News

Empathy in couples

Understanding the adaptative functioning of couples is something crucial considering the harmful consequences of situations of domestic violence.

Choosing the usual or taking a chance?

We always choose the same route back home, but one day, alerted about traffic restrictions, we decide to risk an alternative route. What drives us to make this decision?

Dream and daydream: differences and similarities

Did you know that daydreams reflect events from the previous two days and “night” dreams resemble a fictional plot?

Does your dog have social skills?

A study suggests that viewing the owner’s face works as a positive social reinforcement for dogs. Learn more about this and other surprising results about “man’s best friend”.

Results of a project funded by the BIAL Foundation presented in the journal Neuroimage

The article Predicting response originality through brain activity: An analysis of changes in EEG alpha power during the generation of alternative ideas has been published in the journal NeuroImage in the scope of the research project 298/16 - Empowering feedback connections in temporo-occipital network to boost visual perception of emotions, supported by the BIAL Foundation.

Results of a project funded by the BIAL Foundation presented in European journal of Neuroscience

The article Hand blink reflex in virtual reality: The role of vision and proprioception in modulating defensive responses has been published in the European Journal of Neuroscience. This paper presents some of the main findings from project 218/16 - Virtual bodies, real empathy: Behavioural, bodily, and neural reactivity to the observation of pain and pleasure on self and others in immersive virtual reality, supported by the BIAL Foundation and led by Gaetano Tieri.

Research project supported by the BIAL Foundation published in Neuroimage

Sjoerd Ebisch published in the scope of project 195/16 - The sense of self: A neuroimaging study of interactions between intrinsic and extrinsic self networks, supported by the BIAL Foundation, the paper I am me: Brain systems integrate and segregate to establish a multidimensional sense of self in the journal NeuroImage.

Research project supported by the BIAL Foundation published in Neuroimage (2)

In the scope of the research project 304/14 - The impact of music training on reading and mathematical abilities of normal and reading disabled children: a behavioral and neuroimaging longitudinal study supported by the BIAL Foundation, the research team has published the paper Resting-state connectivity reveals a role for sensorimotor systems in vocal emotional processing in children in the journal NeuroImage.

Research project supported by the BIAL Foundation features in the Journal Neurobiology of Aging

The article Age-related changes in cortical connectivity influence the neuromodulatory effects of transcranial electrical stimulation has been published in the journal Neurobiology of Aging in the scope of the research project 277/14 - Cortical excitability and connectivity in the lifespan: a neurophysiological study supported by the BIAL Foundation.

Researchers supported by the BIAL Foundation publish in the Journal Nature Communications

The research team of the project 30/16 - Exploring the neural basis of motivation, led by Ana João Rodrigues, published in Nature Communications journal the paper Role of laterodorsal tegmentum projections to nucleus accumbens in reward-related behaviors.

BIAL Foundation marks its 25th anniversary with an itinerant exhibition

To mark this occasion, the Foundation organizes the traveling exhibition BIAL Foundation - 25 Years, which discloses the work developed on the study and scientific research of the human being during the last two decades. The BIAL Foundation, created in 1994 by Laboratórios BIAL and the Council of Rectors of Portuguese Universities, marks the occasion with a traveling exhibition curated by Prof. Daniel Bessa, member of the Foundation's Board of Directors.

The results of two research projects on meditation and near-death experiences supported by the BIAL Foundation will be presented at a public session

On October 28th, 9:30 a.m., the School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal, will host at Auditorium Zulmira Simões (A0.01) the public presentation of the results of two projects supported by the BIAL Foundation.

Results of a project funded by the BIAL Foundation presented in Psychophysiology Journal

Juan Manuel Toro published in the scope of project Biological bases of music cognition, supported by the BIAL Foundation in the 2018/19 grants edition, the paper Dissonant endings of chord progressions elicit a larger ERAN than ambiguous endings in musicians in the journal Psychophysiology.

Research project supported by the BIAL Foundation published in Human Brain Mapping

In the scope of the research project 195/16 - The sense of self: A neuroimaging study of interactions between intrinsic and extrinsic self networks supported by the BIAL Foundation, the research team led by Sjoerd Ebisch published the paper Brain network profiling defines functionally specialized cortical networks in the journal Human Brain Mapping.

Researcher supported by the BIAL Foundation publishes in the Journal Human Brain Mapping

In the scope of the research project 238/16 - When prediction errs: Examining the brain dynamics of altered saliency in self-voice perception, supported by the BIAL Foundation, Ana Patrícia Pinheiro and collaborators published the paper The role of the cerebellum in adaptation: ALE meta‐analyses on sensory feedback error in the journal Human Brain Mapping.

The Journal Scientific Reports published results of project supported by the BIAL Foundation

Jane Aspell and Flavia Cardini published in the scope of project 121/14 - Maternal Brain Gain: Changes in neural representations and body perception during pregnancy, supported by the BIAL Foundation, the paper Enlarged representation of peripersonal space in pregnancy in the journal Scientific Reports. The results were also disseminated in the newspaper Independent - Pregnant women’s ‘safety bubble’ expands during third trimester to ‘keep danger at arm’s length’.

The quest of physiological markers for the experience of pain

Researcher: Elia Valentini - Department of Psychology & Centre for Brain Science, University of Essex Summary: The aim of this project is to improve measurement of the human experience of pain by investigating a combination of psychophysical and physiological responses during mild noxious stimulation. More specifically, we want to investigate how sensitive and specific to pain the brain oscillatory responses are. We use EEG as the main technique, but we are keen to collaborate with neuroscientists using fMRI, autonomic measures and brain stimulation as well as with computational neuroscientists. A clinical collaborator would also be very much welcome.

EEG investigation of hypnosis and decision-making

Researcher: Rinaldo Livio Perri - University Niccolò Cusano Rome, Italy Summary: I work in the field of hypnosis and cognitive neuroscience. In particular, I adopt the event-related potentials (ERPs) to investigate the effect of the hypnotic suggestions on sensory processing and cognitive performance. I am an expert in decision-making and proactive brain processes before the stimulus administration (e.g., the perceptual, prefrontal and premotor readiness during the expectancy stage). I could help colleagues to properly analyze the ERP signal in the pre-stimulus stage of processing. Also, I would be happy to share my EEG data for re-analyzing them in the frequency domain (e.g., wavelet or coherence analysis in the hypnosis research). Feel free to contact me for any question! More information on my papers: https://scholar.google.it/citations?user=-8e_V64AAAAJ&hl=it Possible collaborations: neuroscientist with experience in the EEG frequency analysis Email: perri.rinaldo@gmail.com

Transparent Psi Project - looking for collaborators

Summary: We are running a fully transparent, expert consensus-base multilab replication of Bem’s (2011) experiment 1. The project features state of the art methods to maximize transparency and study integrity. The study involves a computerized experiment taking about 20 minutes per session. Group testing is possible in a computer lab, no specialized equipment needed. Labs are expected to recruit at least 100 participants. Participants will be exposed to images with explicit erotic/sexual content in the experiment. No financial compensation is required for the participants. Data collection is expected to take place in the 2020 fall semester. Every material is provided for ethics/IRB submissions and data collection in English (translation of materials might be necessary by the collaborators). The study is pre-registered and the manuscript is accepted in principle for publication in the journal Royal Society Open Science. All collaborators who meet the minimum sample size criterion will get authorship on this paper reporting the results of the replication study. More information in the preprint: https://psyarxiv.com/uwk7y/ Indicate interest in the collaboration via the following form: https://tinyurl.com/tpp-labs With any question contact the lead investigator: Dr. Zoltan Kekecs, kekecs.zoltan@gmail.com

Cognitive control and learning

Researcher: Ignacio Obeso, Ph.D. / CINAC - HM Puerta del Sur Summary: The aim of our projects is to understand the behavioral and neural mechanisms used to learn how humans establish adaptive behaviour in changing contexts. More specifically, we want to decipher how stopping abilities are initially learned and later executed under automatic control. We use task-related fMRI, brain stimulation and clinical models to test our predictions in laboratory settings as well as online home-based paradigms. Possible collaborations: computational scientist Email contact: i.obesomartin@gmail.com https://iobesomartin.wixsite.com/cognitivecontrol