https://hdl.handle.net/10481/51266 Sat, 18 Apr 2026 17:58:32 GMT 2026-04-18T17:58:32Z https://hdl.handle.net/10481/112483 Attention and vigilance advantages related to formal musical training across childhood, adolescence and young adulthood Román Caballero, Rafael; Trujillo Patón, Laura; Martín-Sánchez, Paulina del Carmen; Martín-Arévalo, Elisa; Lupiáñez Castillo, Juan Attention and vigilance are fundamental cognitive abilities that develop throughout childhood and adolescence and have been associated with cognitively demanding activities such as formal musical training. This cross-­ sectional study examined whether individuals engaged in long-­ term musical training show superior attention and vigilance compared with matched controls without such training. Participants (N = 268; ages 8–34 years) were drawn from two samples of children, adolescents and adults, with musicians and nonmusicians matched on a wide array of demographic and lifestyle variables using multivariate propensity-­ score matching. Attentional performance was assessed using the ANTI-­ Vea, a validated computerized task that measures two components of vigilance – executive and arousal vigilance. Moreover, we applied advanced behavioural modelling given their sensitivity to the complex developmental trajectories in vigilance. For many indices, musically trained participants outperformed nonmusicians at all ages, with overall faster responses, fewer attentional lapses, detecting more vigilance targets and lower variability in arousal vigilance trials. Other group differences became more pronounced with age, indicating a possible dosage effect. Crucially, these findings remained after extensive control for confounders. Although the advantages associated with musical training were modest and the correlational study design, they are consistent with the hypothesis that music practice may foster domain-­ general cognitive skills. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska-­ Curie Actions with a Global Postdoctoral Fellowship to RRC (project No 101149355), funding from the Visiting Scholars program of the Vice-­ Rectorate for Research and Knowledge Transfer of the University of Granada (P22-­ 2022) and three research project grants from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (PID2020-­ 114790GB-­ I00 and PID2023-148421NB-­ I00) and the Junta de Andalucía (PY20_00693) to JL. The University of Granada/CBUA has funded the open access charge. We are grateful for the collaboration of the music conservatories ‘Gonzalo Martín Tellado’ of Málaga, ‘Músico Ziryab’ of Córdoba, ‘Ángel Barrios’ of Granada, ‘José Salinas’ of Baza, ‘Antonio López Serrano’ of Priego, ‘Luis de Narváez’ of Baena and ‘Isaac Albéniz’ of Cabra. We also appreciate the collaboration of the scout group ‘Albaizín 524’ and the high schools ‘CEIP Manuel de Falla’ of Peligros, ‘IES Padre Manjón’ of Granada, ‘IES Francisco Ayala’ of Granada, ‘Sagrada Familia Pureza de María’ of Granada, ‘CEIP Abadía’ of Albolote, ‘IES Alhendín’ of Alhendín and ‘IES Mariana Pineda’ of Granada. Finally, we are grateful to all the participating families who have made this study possible. https://hdl.handle.net/10481/112483 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/110450 Drift-diffusion modeling of accuracy and reaction times: a deeper insight into retrospective attention Fuentes-Guerra, Águeda; Cipriani, Germán; González García, Carlos; Botta, Fabiano Retrospective attention refers to the prioritization of contents held in working memory, a process investigated using the retro-cueing paradigm. This process is evidenced by the retro-cueing benefit, characterized by better performance for retrospectively cued trials. However, traditional statistical analyses fall short in distinguishing between decisional and non-decisional processes underlying this benefit. A pivotal contribution by Shepherdson et al. (2018) addressed this gap by applying drift-diffusion modeling which integrates both accuracy and reaction time measures to disentangle these processes. Their key contribution lies in demonstrating that retro-cues enhance the quality of working memory contents and enable their retrieval in advance of decision making—effects that occur independently of shifts in decision criteria. Building on Shepherdson et al.'s work, we encourage future DDM-based retro-cueing studies to pursue precise, mutually exclusive hypothesis testing and to integrate behavioral and neural data to more clearly distinguish between competing explanations of the retro-cueing benefit. This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness [research project PID2020-116342GA-I00 to CGG, and PID2020-118214GB-I00 to FB, funded by MCIN/ AEI /10.13039/501100011033]. CG-G was also supported by Grant RYC2021-033536-I funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by the European Union Next Generation EU/PRTR. FB was also supported by Grant PRE2021-100459 funded by 10.13039/501100011033. Additionally, this publication was funded by ESF+, CEX2023-001312-M by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and UCE- PP2023-11 by University of Granada. This article is part of the thesis of GAC under the supervision of FB and Juan Lupiáñez. https://hdl.handle.net/10481/110450 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/110339 Attentional distraction affects maintenance of information in visual sensory memory Botta, Fabiano; Martín Arévalo, Elisa; Bartolomeo, Paolo; Lupiáñez Castillo, Juan Classical theoretical models suggest that visual short-term memory can be divided in two main memory systems: sensory memory, a short-lasting but high-capacity memory storage and working memory, a long-lasting but low-capacity memory store. Whilst, previous research has systematically shown a strong interplay between attentional mechanisms and working memory, less clear is the role of attention in sensory memory. In the present study we approach this issue by asking whether withdrawing attentional resources by a dual task (Experiment 1) or by presenting task irrelevant information during memory maintenance (Experiment 2 and 3) similarly or differently affect sensory and working memory. Overall, results showed that sensory memory content was undermined not only by a simultaneous high-demanding cognitive task but even when purely task-irrelevant and non-masking visual distractors were presented during maintenance. Our data provide support against theories that consider sensory memories as a case of visual awareness free of attention. Special thanks to Violeta Medialdea Morillas and to Carolina Delgado García for the recollection of data from Experiment 2 and Experiment 3 respectively. This research was funded by MCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033 (grant PID2020-118214 GB-I00 and grant PID2020-114790 GB-100 research projects to FB and JL). Funding: FB was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and by the European Regional Development Fund (research project PSI2015- 73503-JIN). JL was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (PSI2017-84926-P). EMA was supported by a Juan de la Cierva postdoctoral fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (IJCI-2015–23204). https://hdl.handle.net/10481/110339 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/105640 Relative age effect in formal musical training Román-Caballero, Rafael; Trujillo, Laura; Martín-Sánchez, Paulina del Carmen; Trainor, Laurel J.; Huertas, Florentino; Martín-Arévalo, Elisa; Lupiáñez, Juan Access to musical training depends on various factors, such as socioeconomic status and musical background of families, and the child’s interest in learning music (related to their openness to experience). In the present study, we show an additional source of selection bias that has gone unnoticed: the relative age of children within the same cohort, when a selection process is implemented. The consequences of this grouping are known as the relative age effect, ranging from academic outcomes to self-esteem. In youth sports, there has been observed an overrepresentation of athletes born in the two first quarters compared to those born later. This study shows a similar unbalance across Spanish music conservatory courses in two samples: a Primary Sample of participants assessed by our research group (N =322; 33 % of children born in the first quarter vs. 21 % in the fourth quarter, V =.12) and a Secondary Sample comprised by the complete census of six conservatories in Spain (N =2182; 27 % vs. 24 %, V =.04). This bias was larger when computed on those participants selecting the most popular instrument. In our sample, the relative age of the children and adolescents was independent of other sources of selection bias, such as socioeconomic status. Moreover, the relative age effect was stable across conservatory courses, pointing to an enrolment bias and the impact of a lack of adjustment in the conservatory entrance exam. https://hdl.handle.net/10481/105640 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/100405 Usability of a mobile phone application to enhance activities of daily living in occupational therapy services for breast cancer survivors Romero Ayuso, Dulce Nombre de Mari; García-López, Raquel; Villena-Lozano, Carmen; Martínez, José-Ramón; Parga-Amado, Paula; García-Ferreiro, Paula; Gallud, José Antonio; Lozano, María; Triviño Juárez, José Matías https://hdl.handle.net/10481/100405