Junior Vargas

PhD in Psychology.
My research interests include, but are not limited to, language acquisition and processing (production and comprehension), bilingualism, and multilingualism. I am fascinated by the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying language use.
I have experience planning, designing, and developing experimental projects to understand processes such as lexicalization and lexical competition using behavioral and brain imaging (EEG) techniques.
I am currently an associate researcher at the National Institute for Teacher Training and Education (INSPE) and a member of the Language Team at SCALab at the University of Lille.
Since my arrival in France, I have collaborated with Professor Séverine Casalis to conduct experiments aimed at understanding how language functions in humans. I am always looking for new opportunities for exchange and collaboration in France or abroad to further explore these fascinating topics.

My thesis focused on vocabulary acquisition among children in the final years of elementary school (4th and 5th grades). It was part of the PIA 3 project, specifically Action 6, titled “Developing a Repository of Inclusive Educational Resources.” The objective was to design, in close collaboration with teachers, strategies to facilitate vocabulary acquisition and improve reading skills among students in REP and REP+ schools.

This work was supervised by Séverine Casalis and Ludivine Javourey-Drevet, and was publicly defended on May 20, 2026, before a jury composed of:

- Dr. Alex de Carvalho, Paris Cité University, France (rapporteur);

- Dr. Anna Potocki, Grenoble Alpes University, France (examiner);

- Prof. Jessie Ricketts, Royal Holloway, University of London, United Kingdom (rapporteur);

- Prof. Arthur Samuel, Basque Center on Cognition, Brain & Language, Spain (examiner);

- Dr. Nicolas Vibert, University of Poitiers, France (examiner).

I remain interested in the impact of vocabulary and word learning on reading comprehension.