diego-Balaguer, R., & Díaz, B. (2006). First and second language phonological representations in the mental lexicon. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. 18:1277-1291

de Diego-Balaguer, R., Sebastián-Gallés, N., Díaz, B., Rodríguez-Fornells, A. (2005). Morphological processing in early bilinguals: an ERP study on regular and irregular verb processing. Cognitive Brain Research. 25:312-327

de Diego Balaguer R., Costa A., Sebastián-Gallés N., Juncadella M. & Caramazza, A. (2004). Regular and Irregular morphology and its relationship with agrammatism: Evidence from two Spanish/Catalan bilinguals. Brain and Language. 91:212-222

Rodríguez-Fornells, A., de Diego-Balaguer, R. (2004). Comentario acerca de la definición y líneas de investigación propias de la Neurociencia Cognitiva. Cognitiva. 16:219-225