Browsing by Author "Barraza, Paulo"

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    Executive Functions and Theory of Mind in Teachers and Non-Teachers
    (2023) Barraza, Paulo; Rodriguez, Eugenio
    Human teaching is a key behavior for the socialization of cultural knowledge. Previous studies suggest that human teaching behavior would support the development of executive and ToM skills, which in turn would refine the teaching behavior. Given this connection, it raises the question of whether subjects with professional training in teaching also have more efficient executive and ToM systems. To shed light on this issue, in the present study we compared the performance of professional teachers (N = 20, age range = 35-61 years) with a matched control group of non teachers (N = 20, age range: 29-64 years) on tasks measuring working memory (Sternberg Task), cognitive flexibility (Wisconsin Card Sorting Test), executive control (Attention Network Test), along with online ToM skills (Frith-Happe ' Animations Task), emotion recognition (Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test) and first-order and second-order ToM (Yoni Task). We found that teachers were significantly more accurate on tasks involving cognitive flexibility (p = .014) and working memory (p = .040), and more efficient on tasks requiring executive control of attention (p = .046), compared to non-teachers. In ToM tasks, differences in accuracy between teachers and non-teachers were not found. But, teachers were slower to respond than non-teachers (about 2 s difference) on tasks involving emotion recognition (p = .0007) and the use of second-order affective ToM (p = .006). Collectively, our findings raise an interesting link between professional teaching and the development of cognitive skills critical for decision making in challenging social contexts such as the classroom. Future research could explore ways to foster teachers' strengths in cognitive flexibility, working memory, and executive control of attention to enhance teaching strategies and student learning outcomes. Additionally, exploring factors behind slower response times in affective ToM tasks can guide teacher-training programs focused on interpersonal skills and improve teacher student interactions.
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    Pre-stimulus EEG oscillations correlate with perceptual alternation of speech forms
    (2016) Barraza, Paulo; Guazzini, Jaume; Rodríguez B., Eugenio
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    Sensory multi-brain stimulation enhances dyadic cooperative behavior
    (2025) Leiva Cisterna, Ivo; Barraza, Paulo; Rodríguez B., Eugenio; Dumas, Guillaume
    Hyperscanning research suggests that interbrain synchronization supports the regulation of social behavior. However, the evidence is predominantly correlational, leaving a gap for epiphenomenal accounts, where synchrony merely represents concurrent stimulus processing rather than a mechanism relevant to interpersonal interactions. Here, we demonstrate that interbrain synchrony causally drives cooperative success, as evidenced by non-invasive stimulation enhancing coupling and subsequently improving performance in a concurrent interdependent cooperation task. We applied dual-sensory entrainment at 16 Hz and 40 Hz to dyads and compared their performance with non-entrained control dyads performing the same cooperation task. We found that dual stimulation improved interbrain synchrony at the targeted frequencies relative to controls, with 16 Hz entrainment producing the most prominent effect. Strikingly, sensory entrainment facilitated sustained behavioral coupling, allowing partners to maintain coordination over extended periods. Notably, these effects are contingent on improved response coordination, indicating the importance of interbrain coupling for facilitating coordination and demonstrating causally that partner neural attunement is necessary to produce effective joint behavior. Thus, our study supports the concept that interbrain synchrony represents a neural mechanism with functional specificity in social interactions.