Soledad Ballesteros | Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (original) (raw)

Papers by Soledad Ballesteros

European Review of Aging and Physical Activity, Feb 26, 2018

Journal of Alzheimer's disease & Parkinsonism, 2017

Journal of laboratory and precision medicine, 2017

Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2018

Editorial on the Research Topic Cognitive and Brain Plasticity Induced by Physical Exercise, Cogn... more Editorial on the Research Topic Cognitive and Brain Plasticity Induced by Physical Exercise, Cognitive Training, Video Games, and Combined Interventions This Research Topic (RT) focused on recent research conducted in the field of cognitive and brain plasticity induced by physical activity, different types of cognitive training, including computerized interventions, learning therapy, video games, and combined intervention approaches as well as other forms of brain stimulation that target brain activity, including electroencephalography and neurofeedback. It contains 49 contributions to the topic, including original research articles (37), clinical trials (2), reviews (5), mini-reviews (2), hypothesis and theory (1), and corrections (2). The premise of neuroplasticity on enhancing cognitive functioning among healthy as well as cognitively impaired individuals across the lifespan, and the potential of harnessing these processes to prevent cognitive decline attract substantial scientific and public interest. Indeed, the systematic evidence base for cognitive training, video games, physical exercise, and other forms of brain stimulation such as entrain brain activity is growing rapidly, thus paving the way for research geared at better understanding the underlying mechanisms and translation to clinical practice (Raz and Lindenberger, 2013). Studies in this field might contribute to improve our knowledge on cognitive and brain plasticity and be of great help for designing effective cognitive-enhancement interventions (see Karbach and Schubert, 2013). It is well-known that brain plasticity and its role in brain adaptation across the lifespan are influenced by other changes occurring as a result of environmental factors, personality variables and genetic and epigenetic factors (see Ballesteros et al., 2015). To date, most cognitive training studies have focused on measuring gains immediately after training, typically demonstrating effects on the trained tasks or closely-related transfer measures (i.e., near transfer). Yet the potency of cognitive training depends on evidence of: (1) far transfer from training to untrained functions; (2) the durability of training effects, including what booster regimens are needed to maintain cognitive benefits in young and older adults; and (3) the extent to which cognitive training can affect clinically meaningful outcomes. Researchers are increasingly using cognitive training platforms and video games to investigate its impact on cognition and brain plasticity. Video game play is a very popular leisure activity. An interesting preliminary question is why consumers choose to download smartphones applications

Experimental Gerontology, Oct 1, 2016

The present study investigated whether the performance on executive function tasks of patients wi... more The present study investigated whether the performance on executive function tasks of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is as impaired as that of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients and to compare their performance with that of a group of cognitively healthy older adults. We also investigated whether glycosylated hemoglobin levels (HbA1c, a measure of glucose regulation) are related to performance on executive control tasks. Methods: Three groups of participants (AD, T2DM, and healthy older adults) completed medical and psychological evaluations and performed a series of computerized tasks, including processing speed (simple and choice reaction time) tasks, verbal and visuospatial working memory (WM) updating (n-back) tasks, and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), to assess processing speed and executive functioning. Results: As expected, the results showed that AD patients performed significantly worse than the healthy older adult group in all tasks. Executive functions deteriorated in the two groups of patients but more in the AD group. The T2DM group differed from healthy older controls but not from AD patients in the percentage of perseverations and the percentage of perseverative errors (WCST). Conclusions: These findings revealed working memory (updating and maintenance) and executive control declines in the T2DM compared to healthy older controls but smaller than that suffered by the AD patients. The impairment of executive processing of T2DM patients despite the glycosylated hemoglobin control suggests that these patients are at risk of developing AD.

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), Dec 18, 2020

Findings suggest a positive impact of bilingualism on cognition, including the later onset of dem... more Findings suggest a positive impact of bilingualism on cognition, including the later onset of dementia. However, it is not clear to what extent these effects are influenced by variations in attentional control demands in response to specific task requirements. In this study, 20 bilingual and 20 monolingual older adults performed a task-switching task under explicit task-cuing vs. memory-based switching conditions. In the cued condition, task switches occurred in random order and a visual cue signaled the next task to be performed. In the memory-based condition, the task alternated after every second trial in a predictable sequence without presenting a cue. The performance of bilinguals did not vary across experimental conditions, whereas monolinguals experienced a pronounced increase in response latencies and error rates in the cued condition. Both groups produced similar switch costs (difference in performance on switch trials as opposed to repeating trials within the mixed-task block) and mixing costs (difference in performance on repeat trials of a mixed-task block as opposed to trials of a single-task block), but bilinguals produced them with lower response latencies. The cognitive benefits of bilingualism seem not to apply to executive functions per se but to affect specific cognitive processes that involve task-relevant context processing. The present results suggest that lifelong bilingualism could promote in older adults a flexible adjustment to environmental cues, but only with increased task demands. However, due to the small sample size, the results should be interpreted with caution.

Neuropsychologia, Jun 1, 2019

The pathophysiology of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) involves deficits in perfo... more The pathophysiology of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) involves deficits in performance monitoring and adaptive adjustments. Yet, the developmental trajectory and underlying neural correlates of performance monitoring deficits in youth with ADHD remain poorly understood. To address the gap, this study recruited 77 children and adolescents with ADHD and 77 age-and gender-matched healthy controls (HC), ages 8-18 years, who performed an arrow flanker task during electroencephalogram recording. Compared to HC, participants with ADHD responded more slowly and showed larger reaction time variability (RTV) and reduced post-error slowing; they also exhibited reduced error-related negativity (ERN) and error positivity effects, and reduced N2 and P3 congruency effects. Age effects were observed across groups: with increasing age, participants responded faster, with less variability, and with increased post-error slowing. They also exhibited increased ERN effects and increased N2 and P3 congruency effects. Increased RTV and reduced P3 amplitude in incongruent trials were associated with increased ADHD Problems Scale scores on the Child Behavior Checklist across groups. The altered behavioral and ERP responses in ADHD are consistent with the pattern associated with younger age across groups. Further research with a longitudinal design may determine specific aspects of developmental alteration and deficits in ADHD during performance monitoring.

Psychological Research-psychologische Forschung, May 24, 2018

In two experiments, we investigated the interactions between the grouping principles of spatial p... more In two experiments, we investigated the interactions between the grouping principles of spatial proximity and texture similarity in touch. For that purpose, we adapted to touch two paradigms widely employed in vision. In Experiment 1, we used an experimental phenomenological task consisting of rating the strength of grouping in both acting alone and conjoined cooperative and competitive conditions. In Experiment 2, participants performed a psychophysical task in which an objective (in)correct response was defined by selectively attending to one grouping cue in different blocks of trials. The results showed that spatial proximity dominated over texture similarity when the two principles were conjoined in competition. In addition, the present results are compatible with an additive model of grouping effects as indicated by the greater grouping effect in the cooperative condition and the smaller grouping effect in the competitive condition relative to a.0cting alone grouping principles. The similarities and differences between vision and touch are discussed.

PLOS ONE, Jul 19, 2018

Behavioral and neurophysiological findings in vision suggest that perceptual grouping is not a un... more Behavioral and neurophysiological findings in vision suggest that perceptual grouping is not a unitary process and that different grouping principles have different processing requirements and neural correlates. The present study aims to examine whether the same occurs in the haptic modality using two grouping principles widely studied in vision, spatial proximity and texture similarity. We analyzed behavioral responses (accuracy and response times) and conducted an independent component analysis of brain oscillations in alpha and beta bands for haptic stimuli grouped by spatial proximity and texture similarity, using a speeded orientation detection task performed on a novel haptic device (MonHap). Behavioral results showed faster response times for patterns grouped by spatial proximity relative to texture similarity. Independent component clustering analysis revealed the activation of a bilateral network of sensorimotor and parietal areas while performing the task. We conclude that, as occurs in visual perception, grouping the elements of the haptic scene by means of their spatial proximity is faster than forming the same objects by means of texture similarity. In addition, haptic grouping seems to involve the activation of a network of widely distributed bilateral sensorimotor and parietal areas as reflected by the consistent event-related desynchronization found in alpha and beta bands.

Research Square (Research Square), May 15, 2023

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a signi cant psychological impact worldwide. The COVI... more Background The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a signi cant psychological impact worldwide. The COVID-19 Peritraumatic distress index (CPDI) is widely used to assess psychological stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although CPDI has been validated in Peru and Spain, no cross-cultural validation studies have been conducted. As an exploratory aim, differences in CPDI factorial scores between the most prevalent medical conditions in two samples from a general population of Peru and Spain were investigated. Materials and Methods We conducted secondary data analysis with data from Peru and Spain to validate the CPDI in a crosscultural context. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA), con rmatory factor analysis (CFA), and multigroup con rmatory factor analysis (MGCFA) were performed to evaluate the factor structure and measurement invariance of the CPDI across cultural contexts. Results This study revealed a bifactorial solution (stress and rumination/information) for the CPDI, consistent with previous studies. The MGCFA demonstrated measurement invariance across cultural contexts (scalar invariance), indicating that the CPDI construct has the same meaning across both groups, regardless of cultural context and language variations of Spanish. Patients with anxious-depressive disorders showed higher CPDI factorial scores for both factors, whereas patients with respiratory diseases were only associated with the stress factor. Conclusion This study provides evidence for the cross-cultural validity of the CPDI, highlighting its utility as a reliable instrument for assessing psychological stress in the context of COVID-19 across different cultures. These ndings have important implications for developing and validating measures to assess psychological distress in different cultural contexts.

International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health

Objective Demographic changes encompass societies to maintain the work ability (WA) of aging work... more Objective Demographic changes encompass societies to maintain the work ability (WA) of aging workforces. The present study explored the relationship between modifiable lifestyle factors, cognitive functions, and their influence on WA, using a multi-group structural equation approach. Method Cross-sectional data from 247 middle-aged and 236 older employees from the Dortmund Vital Study were included in this analysis. We proposed a model with three exogenous variables (Physical Fitness, Cognitive Functions, and Social Life), and with WA as the endogenous variable. WA was measured with the Work Ability Index (WAI), which considers job demands and individual physical and mental resources. Multi-group analyses were based on the principles of invariance testing and conducted using robust estimation methods. Results Results revealed that Social Life outside work had significant positive effects on WA in both, middle-aged and older adults. Physical Fitness had a significant effect on WA onl...

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

Previous research has shown that physical exercise improves memory. In the present study, we inve... more Previous research has shown that physical exercise improves memory. In the present study, we investigated the possible effects of the intensity of physical exercise as a function of the affective valence of words on implicit memory. In the study, 79 young adult volunteers were randomly assigned to perform moderate- (50% VO2max) or high-intensity exercise (80% VO2max) on a stationary bike. Once the required exercise intensity was achieved, participants performed an affective and repetition priming task concurrently with the physical exercise. Both groups showed similar repetition priming. The moderate-intensity exercise group showed affective priming with positive words, while affective priming was not found in the high-intensity exercise group. Facilitation occurred in both groups when a negative target word was preceded by a positive prime word. Our results suggest that the positive effect of physical exercise on memory is modulated by the affective valence of the stimuli. It seems...

Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2022

Research has shown that both physical exercise and cognitive training help to maintain cognition ... more Research has shown that both physical exercise and cognitive training help to maintain cognition in older adults. The question is whether combined training might produce additive effects when the group comparisons are equated in terms of exercise intensity and modality. We conducted a systematic electronic search in MEDLINE, PsycInfo, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) databases to identify relevant studies published up to February 2021. Seven hundred and eighty-three effect sizes were obtained from 50 published intervention studies, involving 6,164 healthy older adults, and submitted to a three-level meta-analysis. Results showed that combined training produced a small advantage in comparison to single cognitive training on executive functions, whereas both types of training achieved similar effects on attention, memory, language, processing speed, and global cognition. Combined training achieved higher training gains in balance than single physical traini...

Psicothema, 2018

Background: Previous research has shown repetition priming for objects between vision and touch, ... more Background: Previous research has shown repetition priming for objects between vision and touch, environmental sounds and pictures in young and older adults. Methods: This preliminary study investigated whether repetition priming exists for edible stimuli and if it is preserved in healthy older adults and older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) (Experiment 1). Experiment 2 investigated whether cross‐modal repetition priming between taste and olfaction is preserved with age and cognitive impairment. Results: The results of Experiment 1 showed signifi cant repetition priming effects for edible stimuli presented to taste, but there was a significant decrease in performance with age and cognitive decline. Experiment 2 showed cross‐modal taste to olfactory priming in young adults and healthy older people, but the performance of older adults with MCI did not differ from zero. Again, identification decreased signifi cantly in older adults and was absent in those with MCI. Conclus...

Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2020

Trials, 2020

Background: Previous research suggests that both cognitive training and physical exercise help to... more Background: Previous research suggests that both cognitive training and physical exercise help to maintain brain health and cognitive functions that decline with age. Some studies indicate that combined interventions may produce larger effects than each intervention alone. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of combined cognitive and physical training compared to cognitive training and physical training alone on executive control and memory functions in healthy older adults. Objectives: The main objectives of this four-arm randomized controlled trial (RCT) are: to investigate the synergetic effects of a simultaneous, group-based multidomain training program that combines cognitive video-game training with physical exercise, in comparison to those produced by cognitive training combined with physical control activity, physical training combined with cognitive control activity, or a combination of both control activities; to investigate whether event-related potential latencies of the P2 component are shorter and N2 and P3b components assessed in a memory-based task switching task are enhanced after training; and to find out whether possible enhancements persist after a 3-month period without training. Methods: In this randomized, single-blind, controlled trial, 144 participants will be randomly assigned to one of the four combinations of cognitive training and physical exercise. The cognitive component will be either video-game training (cognitive intervention, CI) or video games not specifically designed to train cognition (cognitive control, CC). The physical exercise component will either emphasize endurance, strength, and music-movement coordination (exercise intervention, EI) or stretching, toning, and relaxation (exercise control, EC). Discussion: This RCT will investigate the short and long-term effects of multidomain training, compared to cognitive training and physical training alone, on executive control and memory functions in healthy older adults, in comparison with the performance of an active control group.

Experimental Gerontology, 2016

The present study investigated possible changes occurring in peripheral vision, perceptual asymme... more The present study investigated possible changes occurring in peripheral vision, perceptual asymmetries and visuospatial attention in oldest-old adults and compared their performance with that of young and young-old adults. Method: We examined peripheral vision (PV) and perceptual asymmetries in the three age groups for stimuli varying in eccentricity (Experiment 1). In Experiment 2, designed to investigate possible changes in spatial attention, the same participants performed an exogenous orienting attention task. Results: Experiment 1 showed that the three age groups performed the task similarly but differed in processing speed. Importantly, the oldest-old group showed a different perceptual pattern than the other groups suggesting a lack of specificity in visual asymmetries. Experiment 2 indicated that the validity effects emerged later in the young-old and even later in the oldest-old participants, showing a delayed time course of inhibition of return (IOR). Orienting effects, however, were preserved with age. Discussion: Taken together, these results indicate that the three age groups displayed similar perceptual and orienting attention patterns, but with differences in processing speed. Importantly, age (only in the oldest-old adults) altered perceptual visual asymmetries. These results suggest that some neural plasticity is still present even in oldest-old adults, but a lack of specificity occurs in advanced age.

European Review of Aging and Physical Activity, Feb 26, 2018

Journal of Alzheimer's disease & Parkinsonism, 2017

Journal of laboratory and precision medicine, 2017

Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2018

Experimental Gerontology, Oct 1, 2016

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), Dec 18, 2020

Neuropsychologia, Jun 1, 2019

Psychological Research-psychologische Forschung, May 24, 2018

PLOS ONE, Jul 19, 2018

Research Square (Research Square), May 15, 2023

International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2022

Psicothema, 2018

Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2020

Trials, 2020

Experimental Gerontology, 2016

The current study examined the effect of aging on context facilitation and conflict processing by... more The current study examined the effect of aging on context facilitation and conflict processing by comparing the performance of 18 younger and 18 older healthy adults in Stroop color-word and Negative Priming (NP) tasks. The aim of the present study was to test the hypothesis that aging affects executive or controlled inhibition to a greater extent than automatic inhibition.The Stroop effect refers to the observation that people are slower to name the ink color of incongruent color words. The NP paradigm is used to study the capacity of the attentional system to inhibit information that is not relevant for the task being performed.This is done by measuring the effect on subject’s performance of previously inhibited information that is now relevant (i.e., a previous distracter is now used as target stimulus). It is widely assumed that negative priming is a result of the selection that occurs in the first display. This type of task has been traditionaly considered as a measure of automatic processes in opposite to the controlled attention processes required for the stroop effect.

Abstracts of the International Conference ‘‘Aging & Cognition’’. Journal of Psychophysiology 2011; 25(Suppl. 1), 1–5

Declines in many cognitive functions occur in older adults, including selective attention, execut... more Declines in many cognitive functions occur in older adults, including selective attention, executive control, processing speed, and episodic (explicit) memory. However, a wealth of behavioral studies have shown that implicit memory assessed by showing repetition priming using different tests (e.g., speeded object naming, word fragment completion, perceptual classification) and a variety of stimuli (e.g., words, pictures, objects, sounds) presented at several perceptual modalities (e.g., vision, touch, audition) appears stable with age. The question we asked here is whether the neural correlates supporting implicit memory are also preserved in older adults. Results from electrophysiological and brain imaging studies suggest that older adults compensate their lower level of parieto-occipital functioning by recruiting anterior frontal sites. The relationships between brain function and behavior found in young adults are altered in older adults. Our results suggest that with aging there are changes in the neural architecture that mediate repetition priming.

The ongoing electroencephalogram (EEG) consists of oscillatory components that can be characteriz... more The ongoing electroencephalogram (EEG) consists of oscillatory components that can be characterized in terms of frequency and amplitude. Brain oscillations in different frequency bands reflect different aspects of sensorial and cognitive processing (e.g, Basar et al., 2001). Power enhancements in the human EEG have been previously reported in theta band (4-7Hz.) during the haptic exploration of unfamiliar 2D raised-line patterns (Grunwald, 1999, 2001). In the context of haptic recognition, these dynamic changes in spectral power have been related to memory load, with lower theta power at the beginning compared to the end of exploration (Grunwald, 2001). In the present electrophysiological study, we investigated theta power modulations in a group of 16 young adults during the haptic exploration of three-dimensional (3D) unfamiliar objects. We used a continuous old-new recognition paradigm while recording the EEG activity to measure event-related spectral perturbation (ERSP). This method uses average dynamic changes in the amplitude of the broadband frequency spectrum as a function of time relative to an experimental event (Makeig, 1993).

Previous studies have shown that the horizontal–vertical illusion for tactually explored raised-l... more Previous studies have shown that the horizontal–vertical illusion for tactually explored raised-line shapes is independent of visual status or visual imagery, since similar illusory overestimation of the vertical occurs in early blind, later blind, and low-vision participants (Heller et al., 2003) and occurs with curves (Heller et al., 2008). In the present study, we investigated whether this spatial misperception changes from adolescence to old age. In the study, participants explored a series of horizontal and vertical raised-line curves of different sizes. Exploration was unimanual or bimanual in counterbalanced order. Curve height was always equal to width at the base. The task consisted of judging the size of the curves (horizontal/vertical), using two sliding rulers. The results suggest that the illusion is independent of age, and participants overestimated the vertical in tangible curves.

Working Memory is an outstanding mental resource with limited capacity that temporarily maintains... more Working Memory is an outstanding mental resource with limited capacity that temporarily maintains and stores information. Although psychophysical studies demonstrated analogous neural mechanisms for WM across tactile and visual modalities, haptic WM is generally more limited and shows more variability than visual WM. In a previous study, we found larger spans for visual than for haptic spatial WM using a dual-task paradigm. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that haptically encoded information would be more sensitive to interference than visually encoded information. Because spatial and verbal interference tasks produce negative effects on WM, we introduced two new non-spatial interference tasks. We predict that spatial interference will impair performance in both modalities, but more in touch than in vision. Moreover, the impairment would be greater when the primary and the interference tasks would be performed using the same perceptual modality. To test these hypotheses, we used a dual-task paradigm with two primary task (visual, haptic) combined with four secondary tasks (auditory, visual-static, spatial-visual, and spatial-haptic).

Aging Clinical and Experimental Research, 23, suppl. to No. 1 Feb. 2011, p. 113

Ageing is a complex process that affects the mind and brain of all individuals1. The ageing of th... more Ageing is a complex process that affects the mind and brain of all individuals1. The ageing of the population is leading to a growing number of elders living alone and in need of care as loneliness increases risk of cognitive decline. The aim of AGNES (an EC-AAL Joint Program and MICINN project) is to prevent and/or delay chronic conditions, maintaining independence and wellbeing of the elders2 by integrating a novel home-based cutting-edge ICT approach with social networks to connect the elders with family, friends and carers. An active lifestyle rich in social interactions and active engagement may mitigate age-related decline and reduce healthcare costs. The web-based social network platform, enhanced with devices to detect users´ states and collect activity data is the core of the AGNES modular system that is being tested in Spain, Sweden and Greece. Its effectiveness to maintain cognitive processes (speed of processing, executive control and memory), brain functions and wellbeing is assessed throughout the project. Users are intensively involved to assure acceptance of the system. Interviews with end-users evaluate the acceptance of the various components of AGNES and guide technicians in developing the system. User interviews, case scenarios, extensive psychological testing and cognitive and fMRI experiments are conducted with experimental and control groups to clarify whether a more active and socially engaged life maintains those functions that deteriorate most with age. Final results of this ongoing scientific response to the need of a large number of elderly people living alone, but in need of social support to maintain cognitive health and physical wellbeing will be obtained in two years.

The present study investigated low-oscillatory (theta band, 3-7 Hz) modulations induced by tactil... more The present study investigated low-oscillatory (theta band, 3-7 Hz) modulations induced by tactile roughness stimulations under two attention demanding conditions. Four levels of roughness were presented under low demanding and high-demanding conditions. In both conditions, an oddball paradigm was used to present three target surfaces varying in roughness (low, mid, and high levels of roughness), and a nontarget flat surface. The results showed that centro-parietal theta oscillations are involved in allocating attentional resources when participants have to update new information induced by incoming haptic stimuli. Theta power was higher in the high-demanding task compared to the low-demanding. Furthermore, theta power varied depending on tactile roughness but not in a linear manner. This was interpreted as that theta oscillations were sensitive not only to task difficulty but also to physical properties.