Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (PTDC/PSI-GER/5845/2020; PI: Susana Silva; Co-PI: São Luís Castro)
Time perception seems to be impaired in individuals with dyslexia, but little is known on the mechanisms that might explain the non-trivial relation between time perception and reading and whether a causal relation is engaged. In this project, we investigate how difficulties in different modalities of time perception (beat-based, musical time vs. duration-based time; time extracted from auditory vs. visual events) may relate to difficulties in different reading components. To that end, we implement four experimental studies combining behavioral, EEG and eye-tracking methods.
For more information, please visit the Time2Read Project Site, Facebook, and Instagram.
Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-028404; PI: Teresa Limpo)
M2S focuses on the link between the key academic and life skills of executive functions (EF) and writing as well as on their relation to school-, social-, and health-related outcomes in primary grades. We will conduct 4 studies to (1) examine the longitudinal contribution of EF to writing across 5 years; (2) develop a mindfulness intervention to promote EF and test its effects on EF, writing, school achievement, social skills, and health; (3) transform this intervention into an app connected to bracelets for collecting psychophysiological and behavioral measures and test its validity; and (4) test the added value of combining the mindfulness app and a writing intervention, including a feedback software for teachers, on EF, writing, school achievement, social skills, and health. This project will increase knowledge on variables underlying students’ success at school and ultimately in life, and develop evidence-based materials and technological tools to foster that success from early on.
For more information, please visit the M2S Project Site.
BIAL Foundation (PT/FB/BL-2016-312; PI: Rui Alves)
Mind-Body Interactions in Writing explores the real time psychophysiological and linguistic markers of expressive writing by measuring electrodermal activity, facial muscle activity, heart activity, handwriting, and emotional words’ usage, that may improve understanding of expressive writing healing effects. Expressive writing is particular form of writing in which a person engages in narrating a personal deeply charged emotional event, either negative (e.g., a trauma) or positive (e.g., a major achievement). Over the last thirty years, a wealth of research, championed by Pennebaker, has consistently shown that expressive writing triggers a considerable number of benefits on health, psychological well-being, and personal growth. Despite the numerous healing effects the mechanism through which expressive writing operates is still poorly understood. In this project, we suggest that mind-body interactions during writing, as revealed by an exploration of psychophysiological indexes and linguistic markers, might be instructive to further understanding of how expressive writing operates.
For more information, please visit the Mind-Body Interactions in Writing Project Site.
Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-28274; PI: César Lima; Co-PI: São Luís Castro)
Learning to play music changes brain structure and function, and there is much interest in the idea that these changes might transfer to skills beyond music. Many studies examined if music training improves abilities such as speech and intelligence. However, remarkably little is known about potential transfer effects to social skills, notably the ability to process emotional voices and faces. This effect could be hypothesized from the fundamental link between music and social and emotion processes, and is of central theoretical and applied importance: for understanding brain plasticity, the neurocognitive links between music and socio-emotional abilities, and the potential of music as a therapeutic tool. This project asks if music training improves socio-emotional processing, focusing on three unresolved questions. First, we determine if adult musicians reliably outperform non-musicians at recognizing emotions, and establish the scope of the effect: is it limited to voices, or does it extend to the visual domain (faces)? Is it limited to formally trained individuals, or does it extend to musically sophisticated non-musicians, who developed music skills via informal engagement with music? This will clarify previous mixed findings and provide a mechanistic understanding of the effect. A new tool for measuring musical sophistication will be validated and made available to the community. Second, we will combine state-of-the-art magnetic resonance imaging and electrophysiological techniques to delineate the neural mechanisms of the effect. This includes examining how emotions are represented in the trained brain, modulations in the processing time course, and changes in functional connectivity and brain anatomy. This comprehensive approach will add critical new insights into how music drives plasticity. Third, we will conduct a longitudinal study in children to test the effects of a music training program on socio-emotional processing, including pre- and post- training assessments. This will be implemented in a naturalistic setting in a low income/disadvantaged area, linking laboratory-based research with real-world impact. Such an approach is critical to assess how music shapes development, and to establish a direct causal link between training and social skills. Altogether, this proposal capitalizes on an innovative multi-methods approach, well placed to produce important theoretical advances concerning plasticity, music, and social processing. Crucially, it will offer evidence for teachers, clinicians, engineers, and policymakers interested in enacting programs for social skills.
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