https://hdl.handle.net/10481/72738 2026-04-13T07:48:22Z https://hdl.handle.net/10481/104427 Does including Facebook training improve the effectiveness of computerized cognitive training? A randomized controlled trial Rute-Pérez, Sandra; Rodríguez-Domínguez, Carlos; Sánchez-Lara, Encarnación María; Pérez-García, Miguel; Caracuel, Alfonso Objective: To determine whether implementing a Facebook training program improves the effectiveness of computerized cognitive training (CCT) in older adults. Design: Randomized, controlled, double single-blind trial with parallel groups. Setting: Community centers. Subjects: Eighty-six adults between 60-90 years old. Interventions: Nine face-to-face 60-minute sessions of CCT with VIRTRAEL for all participants. The experimental group received an additional 30 minutes of Facebook training per session. Main measures: Attention (d2 Test of Attention); learning and verbal memory (Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised); working memory (Letter-Number Sequencing test), semantic and abstract reasoning (Similarities and Matrix Reasoning tests); and planning (Key Search test). Results: There was a significant Group*Time interaction in the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised-Trial 3, Letter-Number sequencing, and Matrix tests. Between groups, post-hoc analyses showed a difference in Matrix reasoning (p< .001; d= 0.893) at post-intervention in favor of the experimental group. Significant main effects of time were found in the CCT group between baseline and 3-month follow-up for Concentration (F= 26.431, p≤ .001), Letters and Numbers (F= 30.549, p ≤ .001), Learning (F= 38.678, p≤ .001), Similarities (F= 69.885, p≤ .001), Matrix (F= 90.342, p≤ .001), and Key Search (F= 7.904, p= .006) tests. Conclusions: The utilization of CCT with VIRTRAEL, a freely accessible tool with broad applicability, resulted in enhanced attention, verbal learning, working memory, abstract and semantic reasoning, and planning among older adults. These improvements were sustained for at least three months post-training. Additional training in Facebook did not enhance the effectiveness of CCT. https://hdl.handle.net/10481/104418 Unemployment and General Cognitive Ability: A Review and Meta-Analysis Vélez-Coto, María; Rute-Pérez, Sandra; Pérez-García, Miguel; Caracuel, Alfonso Evidence suggests an association between unemployment and general cognitive ability. Factors such as changes in environmental stimulation and the effects of stress may act as mediators in this relationship. We conduct a qualitative review and meta-analysis to determine whether an association between unemployment and general cognitive ability exists. Eighteen studies were included in the qualitative review, and six in the meta-analysis. Results of the review indicated a significant association between unemployment and lower cognitive ability. The meta-analysis supports this association, displaying a medium effect size which increased when age was included as a covariate. Both analyses point towards the existence of a relationship between unemployment and low cognition, moderated by age and promoted by the loss of stimulation obtained through employment, as well as by the stress experienced during unemployment. Based on these results, a series of suggestions are made to improve future studies in this emerging area. https://hdl.handle.net/10481/101176 Decreased insular and increased midbrain activations during decision‐making under risk in adolescents with excess weight Delgado-Rico, Elena; Soriano-Mas, Carles; Verdejo-Román, Juan; Schmidt-RioValle, Jacqueline; Verdejo García, Antonio Javier https://hdl.handle.net/10481/101156 Cocaine users with comorbid Cluster B personality disorders show dysfunctional brain activation and connectivity in the emotional regulation networks during negative emotion maintenance and reappraisal Albein Urios, Natalia; Verdejo-Román, Juan; Soriano-Mas, Carles; Asensio, Samuel; Martínez González, José Miguel; Verdejo García, Antonio https://hdl.handle.net/10481/95282 Neural substrates of cognitive flexibility in cocaine and gambling addictions Verdejo García, Antonio Javier; Clark, Luke; Verdejo Román, Juan; Albein Urios, Natalia; Martínez González, José Miguel; Gutiérrez Martínez, Blanca; Soriano-Mas, Carles Background Individuals with cocaine and gambling addictions exhibit cognitive flexibility deficits that may underlie persistence of harmful behaviours. Aims We investigated the neural substrates of cognitive inflexibility in cocaine users v. pathological gamblers, aiming to disambiguate common mechanisms v. cocaine effects. Method Eighteen cocaine users, 18 pathological gamblers and 18 controls performed a probabilistic reversal learning task during functional magnetic resonance imaging, and were genotyped for the DRD2/ANKK Taq1A polymorphism. Results Cocaine users and pathological gamblers exhibited reduced ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) signal during reversal shifting. Cocaine users further showed increased dorsomedial PFC (dmPFC) activation relative to pathological gamblers during perseveration, and decreased dorsolateral PFC activation relative to pathological gamblers and controls during shifting. Preliminary genetic findings indicated that cocaine users carrying the DRD2/ANKK Taq1A1+ genotype may derive unique stimulatory effects on shifting-related ventrolateral PFC signal. Conclusions Reduced ventrolateral PFC activation during shifting may constitute a common neural marker across gambling and cocaine addictions. Additional cocaine-related effects relate to a wider pattern of task-related dysregulation, reflected in signal abnormalities in dorsolateral and dmPFC.