Research

My research interest lies in language production, both spoken and written. I use typing as a tool to understand the relationships between the different components of the language system and related cognitive functions, such as motor control and executive functions.

Recent work

Using AI to decode language in the brain

In collaboration with Meta AI (FAIR), we are using AI models to understand how the brains transforms thoughts into a sequence of words. We recently released two preprints:

Zhang, Lévy, d'Ascoli, Rapin, Alario, Bourdillon, Pinet* and King* (2025) From Thought to Action: How the Hierarchy of Neural Dynamics Supports Language Production. arXiv. [link]

Lévy, Zhang, Pinet, Rapin, Banville, d’Ascoli, and King (2025) Brain-to-Text Decoding: A Non-invasive Approach via Typing. [link]

Oral and written language interactions

The current state of the art on the neural and cognitive underpinnings of speaking and writing reveals the necessity of studying them together, to identify the commonalities and differences between language production modalities. To do this, we assess the structural and dynamic interplay between language modalities. We also study the interaction between language modalities when learning novel words.

Pinet, S., & Martin, C.D. (2023). The influence of overt spoken and written production on novel word learning. https://psyarxiv.com/jenma

Pinet, S., Paz-Alonso, P.M., & Martin, C.D. (in preparation). Producing words in speaking and typing: what does it change?

Pinet, S., Liu, M., Martin, C.D., & Paz-Alonso, P.M., (in preparation). Functional correlates of oral and written language production

Expertise and language production

Unlike handwriting, typing is rarely formally trained. Yet typing fluently and effortlessly does require the acquision of specific motor skills. Nowadays, people are able to reach high typing speeds through the extensive use of keyboards. But they might not have acquired all the necessary skills to be considered expert typists. We are interested in what makes a typist an expert typist, and more generally how people, including children, become experts.

Pinet, S., Zielinski, C., Alario, F.-X, & Longcamp, M. (2024). On the acquisition of typing skills by school-aged children without formal training. Invited submission for the special issue “The Contributions of Writing Tools for Writing Acquisition and Development”. Reading and Writing. [link]

Pinet, S., Zielinski, C., Longcamp, M., & Alario, F.-X (2022). Typing expertise in a large student population. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, 7, 77. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-022-00424-3

Pinet, S., Paz-Alonso, P.M., & Martin, C.D. (in preparation). Touch typing changes the way you speak: interactions between modalities of language production

Psycholinguistic characterization of typed language production

Typing, in contrast with speech, provides an easy way to study response execution processes (from the beginning of the response to its end). This line of research aims to quantify the common processes between spoken and typed language production. This work has suggested that typing might involve similar processes than writing and speaking, while integrating execution constraints specific to typing.

Pinet, S. (2025). The missing link between response selection and execution in language production. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 76(May), 101246. Invited submission to the special issue “Action monitoring: from movements to words”. doi: 10.1016/j.jneuroling.2025.101246 [link]

Pinet, S., & Nozari, N. (2018). "Twisting fingers": the case for interactivity in typed language production. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review. [link]

Pinet, S., Ziegler, J. C., & Alario, F.-X. (2016). Typing is writing: linguistic properties modulate typing execution. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review. doi: 10.3758/s13423-016-1044-3 [link]

Error monitoring and metacognition

It has been proposed that both internal monitoring mechanisms and external feedback are involved in error detection and correction. Typing, in contrast with speech, provides an easy way to study internal monitoring in isolation from external sources of feedback. Our results have suggested that visual feedback is critical to correction, but not detection of typing errors. Moreover, we find evidence of unconcious corrections, that are not explicitly reported. We pursue the evaluation of the role of visual feedback in typing in relation to typing expertise.

Pinet, S., & Nozari, N. (2022). Correction Without Consciousness in Complex Tasks: Evidence from Typing. Journal of Cognition, 5(1), 11. http://doi.org/10.5334/joc.202

Pinet, S., & Nozari, N. (2021). The role of visual feedback in detecting and correcting typing errors: A signal detection approach. Journal of Memory and Language, 117, 104193. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2020.104193

Pinet, S., & Nozari, N. (2020). Electrophysiological correlates of monitoring in typing with and without visual feedback. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 32(4), 603–620. http://doi.org/10.1162/jocn_a_01500

Response preparation in typing

When you type on a keyboard, you activate both your hands to complete complex motor programs in collaboration, in order to produce a word based on learned orthographic representations. However, prior to the first keystroke of a word being typed, you have to choose between two effectors to press a key. We demonstrate that similar processes than in choice RT tasks are implicated and discuss potential links with existing cognitive models.

Pinet, S., Dell, G., & Alario, F.-X. (2019). Tracking Keystroke Sequences at the Cortical Level Reveals the Dynamics of Serial Order Production. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 1-14. doi: 10.1162/jocn_a_01401

Scaltritti, M., Pinet, S., Longcamp, M., & Alario, F.-X. (2017) The functional relationship between language and motor processing in typewriting: An EEG study. Language and Cognitive Neuroscience [link]

Pinet, S., Dubarry, A.-S., & Alario, F.-X. (2016). Response retrieval and motor planning during typing. Brain & Language, 159, 74-83. doi:10.1016/j.bandl.2016.05.012 [link]

Pinet, S., Hamamé, C.M., Longcamp, M., Vidal, F., Alario, F.-X. (2015). Psychophysiology. doi 10.1111/psyp.12373 [link]

Methods

I always strive to find and/or develop the best method to answer a specific question. While not my main focus of research, I have conducted methodological assessment and development in both spoken and typed language production.

In typing, we reported reliable ways to measure sequences of keystrokes via online platforms (before covid times!), while pointing out some limitations and how to take them into account in further studies. In speech, we assessed ways to reliably measure response-related EEG activity in single words and word sequences.

Riès, S., Pinet, S., Nozari, N., & Knight, R. (2021). Overcoming the challenges of electrophysiological recordings in sequential speech production. Psychophysiology, 58(5). https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.13788

Fargier, R., Bürki, A., Pinet, S., Alario, F.-X., & Laganaro, M. (2018). Word onset phonetic properties and motor artefacts in speech production EEG recordings. Psychophysiology, 55(2), e12982. http://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.12982

Pinet, S., Zielinski, C., Mathôt, S., Dufau, S., Alario, F.-X., & Longcamp, M. (2017) Measuring sequences of keystrokes with jsPsych: reliability of response times and interkeystroke intervals. Behavior Research Methods, 49(3), 1163–1176. http://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-016-0776-3.

Collaborators

Marieke Longcamp

Jean-Rémi King

Stéphanie Riès

Clara Martin

F.-Xavier Alario*

N. Bonnie Nozari*

Gary Dell

* past supervisors

Funding

My research is currently supported by:

Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science (tenure-track position, Research Fellow) and the Spanish Government (research project funding, Plan Nacional).

Previously, I have received funding from:

European Commission (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships), the Spanish Government (post-doctoral grant, Juan de la Cierva-Incorporación), the French Ministère de l’Enseignement et de la Recherche (doctoral grant) and the Brain and Language Research Institute (research project and mobility funding).

Funded projects

Language production across modalities, languages, and contexts (2021-2024)

PID2020-113926GB-I00, Agencia Estatal de Investigación

Summary: Extensive research in experimental psychology and neuroimaging has led to a good description of cognitive processes and neural networks involved in oral production, in both native (L1) and non-native (L2) speakers. Still, most studies, theories, and models focus on oral language production in isolation, and neglecting to investigate how the context of production (e.g., communicative goal, input modality) influences and modulates speech production. Furthermore, neither written language production nor the similarities and differences between oral and written production have received sufficient attention in prior research, despite the prevalence of written language. The main goal of this project is to extend current models of language production by incorporating these important yet neglected aspects to provide a better integrated and more complete picture of this complex linguistic skill. Overall, this project will provide a necessary extension to the current knowledge on native and non-native language production by including contextual factors as well as production modalities.

Team:

Aikaterini Tsaroucha (PhD Student)

Jessi Jacobsen (Research Assistant)

Clara Martin (co-PI)

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