Andrés Catena

University of Granada | UGR · School of Psychology

Background Although there is broad agreement that perceived risks determine risk-taking behavior, previous research has shown that this association may not be as straightforward as expected. The main objective of this study was to investigate if the levels of impulsivity can explain part of these controversial findings. Method A total of 1579 part...

Background Emerging research supports that exercise positively affects neurodevelopment. However, the mechanisms linking exercise with brain health are largely unknown. We aimed to investigate the effect of exercise on (i) blood biomarkers selected based on previous evidence (brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB), cathep...

Purpose: The aim of this study was to establish an objective criterion in terms of marginal bone level (MBL) to know the prognosis of an implant. Materials and methods: A group of 176 patients in whom 590 implants were placed were included in this retrospective study. Patients older than 18 years, presenting either Kennedy class I or II edentulo...

Approximately 4–11% of children suffer from sleep-disordered breathing (SDB), and children with obesity are at increased risk. Both obesity and SDB have been separately associated with poorer brain health, yet whether SDB severity affects brain health in children with obesity remains unanswered. This study aimed to examine associations of SDB sever...

Background Gestational diabetes (GD) and maternal excess weight are common pregnancy conditions which increase the risk of future complications for both the mother and her offspring. Their consequences on neurodevelopment are widely described in the literature, but less is known concerning the potential transgenerational influence on the brain stru...

Personality traits such as impulsivity or sensitivity to rewards and punishments have been associated with risky driving behavior, but it is still unclear how brain anatomy is related to these traits as a function of risky driving. In the present study, we explore the neuroanatomical basis of risky driving behavior and how the level of risk-taking...

Objective To investigate if there is epidemiological evidence of an association between edentulism and cognitive decline beside that currently available from limited sample-sized case series and cross-sectional studies considering limited co-variables. Materials and methods Data from two USA national health surveys [NHIS 2014–2017 and NHANES 2005–...

Objectives To investigate the effects of exercise on intelligence, executive functions, academic performance and brain outcomes in children with overweight/obesity. In secondary analyses, we explored potential mediators and moderators of the exercise effects. Methods A total of 109 children (8-11.9y) with overweight/obesity were randomized (intent...

Background Adequate nutrient intake during the first few months of life plays a critical role on brain structure and function development. Objectives To analyze the long-term effects of an experimental infant formula (EF) on neurocognitive function and brain structure in healthy children aged 6 years compared to those fed with a standard infant fo...

Neurotrophic factors and cardiorespiratory fitness are both considered important in developmental trajectories but their link to brain health remains poorly understood. The aims of the study were to examine whether levels of plasma-derived neurotrophic factors were associated with brain health indicators in children with overweight or obesity; and...

The color-word reverse Stroop (RS) effect still represents an interesting puzzle for cognitive researchers as an interference between incongruent ink colors and the meaning of the words is not always found. Here, we examined whether an unfamiliar and complex visuomotor task would produce a RS effect. Forty inexperienced shooters carried out a simul...

Measures of drinking and eating behaviors may be assessed both explicitly (e.g., sensory and quality judgments) and implicitly (e.g., Electroencephalography, EEG), although the relationship between the results of both approaches remains unclear and each might be differentially affected by acquired knowledge. The main aim of the present study was to...

Background & aims Exposure to a suboptimal environment during the fetal and early infancy period’s results in long-term consequences for brain morphology and function. We investigated the associations of early life factors such as anthropometric neonatal data (i.e., birth length, birth weight and birth head circumference) and breastfeeding practice...

Many adult cancer patients present one or more physical comorbidities. Besides interfering with treatment and prognosis, physical comorbidities could also increase the already heightened psychological risk of cancer patients. To test this possibility, we investigated the relationship between physical comorbidities with depression symptoms in a samp...

Objective: Deficits in emotional regulation could play a key role in the violence shown by partner coercive men toward their female partners or ex-partners. Because previous structural neuroimaging studies have revealed a link between violent behavior and brain regions associated with emotion, the present study compared convicted partner coercive m...

The human brain contains social areas that become active when interacting with another human. These are located in the ventral prefrontal and mediodorsal cortices, adjacent to areas involved in reward processing and cognitive control. Human behaviour is strongly influenced by the social context. This is particularly evident when observing greater r...

Background: To evaluate the effect of different communication strategies on comprehension and recall of information about factors associated to peri-implantitis. Materials: A prospective, randomized controlled trial was conducted in consecutive patients diagnosed with peri-implantitis. The sample was divided into three groups according to the co...

Dispositional mindfulness and emotion regulation are two psychological constructs closely interrelated, and both appear to improve with the long-term practice of mindfulness meditation. These constructs appear to be related to subcortical, prefrontal, and posterior brain areas involved in emotional processing, cognitive control, self-awareness, and...

This study aimed to analyze the associations of activity‐rest pattern indicators with academic achievement, executive function, and intelligence and to explore whether these associations are mediated by the total gray matter volume among children with overweight/obesity. Ninety‐five children (10 ± 1 year, 37 girls) with overweight/obesity (based on...

Aims: Physical and psychiatric comorbidities are common in cancer patients and could impact their treatment and prognosis. However, the evidence base regarding the influence of comorbidities in the management and health service use of patients is still scant. In this research we investigated how physical comorbidities are related to the mental hea...

Risky decision-making is highly influenced by emotions and can lead to fatal consequences. Attempts to reduce risk-taking include the use of mindfulness-based interventions (MBI), which have shown promising results for both emotion regulation (ER) and risk-taking. However, it is still unclear whether improved emotion regulation is the mechanism res...

Emotional regulation is crucial to psychological functioning and mental health. Studies of male batterers indicate the critical role that emotional processing plays in the violence they exert upon their partners or ex-partners. The aim of this study was to investigate the neural bases of emotional regulation in male batterers—both in experiencing a...

Although early life nutrition influences brain development and mental health, the long-term effects of supplemented infant formula on children´s behavior remain unclear. We analyzed the effects of a bioactive nutrients-enriched-infant formula on children's behavior up to 2.5 years, compared to a standard infant formula or breastfeeding. Current ana...

The prevalence of childhood obesity continues to increase. Screen time, one of the most documented reasons for the obesogenic environment, enhances childhood obesity, since advertisements for unhealthy food products are still broadcast on channels for children. This is presently one of the main challenges for the government in Spain, since the curr...

Road hazard perception is considered the most prominent higher-order cognitive skill related to traffic-accident involvement. Regional cultures and social rules that govern acceptable behavior may influence drivers’ interpretation of a traffic situation and, consequently, the correct identification of potentially hazardous situations. Here, we aime...

Introduction Ageing leads to physiological cognitive decline that it is worsened in people with neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease. Despite the ongoing search for a solution to this cognitive decline, no effective remedies have been established. It has been determined that modifiable external factors, such as oral health and occ...

Background: Pain has been associated with structural changes of the brain. However, evidence regarding white matter changes in response to acute pain protocols is still scarce. In the present study, we assess the existence of differences in brain white matter related to pain intensity reported by patients undergoing surgical removal of a mandibular...

The present study aims (i) to examine the association of physical fitness components (i.e., cardiorespiratory fitness, speed-agility, and muscular fitness) with brain current source density during working memory; and (ii) to examine whether fitness-related current density was associated to working memory performance and academic achievement. Eighty...

Objectives Physical fitness is a modifiable factor associated with enhanced brain health during childhood. To our knowledge, the present study is the first to examine: (i) whether physical fitness components (i.e., cardiorespiratory, motor and muscular fitness) are associated with resting state functional connectivity of hippocampal seeds to differ...

Recent studies have shown that maternal supplementation with folate and long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFAs) during pregnancy may affect children's brain development. We aimed at examining the potential long-term effect of maternal supplementation with fish oil (FO) and/or 5-methyl-tetrahydrofolate (5-MTHF) on the brain functionality o...

Decision making in risky driving contexts is mainly guided by automatic processes. This requires the previous learning of cognitive rules and heuristics. The acquisition of safer cognitive heuristics depends on previous experience and adequate feedback to our responses. The first aim of this research was to analyze the effect of negative feedback o...

Background Children with overweight/obesity have poorer sleep and smaller gray matter volume (GMV) than normal‐weight children. No studies have investigated the associations of objectively‐assessed sleep and GMV in children with overweight/obesity, or their implications for academic and cognitive outcomes. Objectives To explore the associations of...

Background Flexor retinaculum reconstruction techniques or simply Flexor Retinaculum Z-lengthening have been proposed to preserve Flexor Retinaculum continuity after carpal tunnel release. Their effectiveness is based solely on symptom relief. There has been no analysis of the effects on intra-carpal tunnel pressure of Flexor Retinaculum-lengthenin...

In acute coronary syndromes (ACSs), longer decision delay – the time patients wait before seeking medical attention after symptoms have started – increases the risk of complications and death. However, many patients wait much longer than recommended and research is needed investigating how patient decision delay can be reduced. In a cross-sectional...

Recent studies investigated the association of cardiorespiratory fitness with white matter microstructure in children, yet little work has explored to what extent other components of physical fitness (i.e., muscular or motor fitness) are associated with white matter microstructure. Indeed, this association has not been previously explored in childr...

Individuals with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) frequently exhibit different types of visual deficits. This study investigates the dynamics of ocular accommodation and pupil size in a population of children with ADHD (6–14 years old) and assesses the association between these ocular variables with behavioural performance during a c...

Moral convictions consist of assessments based on perceptions of morality and immorality, of right and wrong. There are people who, based on morality , commit crimes. For instance, social and moral norms based on inequality appear to play an important role in the batterer's behavior to commit violent acts. Research shows that batterers consider the...

Background In acute coronary syndrome the time elapsed between the start of symptoms and the moment in which the patient receives treatment is an important determinant of survival and subsequent recovery. However, many patients do not receive treatment as quickly as recommended, mostly due to substantial prehospital delays such as waiting to seek m...

We investigated the associations of different sedentary behaviors (SB) with gray matter volume and we tested whether SB related to gray matter volume is associated with intelligence. Methods: 99 children with overweight or obesity aged 8-11 years participated in this cross-sectional study. SB was measured using the Youth Activity Profile-Spain qu...

This study investigated physical activity (PA) and sedentary time (SED) in relation to hippocampal gray matter volume (GMV) in pediatric overweight/obesity. Ninety-three children (10 ± 1 year) were classified as overweight, obesity type I, or type II–III. PA was assessed with non-dominant wrist accelerometers. GMV was acquired by magnetic resonance...

The aim of this study was to examine whether metabolically healthy overweight/obese children have greater global and regional gray matter volumes than their metabolically unhealthy peers. We further examined the association between gray matter volume and academic achievement, along with the role of cardiorespiratory fitness in these associations. A...

Whereas numerous studies have investigated the relationship of cardiorespiratory fitness with inhibition and neuroelectric activity, the role of other physical fitness components and physical activity (PA) intensities in this relationship remain unclear, especially in children with obesity. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate th...

Objectives Dolichofacial (long-faced) and brachyfacial (short-faced) individuals show specific and well-differentiated craniofacial morphology. Here, we hypothesise that differences in the basicranial orientation and topology between dolicho- and brachyfacial subjects could be associated with differences in the supporting brain tissues.Material and...

Complicated grief (CG) is associated with alterations in various components of emotional processing. The main aim of this study was to identify brain activations in individuals diagnosed with CG while they were observing positive, negative, and death-related pictures. The participants included 19 individuals with CG and 19 healthy non-bereaved (NB)...

The aim of this study was to examine the associations of fitness and physical activity with academic achievement in children with overweight/obesity. A total of 106 (10.0 ± 1.1y, 61 boys) children participated. The fitness components were assessed by field and laboratory-based tests. Physical activity was measured via accelerometry. The academic ac...

Nutrition during early life is essential for brain development and establishes the basis for cognitive and language skills development. It is well established that breastfeeding, compared to formula feeding, has been traditionally associated with increased neurodevelopmental scores up to early adulthood. We analyzed the long-term effects of a new i...

Both pre‐hospital decision delay – the time patients wait before seeking medical attention after symptoms have started – and high psychological distress after the cardiac episode predict poor prognosis of patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS). We aimed to identify psychosocial markers of these prognostic factors. A cross‐sectional study of 1...

A lack of exercise leads to being overweight or obese affecting regional brain structure and functional connectivity associated with impaired cognitive function and dementia. In recent decades, several studies of healthy individuals suggest that adiposity may also produce negative independent effects on the brain. We aimed to investigate the relati...

Background: The relationship of obesity with grey and white matter volumes has been examined in several studies, and the results are decidedly mixed. Objective: To investigate the associations of body mass index (BMI), fat mass index (FMI) and lean mass index (LMI) with total and regional grey and white matter volumes. Methods: This is a cross...

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate associations of objectively measured and self-reported physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior with white matter microstructure in children with overweight or obesity. Methods: In a sample of 103 participants (10.02±1.15 years old; 42 girls) from the ActiveBrains project, we assessed PA and sedentar...

Impulsivity and sensation seeking are considered to be among the most important personality traits involved in risk‐taking behavior. This study is focused on whether the association of these personality traits and brain functional connectivity depends on individuals' risk proneness. Risk proneness was assessed with the DOSPERT‐30 scale and corrobor...

Postnatal nutrition is essential for growth and neurodevelopment. We analyzed the influence of a new enriched-infant formula with bioactive compounds on growth, neurodevelopment, and visual function (VF) in healthy infants during their first 18 months of life. A total of 170 infants were randomized in the COGNIS randomized clinical trial (RCT) to r...

Prepregnancy maternal obesity is a global health problem and has been associated with offspring metabolic and mental ill-health. However, there is a knowledge gap in understanding potential neurobiological factors related to these associations. This study explored the relation between maternal prepregnancy body mass index (BMI) and offspring brain...

Background Evidence suggests that participation in physical activity may support young people’s current and future mental health. Although previous reviews have examined the relationship between physical activity and a range of mental health outcomes in children and adolescents, due to the large increase in published studies there is a need for an...

The aim of the present study was to examine the associations of physical fitness, sedentary time and physical activity (PA) with working memory and neuroelectric activity in children with overweight/obesity. Seventy‐nine children with overweight/obesity (10.2 ± 1.1 years old) participated in this cross‐sectional study. We assessed physical fitness...

This cross-sectional study was aimed at investigating the role of emotional regulation in regular gambling in a sample of 197 disordered and non-problem gamblers from Ecuador. Two proxies were used as measures of behavioral signs of generalized emotion dysregulation (UPPS-P emotion-driven impulsivity) and intentional emotion regulation strategies (...

Background: Micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals and long-chain polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acids (PUFAs) are essential for children's brain development and cognitive functions. The current study investigated whether milk fortified with micronutrients and PUFA can result in improved cognitive function in mainstream school children. Meth...

Early life factors may influence brain and academic outcomes later in life, especially during childhood. Here we investigate the associations of early life factors (i.e., birth weight, birth length, and breastfeeding) with gray matter volume, adjusted for body mass index and cardiorespiratory fitness, and ii) we test whether early-life factor-relat...

Introduction: Chronic inflammation plays an important role on the pathogenesis of several cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, as well as on brain function and behaviour. The aim of the present study was to examine the associations between inflammatory biomarkers and a wide range of brain health indicators (i.e., academic performance, executive...

The functional validity of the signal obtained with low-cost electroencephalography (EEG) devices is still under debate. Here, we have conducted an in-depth comparison of the EEG-recordings obtained with a medical-grade golden-cup electrodes ambulatory device, the SOMNOwatch + EEG-6, versus those obtained with a consumer-grade, single dry electrode...