Margarida Vasconcelos

I am Invited Assistant Professor at University of Lisbon and the Co-Principal Investigator to a research project on Dyslexia funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology at the School of Psychology at the University of Minho. I’m also a former Adviser to the Secretary of State for Digitalisation and Administrative Modernisation. I have a Ph.D. in Basic Psychology and have been working on a myriad of research projects investigating the brain mechanisms underlying social decision-making, alcohol addiction, language processing, musical expertise and developmental Dyslexia.

Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
Language
Learning and memory
Dyslexia
Addictive behavior
Public Policy

Co-PI of the research project “LEME – Ler Bem para Aprender Melhor” (2022.05618.PTDC):
Exploratory Research Project funded by the FCT which aims to investigate potential anomalies in the neurocognitive mechanisms involved in learning to read and write, underlying Developmental Dyslexia (2023-present). Funding: €49.954,04

Member of the research team of the project “The Brain, the Bug, and the Binge: The interplay between binge drinking, gut microbiota and brain functioning.” FCT, PTDC/PSI-ESP/1243/2021. Funding: €247.359,89

Almeida-Antunes, N., Vasconcelos, M., Crego, A., Rodrigues, R., Sampaio, A., & López-Caneda, E. (2022). Forgetting alcohol: a double-blind, randomized controlled trial investigating memory inhibition training in young binge drinkers. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 16, 914213. DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.914213.

Soares, A. P., Gutierrez, F., Lages, A., Oliveira, H. M., Vasconcelos, M. & Jiménez, L. (2022). Learning Words While Listening to Syllables: Electrophysiological Correlates of Statistical Learning in Children and Adults. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. 16:805723. DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2022.805723.

Vasconcelos, M., Viding, E.^, Sebastian, C., Faria, S., Almeida, P. R., Gonçalves, O., Gonçalves, R., Sampaio, A., & Seara-Cardoso, A. (2021). Callous-unemotional traits moderate anticipated guilt and wrongness judgments to everyday moral transgressions in adolescents. Frontiers in Psychiatry. 12:625328. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.625328.

Vasconcelos, M., Rodrigues, R., Almeida-Antunes, N., Crego, A. & Eduardo López-Caneda, E. (2021). Effects of the COVID-19 outbreak mitigation measures on alcohol consumption and binge drinking behavior: A longitudinal survey of Portuguese college students. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 18, 9822. DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18189822.

Soares, A. P., Gutierrez, F., Vasconcelos, M., Oliveira, H. M., Tomé, D. & Jiménez, L. (2020). Not all Words are Equally Acquired: Transition Probabilities and Prior Knowledge Affects Electrophysiological Correlates of Statistical Learning. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. 14:577991. DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2020.577991.

Pinheiro, A. P., Barros, C., Vasconcelos, M., Obermeier, C. & Kotz, S. A. (2017). Is laughter a better vocal change detector than a growl? Cortex, 92, 233-248. DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2017.03.018.

Vasconcelos, M., Dias, M., Soares, A. P. & Pinheiro, A. P. (2017). What is the melody of that voice? Probing unbiased recognition accuracy with the Montreal Affective Voices. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 41, 239-267. DOI: 10.1007/s10919-017-0253-4.

Pinheiro, A. P., Vasconcelos, M., Dias, M., Arrais, N., & Gonçalves, O.F. (2015). The music of language: An ERP investigation of the effects of musical training on emotional prosody processing. Brain and Language, 140, 24-34. DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2014.10.009.

Seara-Cardoso, A., Vasconcelos, M., Sampaio, A. & Neumann, C. (2022). Neural correlates of psychopathy: a comprehensive review. In Marques, P., Paulino, M.  & Alho, L. (1^st edition). Psychopathy and Criminal Behavior: Current trends and challenges. Elsevier. ISBN: 9780128114193.