https://hdl.handle.net/10481/14934 2026-04-18T16:27:27Z 2026-04-18T16:27:27Z Perales López, José César Muela Aguilera, Ismael López-Guerrero, José Rivero, Francisco J. Navas, Juan F. https://hdl.handle.net/10481/112884 2026-04-17T11:49:21Z

Deconstructing addiction: From a criteria-based to an etiology-informed conceptualization of excessive and compulsive behaviors Perales López, José César; Muela Aguilera, Ismael; López-Guerrero, José; Rivero, Francisco J.; Navas, Juan F. Recent research has emphasized the similarities between Substance Use Disorders and potential behavioral addictions, as well as among the latter. However, critical issues related to validity, etiology, and methodology have been largely overlooked. In the present chapter, we take into consideration some of these issues, with special attention to (a) the implications of defining behavioral addiction as akin or different from substance addiction, and the negative consequences of routinely conceptualizing virtually any poorly controlled activity as addictive; (b) the shortcomings of the evidence used to support component transference between problematic behavior patterns in different domains, (c) the vagueness and lack of formalization of contemporary verbal behavioral addiction theories; and (d) the available evidence on differential etiological pathways for such problematic behavior patterns. On this basis, we suggest a research agenda focused on elaborating formal models of addiction that can inform efforts in prevention, treatment, and public policy interventions by identifying differential causal mechanisms of addictive and addiction-like behavior patterns. Beyond purely semantic controversies, these mechanisms should emerge from theory, be backed by thorough and transparent hypothesis testing, and pinpoint the targets of active ingredients of intervention techniques.

Marotta, Andrea Chacón Candia, Jeannete https://hdl.handle.net/10481/112697 2026-04-08T11:19:52Z

When gaze conflicts with space: Implicit eye contact and the reversed congruency effect Marotta, Andrea; Chacón Candia, Jeannete The human ability to perceive and interpret others’ gaze direction is crucial for social interaction and may rely on specialized attentional mechanisms. A particularly striking finding in this domain is the reversed congruency effect (RCE), in which responses are faster when gaze direction and spatial position are incongruent. Two experiments (44 participants each) tested how gaze deviation modulates this effect to test two competing accounts: the eye-contact hypothesis, which attributes the RCE to implicit misperceptions of direct gaze, and the joint-attention hypothesis, which links it to shared attention toward a common focus. Participants performed a spatial interference task in which faces displayed either partially or fully averted gaze. A robust RCE emerged for partially averted gaze, while the effect was reduced for fully averted ones, a pattern that constrains competing accounts of the RCE. Subjective ratings confirmed that subtle deviations were perceived as more direct, but congruency did not affect explicit judgments of being looked at. This dissociation suggests that the RCE may reflect implicit processes related to the social interpretation of gaze rather than explicit awareness, providing constraints on competing accounts of gaze-based attention.

Capizzi, Mariagrazia Attout, Lucie Mioni, Giovanna Charras, Pom https://hdl.handle.net/10481/112336 2026-03-20T09:37:24Z

Unifying temporal preparation: The temporal preparation task (TEP-Task) Capizzi, Mariagrazia; Attout, Lucie; Mioni, Giovanna; Charras, Pom The dynamic nature of our environment allows us to anticipate the onset of relevant events, enhancing our responses to them. Temporal preparation can be assessed in the laboratory using various tasks, including foreperiod tasks, temporal orienting tasks, and rhythmic tasks. However, the existing literature lacks a unified task to measure the most common temporal preparation effects (i.e., foreperiod, sequential, temporal orienting, and rhythmic effects) in a single session. The main goal of the present study was to fill this gap by devising the temporal preparation task (TEP-Task) to measure temporal preparation effects in a single 35-min testing session. Besides its utility in single-session assessments, the TEP-Task may also serve for future research across diverse populations and experimental demands.

Tomás, Guillermo Bajo Molina, María Teresa Marful Quiroga, María Alejandra https://hdl.handle.net/10481/112186 2026-03-16T13:18:05Z

Exploring episodic specificity induction on divergent thinking in children Tomás, Guillermo; Bajo Molina, María Teresa; Marful Quiroga, María Alejandra Previous studies suggest that Episodic Specificity Induction (ESI) improves the recall of episodic details and facilitates transfer to other cognitive tasks requiring episodic thinking (i.e., divergent thinking). However, the only study examining an adapted future-oriented ESI in children has failed to show benefits in subsequent cognitive tasks. To investigate this, two experiments were conducted using the standard ESI protocol with children. Experiment 1 tested second graders, fifth graders, and young adults using children-adapted materials (i.e., TV cartoons), while Experiment 2 tested fifth graders using non-adapted materials. Both experiments confirmed that ESI improved the recall of episodic details compared to a control condition. Additionally, developmental differences in episodic recall in Experiment 1 disappeared after controlling for total verbal production, suggesting that children’s episodic memory benefits when recalling materials that are child-friendly. Conversely, unexpected findings regarding transfer effect to divergent thinking revealed no transfer effects in Experiment 2 (non-adapted materials) and a significant increase in idea fluency and flexibility following the control condition in Experiment 1 (children-adapted materials). This result may be explained by a positive mood induction, as general questions accompanied by child-friendly videos could enhance creative performance following the control condition. These findings highlight the importance of carefully selecting and adapting ESI materials to children population in future studies.

Santiago De Torres, Julio Ramón Jiménez Carvelo, Ana María Rivera, Laura Serrano Chica, Francisca https://hdl.handle.net/10481/111921 2026-03-06T07:35:54Z

Do picture books affect counting directionality in preliterate children? Developmental course and potential mechanisms Santiago De Torres, Julio Ramón; Jiménez Carvelo, Ana María; Rivera, Laura; Serrano Chica, Francisca Why the number line in preliterate children is already consistent with the direction of the script? Here we aimed to 1) show that being read a mirror-printed picture book is able to change lateral biases in counting; 2) trace the development of preliterate biases; and 3) test the role of mental model construction processes. Spanish-speaking 3 and 4 year-olds (N = 155, white, 87 female) carried out a task of counting a row of objects and a task in which they built a toy scene before and after being exposed to a mirror-reversed storybook. The left-to-right or right-to-left direc­ tionality of their responses was recorded. Only the older group showed pre-test lateral biases. The mirror book changed the lateral biases in counting, and induced a congruent, but smaller change in the model construction task. The two tasks did not correlate, against the implication of shared mechanisms in them. This study was funded by grants PSI2015-67531-P to Julio Santiago, and PID2021-126589OB-I00 to Francisca Serrano, MCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033 and “ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) A way of making Europe.”