PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHERS:

• Julien Dampuré, PhD (Agustín de Betancourt Researcher, Department of Cognitive, Social and Organisational Psychology, ULL)
• Juan A. Hernández Cabrera, PhD (Lecturer in Basic Psychology, Department of Clinical Psychology, Psychobiology and Methodology, ULL)

PHD STUDENTS AND TRAINEES:

• Martín Antúnez García (FPI. MINECO. BES-2017-081797)
• Laura Hernández Ramos (Doctorate in Psychology program, ULL)
• Benjamín Vega Peñate (Doctorate in Psychology program, ULL)

RESEARCH LINES:

Our research group works on a number of consolidated basic research lines regarding language processing and visual perception, and it is currently starting to explore some clinical applications. We intend to extend our research to executive functions in addictive behaviour in which inhibitory processes are involved, and into the study of neurological disorders related to pain perception like fibromyalgia and neuropathic pain. We are also working on the development of therapeutic strategies based on neuromodulation, with new techniques such as neurofeedback and non-invasive brain stimulation (TMS and TDSs). Our group works primarily with electroencephalogram (EGG) electrophysiological recordings but also, we incorporate neuroimaging techniques like Functional Magnetic Resonance (fMRI) in combination with transcranial stimulation, ocular movement recording or behavioural response analysis.

FUNDED PROJECTS:

• Parafoveal reading and perception: the role of visual depth (PSI2016-79624-P – “Lectura y percepción parafoveal: el papel de la amplitud visual”). PI: Horacio Barber. MINECO (2017-2019, 60,000 €.)
• Neuromodulation techniques as new therapeutic approaches for addictive behaviour. Agustín de Betancourt Project (“Técnicas neuromodulatorias como nuevas aproximaciones terapéuticas frente a las conductas adictivas”). PI: Julien Dampuré; Tutor: Horacio Barber. Regional Government of Tenerife (2017-2021, 160,000 €).

PUBLICATIONS 2019:

• Schauenburg G, Conrad M, von Scheve C, Barber HA, Ambrasat J, Aryani A, Schröder T. Making sense of social interaction: Emotional coherence drives semantic integration as assessed by event-related potentials. 2019 Mar;125:1-13. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2019.01.002
• Dampuré J, López-Pérez PJ, Barber HA. Meaning-based attentional guidance as a function of foveal and task-related cognitive loads. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience. 2019 Jan;34(1):1-12. doi: 1080/23273798.2018.1484149
• Morera Y,van der Meij M,de Vega M,Barber HA.Are sensory-motor relationships encoded ad hoc or by default?: An ERP study. Front Psychol. 2019 May 3;10:966. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00966
• Dampuré J, Benraiss A, Vibert N. Modulation of parafoveal word processing by cognitive load during modified visual search tasks. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove). 2019 Jul;72(7):1805-1826. doi: 10.1177/1747021818811123
• León I, Rodrigo MJ, El-Deredy W, Modroño C, Hernández-Cabrera JA, Quiñones I. Limbic-visual attenuation to crying faces underlies neglectful mothering. Sci Rep. 2019 Apr 23;9(1):6373. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-42908-1
• Soares AP, Oliveira H, Ferreira M, Comesaña M, Macedo AF, Ferré P, Acuña-Fariña C, Hernández-Cabrera J, Fraga I. Lexico-syntactic interactions during the processing of temporally ambiguous L2 relative clauses: An eye-tracking study with intermediate and advanced Portuguese-English bilinguals. PLoS One. 2019 May 29;14(5):e0216779. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0216779
• Soares AP, Macedo J, Oliveira HM, Lages A, Hernández-Cabrera J, Pinheiro AP. Self-reference is a fast-acting automatic mechanism on emotional word processing: evidence from a masked priming affective categorisation task. Journal of Cognitive Psychology. 2019 Apr;31(3):317-325. doi: 10.1080/20445911.2019.1599003
• Cedres N, Machado A, Molina Y, Diaz-Galvan P, Hernández-Cabrera JA, Barroso J, Westman E, Ferreira D. Subjective cognitive decline below and above the age of 60: a multivariate study on neuroimaging, cognitive, clinical, and demographic measures. J Alzheimers Dis. 2019;68(1):295-309. doi: 10.3233/JAD-180720
• Gonzalez-Burgos L, Hernández-Cabrera JA, Westman E, Barroso J, Ferreira D. Cognitive compensatory mechanisms in normal aging: A study on verbal fluency and the contribution of other cognitive functions. 2019 Jun 22;11(12):4090-4106. doi: 10.18632/aging.102040
• Marrero-Quevedo RJ, Blanco-Hernández PJ, Hernández-Cabrera JA. Adult Attachment and Psychological Well-Being: The Mediating Role of Personality. Journal of Adult Development. 2019 Mar;26(1)41-56. doi: 10.1007/s10804-018-9297-x
• Marrero RJ, Carballeira M, Hernández-Cabrera JA. Does Humor Mediate the Relationship Between Positive Personality and Well-Being? The Moderating Role of Gender and Health. 2019 Journal of Happiness Studies. doi: 10.1007/s10902-019-00121-x [Epub ahead of print]

OTHER SELECTED PUBLICATIONS FROM THE LAST 10 YEARS:

• Carreiras M, Quiñones I, Mancini S, Hernández-Cabrera JA, Barber HA. Verbal and nominal agreement: an fMRI study. Neuroimage. 2015 Oct 15; 120:88-103. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.06.075
• Janssen N, Hernández JA, Van der Meij M, Barber HA. Tracking the time course of competition during word production: Evidence for a post-retrieval mechanism of conflict resolution. Cereb Cortex. 2015 Sep;25(9):2960-9. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhu092
• Caffarra S, Janssen N, Barber HA. Two sides of gender: ERP evidence for the presence of two routes during gender agreement processing. Neuropsychologia. 2014 Oct;63:124-34. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.08.016
• Barber HA, Van der Meij M, Kutas M. An electrophysiological analysis of contextual and temporal constraints on parafoveal word processing. 2013 Jan;50(1):48-59. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2012.01489.x
• Vigliocco G, Vinson DP, Druks J, Barber HA, Cappa SF. Nouns and Verbs in the Brain: A Review of Behavioural, Electrophysiological, Neuropsychological and Imaging Studies. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2011 Jan;35(3):407-26. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2010.04.007