Human behaviour is fascinating. “If you want to understand a person, don't listen to their words, observe their behaviour”, said Einstein. But observable behaviour is complex and, understood within the framework of neuroscience, involves the integration of knowledge from different disciplines (Psychology, Economics, Biology, Genetics, etc.). Within this framework, the research group “Laboratory of BEHAVIOURAL, AFFECTIVE AND COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE” (BACNeuLab) conducts interdisciplinary research that addresses the biological bases of behaviour, highlighting the importance of cognitive and affective processes, in interaction, as well as their relationship with manifest behaviour, both adaptive and maladaptive.

Thus, our pillars are the study of human emotion and cognition within the framework of psychobiology, and our studies address diverse topics ranging from the cognitive biases that affect our life decisions in different populations, to the influence of stress on health in general, to the effects of music on cognitive performance, as well as its potential therapeutic application, among others. All of them, with the aim of describing, understanding and, finally, explaining human behaviour from the integrative and rigorous point of view of neuroscience.

In this way, the studies carried out are characterised by the collaboration with researchers from other disciplines and from different areas of knowledge and various universities (national and international). The methods used are from psychophysiology (variables such as cardiac variability, electrodermal response, electromyography, respiratory) and cognitive psychology (attentional tasks, cognitive biases, information processing) and affective psychology (emotions). In addition, the statistical methods used vary from frequency statistics to Bayesian statistics, including computational models.