Manuel Luis de la Mata Benítez is Associate Professor in the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Seville and the director of the Laboratory of Human Activity. His research has focused on the relationship between sociocultural activities, and especially formal schooling, and mental processes (memory, self, argumentation, categorization). He has developed the following research lines: Teacher-student interaction and text comprehension and memory; Egocentric speech, categorization and memory strategies; Argumentation and discourse in classroom interactions (with especial attention to the creation and development of intersubjectivity and legitimation of knowledge in classroom activities.
In the last years his research is focused on the study of the cultural construction of autobiographical memory and self and the role of narratives in this construction. This general topic includes: The relationship between formal education, autobiographical memory and self; The narrative construction of lesbian identity in cultural context; Identity reconstruction of women after suffering gender violence.
In all this studies, Manuel de la Mata and his colleagues have combined quantitative and qualitative methodologies, with an special focus on narrative analyses.
He is a member o the Executive Committee of the ISCAR since 2008 and, since 2011, the Vice-president of the society. He was also a member of the organizing committee of the I ISCAR Congress (Seville, September 2005).