Giulia Zantonello

Giulia completed a bachelor’s degree in Modern Languages at the University of Trento, Italy, followed by a master’s degree in Cognitive Science, specialising in Language and Multimodal Interaction, from the Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (CIMeC) at the same university. Her research journey began with an internship at CIMeC’s Brain and Language Group (BLG) in Italy, where she contributed to a study on developmental dyslexia in adults, integrating neuroimaging (structural and functional MRI), behavioral, and machine learning approaches. Her master’s thesis was titled “A Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study on the Neurocognitive Biomarkers of Developmental Dyslexia in Adults: A Benchmark for the Phonological, Magnocellular, and Cerebellar Theories”. Following this, she joined the Language Acquisition and Language Processing (LALP) Lab at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, Norway, as an early-stage researcher within the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Innovative Training Network (MSCA ITN) “Early Language Development in the Digital Age” (e-LADDA). There, she investigated the impact of the statistical learning mechanism on language acquisition and development in Norwegian preschool children, combining behavioral and EEG methodologies. Within the same network, she collaborated on an integrated project investigating children’s language and literacy development in the digital environment. Currently, Giulia is a PhD student within the Research Training Group (RTG) 2906 – Curiosity, in the Educational Psychology Department at the Georg-August-Universität in Göttingen, Germany. Her research focuses on exploring the role of curiosity in children’s reading behavior and knowledge acquisition, utilizing natural language processing (NLP), eye-tracking, and EEG techniques to deepen the understanding of these cognitive processes.

Curiosity-driven learning in children’s reading behaviour and knowledge acquisition

This project aims to explore the effects of curiosity on children’s self-directed reading choices, lexical development, and knowledge acquisition. To achieve this, a multi-method approach will be employed, including corpus analysis of children’s books, carefully designed lab experiments, and advanced techniques such as natural language processing (NLP), eye-tracking, and electroencephalography (EEG). By integrating these diverse methods, the aim is to gain a thorough understanding of curiosity's potential impact on the cognitive processes involved in reading.

I am curious about uncovering the cognitive mechanisms that drive language acquisition, processing, and development, especially in the context of reading, both in typical and atypical populations. I am particularly excited by the current challenge of scientifically investigating curiosity itself and examining its role in children’s reading behaviors as part of my PhD project.

• Cara, C., Zantonello, G., Ghio, M., & Tettamanti, M. (2024), Multimodal investigation of the neurocognitive deficits underlying dyslexia in adulthood. bioRxiv, 2024-11
• Zantonello G., Vulchanov V., & Vulchanova M. (2024), Sensory Prerequisites for Digital Encounters: Statistical Learning and Language Outcomes in Norwegian Preschoolers. International Association for Development of the Information Society.
• Diprossimo, L., Tüchler, A. F., & Zantonello, G. (2024, May 13), Evidence Briefing: How Can We Promote Child Language and Literacy Development in an Increasingly Digital World?
• Aldemir, H., Tüchler, A. F., Zantonello, G., Janjić, P., Raggioli, L., & M. Kamelabad, A. (2024, February 23), Integrated Project 1: Gender and Population-level Variables in Language Learning and Use of Digital Tools
• Cara C., Zantonello G., Ghio M., & Tettamanti M. (2023, July 22-26), Functional investigation of multiple neurocognitive deficits underlying dyslexia in adulthood [Poster Presentation]. The Organization for Human Brain Mapping (OHBM) 2023 Annual Meeting, Montréal, Canada.

• June 2024 - 9th Conference of the Scandinavian Association for Language and Cognition (SALC9), NTNU, Trondheim, Norway.
• May 2023 & 2024 - EDULANG graduate training event and workshop: “Advances in the neuro-cognitive underpinnings of typical and atypical language development”, Centre Universitaire de Norvège à Paris, Paris, France.
• October 2024 - e-LADDA Closing Conference/ELN Pre-summit Event: “Advances in the Study of Language Development and Literacy Learning in the Digital Age”, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.
• April 2023 - Workshop: “Knowledge Transfer and Entrepreneurship”, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
• December 2022 - Open seminar: “Digital Media in Preschool Education: Opportunities, Challenges and Risks”, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.