Before joining the Neuropsychophysiology Lab at Universidade do Minho, Diego Pinal earned his PhD at the Universidade de Santiago de Compostela (Spain) under the supervision of Prof. Fernando Diaz and Dr. Montserrat Zurrón. In addition, he completed several projects at the Laboratory of Functional Neuroscience of the Universidad Pablo de Olavide (Spain), under the supervision of Prof Mercedes Atienza, and at the Brain and Behaviour Research Unit of the University of Surrey (United Kingdom), under the supervision of Prof Paul Sauseng.
During his PhD studies, Diego participated in different research projects devoted to the study of psychophysiological markers of normal aging as well as mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease. Within these projects his focus was on investigating age-related changes in electrical brain activity supporting the control of contents in visual working and short-term memory. To that end he employed different techniques, mainly, event-related potentials (ERPs) as well as time-frequency analysis, including both power and phase analyses along with functional connectivity assessments.
In February 2016, Diego was awarded a Post-Doctoral Fellowship to join the Neuropsychophysiology Lab. In this project he aims to expand both the scope of his research as well as the range of techniques employed. Consequently, his work will focus on the executive control of contents in visual working and short-term memory across the lifespan. In particular, emphasis will be made in characterizing brain activity correlates of selective attention and interference resolution from childhood to senescence. Also, besides electroencephalography (EEG), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and transcranial electric current stimulation (tECS) will be used to study and modulate (respectively) brain activity supporting the aforementioned executive functions.
Memory and executive control across the Lifespan
Visual working and short term memory
Proactive interference
Selective attention
EEG/tECS/fMRI
Selected publications
Pinal, D., Zurrón, M., Díaz, F., & Sauseng, P. (2015). Stuck in default mode: inefficient cross-frequency synchronization may lead to age-related short-term memory decline. Neurobiology of Aging, 36(4), 1611–1618. DOI
Pinal, D., Zurrón, M., & Díaz, F. (2015). An Event Related Potentials Study of the Effects of Age, Load and Maintenance Duration on Working Memory Recognition. Plos One, 10(11), e0143117 DOI
Pinal, D., Zurrón, M., & Díaz, F. (2015a). Age-related changes in brain activity are specific for high order cognitive processes during successful encoding of information in working memory. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, 7, Article 75 DOI
Pinal, D., Zurrón, M., & Díaz, F. (2014). Effects of load and maintenance duration on the time course of information encoding and retrieval in working memory: from perceptual analysis to post-categorization processes. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 8(165) DOI
Crespo-Garcia, M., Pinal, D., Cantero, J. L., Díaz, F., Zurrón, M., & Atienza, M. (2013). Working Memory Processes Are Mediated by Local and Long-range Synchronization of Alpha Oscillations. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 25(8), 1343–1357. DOI
Other publications
Pinal, D., Zurrón, M., Díaz, F., & Sauseng, P. (2015). Stuck in default mode: inefficient cross-frequency synchronization may lead to age-related short-term memory decline. Neurobiology of Aging, 36(4), 1611–1618. DOI
Pinal, D., Zurrón, M., & Díaz, F. (2015). An Event Related Potentials Study of the Effects of Age, Load and Maintenance Duration on Working Memory Recognition. Plos One, 10(11), e0143117 DOI
Pinal, D., Zurrón, M., & Díaz, F. (2015a). Age-related changes in brain activity are specific for high order cognitive processes during successful encoding of information in working memory. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, 7, Article 75 DOI
Pinal, D., Zurrón, M., & Díaz, F. (2014). Effects of load and maintenance duration on the time course of information encoding and retrieval in working memory: from perceptual analysis to post-categorization processes. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 8(165) DOI
Crespo-Garcia, M., Pinal, D., Cantero, J. L., Díaz, F., Zurrón, M., & Atienza, M. (2013). Working Memory Processes Are Mediated by Local and Long-range Synchronization of Alpha Oscillations. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 25(8), 1343–1357. DOI
2025/2026
Ética e Deontologia
Bachelor
Fundamentos e Aplicações da Memória Humana
Master
Psicologia da Memória
Bachelor
Psicologia da Memória
Bachelor
Psicologia da Memória
Bachelor
Psicologia da Memória
Bachelor
Psicologia da Memória e do Testemunho
Bachelor
Psicologia do Funcionamento Executivo
Bachelor
Psicologia do Funcionamento Executivo
Bachelor
Psicologia do Funcionamento Executivo
Bachelor
Psicologia do Funcionamento Executivo
Bachelor
