Dr. Juan Haro

I work studying the processes which allow us to access words stored in memory and attempt to better understand the structure of the mental lexicon. This field of research doesn't only centre itself on how we recover and mentally structure the basic units of communication, but it also widely covers the study of interconnexions between language, brain, and emotion. In this context, I've directed my investigation towards specific areas such as the processing and representation of ambiguous words, and how emotional content can influence language processing. In order to carry out my research I use a variety of behavioural and neurophysiological techniques, including pupillometry and event-related brain responses. Furthermore, I've also contributed to the development of psycholinguistic databases which are a useful resource for selecting experimental stimuli.

Contact(ELIMINAR)

ORCID

PUBLICATIONS 2026:

• Conde, J., Martínez, G., Grandury, M., Arriaga, C., Haro, J., Schroeder, S., Hintz, F., Reviriego, P., Brysbaert, M. (2026). Updating the German Psycholinguistic Word Toolbox with AI-Generated Estimates of Concreteness, Valence, Arousal, Age of Acquisition, and Familiarity. Journal of Cognition, 9(1). 10.5334/joc.482

PUBLICATIONS 2025:

• Ferré, P., Haro, J., Pérez-Sánchez, M. Á., & Hinojosa, J. A. (2025). Emoji-Dis: A dataset of emojis characterised in 13 discrete emotions. Scientific Data, 12, 1313. 10.1038/s41597-025-05682-6

• Ferré, P., Sánchez-Carmona, A. J., Haro, J., Calvillo-Torres, R., Albert, J., & Hinojosa, J. A. (2025). How does emotional content influence visual word recognition? A meta-analysis of valence effects. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 32, 570-587. 10.3758/s13423-024-02555-8

• Haro, J., Hinojosa, J. A., & Ferré, P. (2025). The influence of individual differences in the processing of words expressing discrete emotions: data from a large-scale study. Scientific Reports, 15, 25036. 10.1038/s41598-025-10310-9

• Hinojosa, J. A., Haro, J., & Ferré, P. (2025). Emoji resources. In Reference module in social sciences. Elsevier. 10.1016/B978-0-323-95504-1.00801-2

• Sendín, E., Conde, J., Reviriego, P., Haro, J., Ferré, P., Hinojosa, J. A., & Brysbaert, M. (2025). Combining the power of large language models with finetuning based on strategically collected human ratings: A case study about age-of-acquisition estimates of Spanish words. Psicológica, 46(2), e17563. 10.20350/digitalCSIC/17563

PUBLICATIONS 2024:

• Calvillo-Torres, R., Haro, J., Ferré, P., Poch, C., & Hinojosa, J. A. (2024). Sound symbolic associations in Spanish emotional words: affective dimensions and discrete emotions. Cognition and Emotion. Advance online publication. 10.1080/02699931.2024.2345377

• Fernandes, A. I., Gomes, J. N., Haro, J., Flores, C., & Comesaña, M. (2024). The how and the when of semantic illusions in native and non-native languages. Language and Cognition, 16(4):2105-2129. 10.1017/langcog.2024.51

• Haro, J., Hinojosa, J. A., & Ferré, P. (2024). The role of individual differences in emotional word recognition: Insights from a large-scale lexical decision study. Behavior Research Methods, 56, 8501-8520. 10.3758/s13428-024-02488-z

PUBLICATIONS 2023:

• Casanoves, M., Solé-Llussà, A., Haro, J., Gericke, N., Valls, C. (2023). Assessment of the ability of game-based science learning to enhance genetic understanding. Research in Science & Technological Education, 41:4, 1496-1518. 10.1080/02635143.2022.2044301

• Ferré, P., Haro, J., Pérez-Sánchez, M. A., Moreno, I., & Hinojosa, J. A. (2023). Emoji-SP, the Spanish emoji database: Visual complexity, familiarity, frequency of use, clarity, and emotional valence and arousal norms for 1031 emojis. Behavior Research Methods, 55, 1715-1733. 10.3758/s13428-022-01893-6

• Haro, J., Calvillo, R., Poch, C., Hinojosa, J. A., & Ferré, P. (2023). Your words went straight to my heart: the role of emotional prototypicality in the recognition of emotion-label words. Psychological Research, 87, 1075-1084. 10.1007/s00426-022-01723-6

• Haro, J., López-Cortés, N., & Ferré, P. (2023). Pupillometric and behavioural evidence shows no differences between polyseme and homonym processing. Acta Psychologica, 238, 103985. 10.1016/j.actpsy.2023.103985

• Sá-Leite, A., Flores, C., Eira, C., Haro, J., & Comesaña, M. (2023). Language balance rather than age of acquisition: A study on the cross-linguistic gender congruency effect in Portuguese-German bilinguals. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 26(5), 1079-1092. 10.1017/S1366728923000378

• Sabater, L., Ponari, M., Haro, J., Fernández-Folgueiras, U., Moreno, E., Pozo, M. A., Ferré, P., & Hinojosa, J. A. (2023). The acquisition of emotion-laden words from childhood to adolescence. Current Psychology, 42, 29280-29290. 10.1007/s12144-022-03989-w

PUBLICATIONS 2022:

• Casanoves, M., Solé-Llussà, A., Haro, J., Gericke, N., & Valls, C. (2022). Student primary teachers' knowledge and attitudes towards biotechnology - Are they prepared to teach biotechnological literacy? Journal of Science Education and Technology, 31, 203-216. 10.1007/s10956-021-09942-z

• Gavilán, J. M., Haro, J., & Crusellas, D. (2022). Effectiveness of a perceptual illusions contest as an innovative educational tool for gaining competences in a psychology university degree course. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 59, 49-59. 10.1080/14703297.2020.1799840

• Haro, J. (2022). Una introducción al uso de los potenciales evocados en el estudio del lenguaje. Estudios de Lingüística del Español, 45, 185-204. https://infoling.org/elies/45/elies45-7.pdf

• Hinojosa, J. A., Haro, J., Calvillo-Torres, R., González-Arias, L., Poch, L., Ferré, P. (2022). I want it small or, rather, give me a bunch: the role of morphology on the assessment of the emotional properties of words. Cognition and Emotion, 36:6, 1203-1210. 10.1080/02699931.2022.2093840

• Huete-Pérez, D., Morales-Vives, F., Gavilán, J. M., Boada, R., & Haro, J. (2022). Popular Epistemically Unwarranted Beliefs Inventory (PEUBI): A psychometric instrument for assessing paranormal, pseudoscientific and conspiracy beliefs. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 36(6), 1260-1276. 10.1002/acp.4010

• Sá-Leite, A. R., Haro, J., Comesaña, M., & Fraga, I. (2022). Of bats and tables: How animacy impacts the brain in a variety of tasks. Ciencia Cognitiva, 16:2, 37-40. https://www.cienciacognitiva.org/?p=2212

PUBLICATIONS 2021:

• Comesaña, M., Haro, J., Macizo, P., Ferré, P. (2021). Disentangling the Role of Deviant Letter Position on Cognate Word Processing Frontiers in Psychology, 12:731312. 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.731312

• Ferré, P., Haro, J., Huete-Pérez, D., & Fraga, I. (2021). Emotionality effects in ambiguous word recognition: The crucial role of the affective congruence between distinct meanings of ambiguous words. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 74, 1234-1243. 10.1177/1747021821990003

• Gavilán, J. M., Haro, J., Hinojosa, J. A., Fraga, I., & Ferré, P. (2021). Psycholinguistic and affective norms for 1,252 Spanish idiomatic expressions. Plos one, 16(7), e0254484. 10.1371/journal.pone.0254484

• Haro, J., Guasch, M., & Ferré, P. (2021). Pupilas dilatadas, mente atareada: la dilatación pupilar y su aplicación al estudio del lenguaje. Ciencia Cognitiva, 15:2, 35-37. http://www.cienciacognitiva.org/?p=2115

• Hinojosa, J. A., Haro, J., Magallares, S., Duñabeitia, J. A., & Ferré, P. (2021). Iconicity ratings for 10,995 Spanish words and their relationship with psycholinguistic variables. Behavior Research Methods, 53, 1262-1275. 10.3758/s13428-020-01496-z

• Sá-Leite, A. R., Haro, J., Fraga, I., & Comesaña, M. (2021). Of beavers and tables: The role of animacy in the processing of grammatical gender within a picture-word interference task. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 661175. 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.661175

• Vieitez, L., Haro, J., Ferré, P., Padrón, I., & Fraga, I. (2021). Unraveling the Mystery About the Negative Valence Bias: Does Arousal Account for Processing Differences in Unpleasant Words? Frontiers in Psychology, 12:748726. 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.748726

PUBLICATIONS 2020:

• Aznar-Casanova, J. A., Gavilán, J. M., Sánchez, M. M., & Haro, J. (2020). The Emotional Attentional Blink as a Measure of Patriotism. The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 23:e30. 10.1017/SJP.2020.32

• Boada, R., Guasch, M., Haro, J., Demestre, J., & Ferré, P. (2020). SUBTLEX-CAT: Subtitle word frequencies and contextual diversity for Catalan. Behavior Research Methods, 52, 360-375. 10.3758/s13428-019-01233-1

• Huete-Pérez, D., Haro, J., Fraga, I., & Ferré, P. (2020). HEROÍNA: Drug or hero? Meaning-dependent valence norms for ambiguous Spanish words. Applied Psycholinguistics, 41, 259 - 283. 10.1017/S014271641900050X

PUBLICATIONS 2019:

• Haro, J., Comesaña, M., & Ferré, P. (2019). Is there an orthographic boost for ambiguous words during their processing? Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 48, 679-698. 10.1007/s10936-018-9616-1

• Huete-Pérez, D., Haro, J., Hinojosa, J. A., & Ferré, P. (2019). Does it matter if we approach or withdraw when reading? A comparison of fear-related words and anger-related words. Acta Psychologica, 197, 73-85. 10.1016/j.actpsy.2019.04.018

PUBLICATIONS 2018:

• Ferré, P., Haro, J., & Hinojosa, J. A. (2018). Be aware of the rifle but don't forget the stench: differential effects of fear and disgust on lexical processing and memory. Cognition & Emotion, 32, 796-811. 10.1080/02699931.2017.1356700

• Fraga, I., Guasch, M., Haro, J., Padrón, I., & Ferré, P. (2018). EmoFinder: The meeting point for Spanish emotional words. Behavior Research Methods, 50, 84-93. 10.3758/s13428-017-1006-3

• Haro, J., & Ferré, P. (2018). Semantic ambiguity: Do multiple meanings inhibit or facilitate word recognition? Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 47, 679-698. 10.1007/s10936-017-9554-3

PUBLICATIONS 2017:

• Gavilán, J. M., & Haro, J. (2017). Personality traits and theory of mind: Performance data of a Spanish sample of university students. Data in Brief, 14, 612-617. 10.1016/j.dib.2017.08.014

• Guasch, M., Ferré, P., & Haro, J. (2017). Pupil dilation is sensitive to the cognate status of words: further evidence for non-selectivity in bilingual lexical access. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 20, 49-54. 10.1017/S1366728916000651

• Guasch, M., Haro, J., & Boada, R. (2017). Clustering words to match conditions: an algorithm for stimuli selection in factorial designs. Psicológica, 38, 111-131.

• Haro, J., Demestre, J., Boada, R., & Ferré, P. (2017). ERP and behavioral effects of semantic ambiguity in a lexical decision task. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 44, 190-202. 10.1016/j.jneuroling.2017.06.001

• Haro, J., Ferré, P., Boada, R., & Demestre, J. (2017). Semantic ambiguity norms for 530 Spanish words. Applied Psycholinguistics, 38, 457-475. 10.1017/S0142716416000266

• Haro, J., Guasch, M., Vallès, B., & Ferré, P. (2017). Is pupillary response a reliable index of word recognition? Evidence from a delayed lexical decision task. Behavior Research Methods, 49, 1930-1938. 10.3758/s13428-016-0835-9