Main goal

• The study of biological bases of different cognitive, affective and behavioural processes associated to empathy, violence, parenthood and social stress.

Specific goals

• Conduct neurocriminological research focused on prevention, diagnosis and treatment of violence, as well as on the estimation of recidivism, with a positive outlook that contributes to a decrease of violence through the fostering of empathy.
• Define neuropsychological and psychobiological profiles in various high violence samples, such as men convicted of gender-based violence, by analysing the impact of the main risk factors of this type of violence.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of psychotherapeutic treatment on neurocognitive abilities of the aforementioned population, as well as the role that these neuropsychological and psychobiological variables play in the adherence to the treatment.
• Analyse the psychobiological basis of cooperation and empathy in different populations, both in laboratory and field studies, in order to understand the mechanisms underlying these behaviours and, where possible, use the results of this research in intervention programmes.
• Conduct research on aspects that contribute to the improvement of well-being and quality of life from a neuroscientific perspective by analysing different strategies and attitudes capable of producing psychobiological changes that contribute to this improvement.
• Analyse changes in empathy that occur after participation in mindfulness programmes, using self-assessment and biological measurements.
• Study different styles of parenthood (i.e., adoption, surrogacy, in vitro fertilisation) and analyse the underlying models, taking into account the motivations and brain structures of the people involved.
• Analyse the consequences of caretaking processes on the caretaker’s health through laboratory and field studies that allow psychological aspects and biological health indicators (hormones, autonomic nervous system, etc.) to be evaluated jointly.
• Analyse the cognitive, affective, behavioural and social levels of individuals with acquired brain injury with the aim of improving neurorehabilitation interventions.