Padraic Monaghan

Professor

A bit about Padraic Monaghan

After degrees in Mathematics and Philosophy, and Cognitive Science, I studied for my PhD at Edinburgh University. I then worked as a postdoc at Edinburgh, then Warwick University, before lecturing at University of York in Psychology. I joined Lancaster University in 2007 as Professor of Cognition, where I am interested in research on language acquisition, language evolution, literacy development, and the effects of sleep on learning and memory. My research involves experimental studies with infants and adults, corpus analyses of multiple languages, and computational modelling of language processing. See my university profile page for more information.

My role in LuCiD

I am the Principal Investigator for the project 'Cues for different language learning tasks: Simultaneous or successive learning?'. I was also a LuCiD Co-Director from 2014-2018.

My role is now a Co-Investigator on the project 'From oral language to literacy: Beyond 0-5'

LuCiD publications (81) by Padraic Monaghan

Dunn, K., Frost, R., & Monaghan, P. (2024). Infants' attention during cross-situational word learning: Environmental variability promotes novelty preference. Journal of experimental child psychology, pp. 105859

Monaghan, P., Donnelly, S., Alcock, K., Bidgood, A., Cain, K., Durrant, S., Frost, R. L. A., Jago, L., Peter, M. S., Pine, J. M., Turnbull, H., & Rowland, C. F. (2023). Learning to generalise but not segment an artificial language at 17 months predicts children’s language skills 3 years later. Cognitive Psychology

Taylor, G., Kolak, J., Norgatea, S.H., Monaghan, P. (2022). Assessing the educational potential and language content of touchscreen apps for preschool children Computers and Education Open, Volume 3, 100102, ISSN 2666-5573.

Chan, K.C.J., Monaghan, P., & Michel, M. (2022). Adapting to children’s individual language proficiency: An observational study of preschool teacher talk addressing monolinguals and children learning English as an additional language Journal of Child Language, 1-26, 105305.

Taylor, G., Kolak, J., Bent, E. M., & Monaghan, P. (2022). Selecting educational apps for preschool children: How useful are website app rating systems? British Journal of Educational Technology, 1-24

Cheung, R. W., Hartley, C., & Monaghan, P. (2022). Receptive and expressive language ability differentially support symbolic understanding over time: Picture comprehension in late talking and typically developing children Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 214, 105305.

Monaghan, P., Ruiz, S., & Rebuschat, P. (2021). The role of feedback and instruction on the cross-situational learning of vocabulary and morphosyntax: Mixed effects models reveal local and global effects on acquisition Second Language Research, 37(2), 261-289.

Poletiek, F. H., Monaghan, P., van de Velde, M., & Bocanegra, B. (2021). The Semantics-Syntax Interface: Learning Grammatical Categories and Hierarchical Syntactic Structure through Semantics Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 47(7), 1141-1155.

Cheung, R. W., Hartley, C. & Monaghan, P. (2021). Caregivers use gesture contingently to support word learning. Developmental Science

Rebuschat, P., Monaghan, P., & Schoentensack, C. (2020). Learning vocabulary and grammar from cross-situational statistics. Cognition, doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2020.104475

Frost, R. L. A., Jessop, A., Durrant, S., Peter, M., Bidgood, A. Pine, J., Rowland, C. & Monaghan, P. (2020). Non-adjacent dependency learning in infancy, and its link to language development. Cognitive Psychology, 120, 101291.

Dunn, K., Frost, R., Monaghan, P. (2019). The effect of statistical frequency of multiple cues during infant cross-situational learning of word-referent mappings. Poster presented at the Interdisciplinary Advances in Statistical Learning conference. San Sebastian.

Cheung, R., Hartley, C., Dunn, K., Frost, R., Monaghan, P. (2019). The role of gesture in parent teaching and infant word learning. Talk presented at Lancaster Conference on Infant and Child Development (LCICD). Lancaster, UK.

Cheung, R., Hartley, C., Dunn, K., Frost, R., & Monaghan, P. (2019). Environmental effects on parental teaching and infant word learning. Talk presented at the WILD conference. Potsdam, Germany.

Isbilen, E., Frost, R., Monaghan, P., Christiansen, M. (2019). Statistically-based chunking of nonadjacent dependencies. Talk presented at Scandinavian Association for Language and Cognition conference. Aarhus, Denmark.

Isbilen, E., Frost, R., Monaghan, P., & Christiansen, M. (2019). Chunk-based statistical learning of non-adjacent dependencies. Talk presented at the Interdisciplinary Advances in Statistical Learning conference . San Sebastian.

Frost, R., Isbilen, E., Christiansen, M., Monoghan, P. (2019). Testing the limits of non-adjacent dependency learning: Statistical segmentation and generalization across domains. Proceedings of the 41st Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society. Montreal, Canada.

Christiansen, M., Monaghan, P. (2016). Division of labour in vocabulary structure: Insights from corpus analyses. Topics in Cognitive Science , 8(3), 610-624.

Chan, J., Monaghan, P. (2019). Simulating bilingual word learning: Monolingual and bilingual adults' use of cross-situational statistics. In Proceedings of the 41st Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

Monaghan, P., Rebuschat, P. (2019). Aligning implicit learning and statistical learning: Two approaches, one phenomenon. (2) Topics in Cognitive Science, (in press) Available here: http://www.research.lancs.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/-(ca5c4fa3-bea1-4466-b27b-20059ef83226).html

Monaghan, P., Schoetensack, C., Rebuschat, P (2019). A single paradigm for implicit and statistical learning. Topics in Cognitive Science, in press available here: https://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/id/eprint/134851/1/monaghan_schoetensack_rebuschat_19_topics.pdf

Frank, S., Monaghan, P., Tsoukala, C. (2019). Neural network models of language acquisition and processing. In. Hagoort, P. (Ed.), Human Language: From genes and brains to behavior. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Cheung, R., Monaghan, P., Hartley, C. (2019). Environmental effects on parental gesture and infant word learning. Proceedings of the 41st Cognitive Science Society Conference

Chang, Y., Monaghan, P., & Welbourne, S. (2017). Effects of normal aging on early experience in a developmental model of reading. Paper presented at Architectures and Mechanisms of Language Processing (AMLaP), Lancaster, UK.

Brand, J., Monaghan, P., & Planck, M. (2017). Cognitive factors influence rate and type of linguistic change in vocabulary. Paper presented at Architectures and Mechanisms of Language Processing (AMLaP), Lancaster, UK.

Monaghan, P. (2018). Closing the word gap. Blog Post National Literacy Trust

Chan, J., Monaghan, P., Michel, M. (2017). How do preschool staff communicate with children with English as an additional language? Poster presented Child Language Symposium, Reading, UK.

Trotter, A., Monaghan, P., Frost, R. (2018). Low-level cues affect the acquisition of hierarchical structure. Paper presented at 26th Conference on Arcitechtures and Mechanisms of Language Processing (AMLaP), Berlin, Germany.

Frost, R., Rowland, C., Durrant, S., Peter, M., Bidgood, A., Monaghan, P. (2018). Statistical learning in infants, and its relationship with language development: A study of nonadjacent dependency learning. Paper presented at 26th Conference on Architectures and Mechanisms of Language Processing (AMLaP), Berlin, Germany.

Monaghan, P., Brand, J., Frost, R. (2018). Resistance to variability from the environment in language learning: Cross situational learnng of words from multiple cues. Paper presented at 26th Conference on Architectures and Mechanisms of Language Processing (AMLap), Berlin, Germany.

Isbilin, E., Frost, R., Monaghan, P., Christiansen, M. (2018). Bridging artificial and natural language learning: Comparing processing- and reflection-based measures of learning. Proceedings of 40th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, 1856-1861. Cognitive Science Society.

Brand, J., Monaghan, P., Walker, P. (2018). Changing signs: Testing how sound-symbolism supports early word learning. In 40th annual Cognitive Science Society Meeting, 1398-1403. Cognitive Science Society.

Trotter, A. S., Monaghan, P., & Frost, R. L. A. (2017). Chained melody: Low-level acoustic cues as a guide to hierarchical structure in comprehension. (1) Poster presented at Interdisciplinary Advances in Statistical Learning, Bilbao, Spain.

Frost, R. L. A., Monaghan, P., & Christiansen, M. H. (2017). Probabilistic use of high frequency words helps language acquisition. Poster presented at the 23rd Annual Conference on Architectures and Mechanisms for Language Processing (AMLaP), Lancaster, UK.

Frost, R., Peter, M., Durrant, S., Bidgood, A., Rowland, C., Monaghan, P., Christiansen, M. (2016). How do infants use nonadjacent dependencies during language development? (1) Poster presented at Fifth Implicit Learning Seminar Lancaster, UK.

Twomey, K. E., Smith, A., Monaghan, P. & Westermann, G. (2016). Neural Network Models of Psychological Phenomena Proceedings of the 14th Neural Computation and Psychology Workshop (NCPW).

Frost, R., Monaghan, P.. Christiansen, M. (2016). High frequency words assist language acquisition. Poster presented at 22nd Annual Conference on Architectures and Mechanisms for Language Processing (AMLaP), Bilbao, Spain.

Monaghan, P. (2015). Degeneracy results in canalisation of language structure: A computational model of word reading. Proceedings of the 38th Cognitive Science Society Conference.

Durrant, S., Peter, M., Bidgood, A., Monaghan, P., Frost, R., Bannard, C., Kidd, E., & Rowland, C. (2017). Does variation in infants statistical learning ability predict variation in later vocabulary growth? Lessons learned from the Language 0-5 Project. Paper presented at the European Conference on Developmental Psychology, Utrecht, Holland.

Trotter, A. S., Monaghan, P., & Frost, R. L. A. (2017). Auditory-perceptual Gestalts assist in the processing of hierarchical structure. Poster presented at the 23rd annual AMLaP Conference, Lancaster, UK.

Monaghan, P. (2014). Age of acquisition predicts rate of lexical evolution. Cognition 133(3), 530-4.

Monaghan, P., Zuidema, W. (2015). General purpose cognitive processing constraints and phonotactic properties of the vocabulary. In the Scottish Consortium for ICPhS 2015 (Ed.) Proceedings of the 18th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences. Glasgow, UK: University of Glasgow.

Trotter, A. S., Monaghan, P., & Frost, R. L. A. (2017). Chained Melody: Low-Level acoustic cues as a guide to hierarchical structure in comprehension. Talk presented at Psycholinguistics in Flanders, Leuven, Belgium.

Trotter, A. S., Monaghan, P., & Frost, R. L. A. (2017). Gestalt auditory principles support phrase structure parsing. Talk presented at the 3rd LuCiD Conference, Lancaster, UK.

Brand, J., Monaghan, P. and Walker, P. (2018). The Changing Role of Sound‐Symbolism for Small Versus Large Vocabularies. Cogn Sci, 42: 578-590.

Frost, R. L. A., Monaghan, P., & Christiansen, M. H. (2019). Mark my words: High frequency marker words impact early stages of language learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition. Advance online publication. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/xlm0000683

Monaghan and Rebuschat. (2016). Aligning implicit learning and statistical learning: Two approaches, one phenomenon. (1) They organised Symposium at the annual meeting of the Cognitive Science Society.

Trotter, A. S., Frost, L. A., & Monaghan, P. (2016). Multiple natural language cues assist the processing of hierarchical structure. (4) Poster presented at the 15th annual meeting of Psycholinguistics in Flanders, Antwerp, BE.

Trotter, A. S., Frost, R. L. A., & Monaghan, P. (2016). Natural language cues, and the acquisition of artificial grammars. (1) Poster to be presented at the Fifth Implicit Learning Seminar, Lancaster, UK.

Trotter, A. S., Frost, R. L. A., & Monaghan, P. (2016). Multiple natural language cues assist the processing of hierarchical structure. (3) Poster presented at the 22nd annual AMLaP Conference, Bilbao, ES.

Trotter, A. S., Frost. R. L. A., & Monaghan, P. (2016). Multiple natural language cues assist the processing of hierarchical structures. Paper presented at the 2nd LuCiD mini-conference, Manchester, UK.

Taylor, G., Monaghan, P. & Westermann, G. (2016). The role of storybooks and screen media exposure on children’s language development. Poster presented at the International Conference on Infant Studies , New Orleans, LA, USA.

Taylor, G., Monaghan, P. & Westermann, G. (2016). Children’s verb learning from touchscreen apps. Poster presented at the Lancaster Conference in Infant and Child Development, Lancaster, UK.

Taylor, G., Monaghan, P. & Westermann, G. (2016). Can children learn verbs from touchscreen apps? Paper presented at The 2nd International LuCiD Language and Communicative Development Conference, Manchester, UK.

Taylor, G., Monaghan, P. & Westermann, G. (2016). Children’s verb learning: Touchscreen apps versus live interactions. Paper presented at the British Psychological Society: Developmental Psychology Section Annual Conference, Belfast, UK.

Monaghan, P., Chang, Y.N., Welbourne, S., & Brysbaert, M. (2017). Exploring the relations between word frequency, language exposure, and bilingualism in a computational model of reading Journal of Memory and Language, 93, 1-21.

Rowland, C. F., & Monaghan, P. (2017). Developmental psycholinguistics teaches us that we need multi-method, not single-method, approaches to the study of linguistic representation. Commentary on Branigan and Pickering "An experimental approach to linguistic representation". Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 40: e308. doi:10.1017/S0140525X17000565

Taylor, G., Monaghan, P., & Westermann, G. (2018). Investigating the association between children’s screen media exposure and vocabulary size in the UK. Journal of Children and Media., 12, 51-65.

Trotter, A. S., Frost, R. L. A., & Monaghan, P. (2016). Multiple natural language cues assist the processing of hierarchical structure. (1) Poster presented at the 22nd annual AMLaP Conference. Bilbao, Spain.

Trotter, A. S., Frost, R. L. A., & Monaghan, P. (2016). Natural language cues, and the acquisition of artificial grammars. Poster presented at the Fifth Implicit Learning Seminar. Lancaster, UK.

Trotter, A. S., Frost, L. A., & Monaghan, P. (2016). Multiple natural language cues assist the processing of hierarchical structure. Poster presented at the 15th annual meeting of Psycholinguistics in Flanders. Antwerp: Belgium.

Monaghan, P. & Rebuschat, P. (2016). Aligning implicit learning and statistical learning: Two approaches, one phenomenon. Symposium presented at The Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, Philadelphia: USA.

Monaghan, P. and Rowland, C. F. (2016). Combining Language Corpora With Experimental and Computational Approaches for Language Acquisition Research. Language Learning. doi:10.1111/lang.12221

Monaghan, P. (2017). Canalization of Language Structure From Environmental Constraints: A Computational Model of Word Learning From Multiple Cues. Topics in Cognitive Science, 9: 21–34.

Frost, R. L. A. & Monaghan, P. (2017). Sleep-Driven Computations in Speech Processing. PLoS ONE 12(1):e0169538.

Frost, R. L. A., Monaghan, P., & Tatsumi, T. (2016). Domain-General Mechanisms for Speech Segmentation: The Role of Duration Information in Language Learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance. Advance online publication. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/xhp0000325

Twomey, K. E., Smith, A., Monaghan, P. & Westermann, G. (2016). Neurocomputational Models of Cognitive Development and Processing: Proceedings of the 14th Neural Computation and Psychology Workshop (NCPW). World Scientific. Trends in Psychology and Artificial Intelligence. Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference.

Frost, R. L. A. & Monaghan, P. (2015). Sleep-driven computations in speech processing. Poster presented at the New Directions in Implicit and Explicit Language Learning symposium, Lancaster, UK.

Frost, R. L. A. & Monaghan, P. (2015). Simultaneous segmentation and generalisation of non-adjacent dependencies. Poster presented at Interdisciplinary Advances in Statistical Learning, BCBL, San Sebastian, Spain.

Frost, R. L. A. & Monaghan, P. (2015). How do high frequency words assist language acquisition in infant and adult learners? Talk presented at the First Annual LuCiD Language and Communicative Development Conference. Liverpool, UK.

Frost, R. L. A., Peter, M., Durrant, S., Bidgood, A., Rowland, C., Monaghan, P. & Christiansen, M. H. (2016). How do infants use nonadjacent dependencies during language development? Poster presented at the XX Biennial International Conference on Infant Studies, New Orleans, LA, USA.

Frost, R. L. A., Peter, M., Durrant, S., Bidgood, A., Rowland, C., Monaghan, P. & Christiansen, M. H. (2016). How do infants use nonadjacent dependencies during language acquisition? Poster to be presented at the Fifth Implicit Learning Seminar. Lancaster, UK.

Frost, R. L. A, Monaghan, P., & Christiansen, M. H. ( (2016). High Frequency Words can Assist Language Acquisition Talk to be presented at the Fifth Implicit Learning Seminar, Lancaster, UK.

Frost, R. L. A, Monaghan, P., & Christiansen, M. H. (2016). Using Statistics to Learn Words and Grammatical Categories: How High Frequency Words Assist Language Acquisition. Poster to be presented at the 38th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, Philadelphia, PA, USA.

Frost, R. L. A., Monaghan, P., & Christiansen, M. H. (2016). How do high frequency words help language acquisition? Poster session presented at the Experimental Psychology Society's London Meeting, University College London, UK.

Monaghan, P. (2015). How do we learn words? Talk given 8 November, Manchester Museum.

Frost, R.L.A. & Monaghan, P. (2016). Simultaneous segmentation and generalisation of non-adjacent dependencies from continuous speech. Cognition, 147, 70-74.

Dingemanse, M., Blasi, D. E., Lupyan, G., Christiansen, M. H., & Monaghan, P (2015). Arbitrariness, iconicity and systematicity in language. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 19, 603-615.

Frost, R., Twomey, K. E., Taylor, G., Westermann, G. and Monaghan P. (2015). Word for word. Nursery World Magazine, 27 July, 21-23

Monaghan, P. (2014). Age of acquisition predicts rate of lexical evolution. Cognition, 133 (3), 530-534.

Taylor, J.S.H., Duff, F.J., Woollams, A., Monaghan, P., & Ricketts, J. (2015). How word meaning influences word reading. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 24 (4), 322–328

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