LabNA

Research activity in the Affective Neuroscience Lab (LabNa) is carried out within the field of cognitive and affective neuroscience. For more than two decades it has been studying the neural bases and underlying mechanisms (psychophysiological and cognitive) of attentional/emotional processing and of inhibitory control in normal and clinical samples with externalising psychopathology. Our interest is set on understanding how mental disorders relate to neurobiological systems. To address these issues, we use not only cognitive and behavioural measures, but also and especially methods and techniques typically applied in the psychophysiological laboratory, from recordings of autonomic reactivity (electrodermal and cardiovascular) and facial electromyography to recordings of brain activity using a 256-channel high-density electroencephalography system (EEG/ERP) that allows the time course of information processing and related deficits to be examined in an accurate way, and also the optimal analysis of the sources of neural activity. In addition, assessment of individual differences in psychological constructs of interest is based on a multi-method approach that minimises systematic errors related to a specific assessment instrument. In recent years, our work has focused on using cross-domain protocols (which link self-report, behavioural-task, and autonomic and brain activity psychophysiological measures) in the study of psychopathy in order to understand these personality disorders in terms of individual differences in the neurobiological mechanisms underlying defensive reactivity, inhibitory control and empathic sensitivity.