Everyday listening conditions are very often far from the quiet settings provided in the laboratory when studying spoken language processing. Daily communication via speech often happens through noisy channels, e.g., phone call with a bad line or face-to-face in a crowd. In such noisy contexts, mouth movements and face cues facilitates comprehension, likely by exploiting predictive processing...
Environmental issues represent one of the most important topics on the world's political agendas today. Specific features of art, such as its ability to evoke emotions or the space for reflection offered to the spectator, are said to differentiate this form of communication from standard climate change communication (Klöckner, 2015), functioning as an emotional motor of behavior change (Roosen...
As novel techniques for engaging with systems emerge within virtual reality, it becomes crucial to evaluate their impact on user experience. Several tools are available for assessing user experience, computer interfaces, or displayed content (e.g. Brooke 1996, Lewis 1995, and Sauro and Dumas 2009), as well as the sense of presence within an environment (e.g., Lessiter et al 2001). However, few...
Aging is a progressive physiological degeneration associated to a decline in chemosensory processes, cognitive abilities, and reduction in synaptic plasticity. Biological bases of ageing are still not completely understood, and many theories have been proposed. This study aimed to evaluate the occurrence of age-related changes affecting the chemosensory function (gustatory and olfactory) and...
Moral dilemmas often force individuals into high-conflict situations where reaching a satisfactory resolution proves elusive. Sacrificial dilemmas, particularly, require individuals to grapple with the prospect of sacrificing one or more lives, often endorsing a utilitarian approach to prioritize the greater good. Despite contemporary challenges necessitating individuals to make utilitarian...
Several studies show that spatial cognition interacts with numerical cognition in various ways. For instance, numbers interact with space through manual movements, where smaller numerical magnitudes are associated with precision vs. power grips. One of the tasks used to probe mental number space associations is random number generation (RNG). Studies show that participants generate larger...
Sight is considered the primary sensory modality through which humans interact with and represent the world. However, several studies have indicated that the brain, to a great extent, can still develop its morphological and functional architecture even in the congenital absence of sight (supramodality). Congenital blindness (CB) also causes cross-modal plastic phenomena that sustain...
Humans possess remarkable abilities to comprehend spoken language during face-to-face interactions. This can occur thanks to the brain’s ability to take advantage of linguistic and extra-linguistic cues to continuously integrate incoming information and predict elements at various levels [1]. Previous research has shown dissociable neural signatures of meaning and sound predictions of...
The subjective perception of time is known to be influenced by our emotional states, yet the precise mechanisms governing this relationship remain elusive. This exploratory study aims to shed light on the intricate relationship between emotionally induced physiological arousal and our temporal perception, focusing specifically on pupil dilation as a physiological indicator.
Through a...
Le emozioni ricoprono un ruolo cruciale nel plasmare le modalità con cui gli individui si adattano all’ambiente circostante. Nell’ambito dell’assessment psicologico, le competenze di riconoscimento delle proprie emozioni sono per lo più state indagate attraverso questionari self-report. Tali strumenti richiedono agli individui sufficienti abilità di auto-consapevolezza e astrazione per poter...
The idiopathic Normal-Pressure Hydrocephalus it’s a condition of quadri-ventricular active distension associated with cerebrospinal fluid in absence of other identifiable cause. Symptomatology is characterized by balance impairment, urinary incontinence and cognitive impairment and it’s attenuated by shunt-surgery with a positive response in 80-84% of cases. There are some improvements in...
The translation of emotional experience into words is associated with language style, as narratives fully reflect emotional processes. During narration, while a symbolic verbal dimension organizes the word sequence, a sub-symbolic verbal dimension influences prosody, meter, and rhythm. Therefore, the symbolic and sub-symbolic verbal analysis of narratives provided through an interview...
In social attention research, the spatial interference paradigm reveals distinct congruency effects with gaze and arrow targets. Arrows typically induces a standard congruency effect (SCE), where responses are faster when the target’s direction aligns with its location. Conversely, gaze targets yield a reversed congruency effect (RCE), with slower responses under these conditions. It is...
Background: Cognitive reserve (CR) offers a compensatory mechanism for cognitive decline in the elderly, incorporating education, occupation, and leisure activities. Emerging evidence highlights the role of whole social context, life experiences, emotional states and leisure actitivies on cognitive abilities. This study aims to explore the role of emotional states in the complex...
Background: Following contraction of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, commonly known as Covid-19, and experiencing its symptoms for extended periods (a condition termed “long Covid”), many individuals subjectively report experiencing "brain fog" (e.g., cognitive, and psychiatric disorders, etc.). Among these symptoms, it has been observed that 20%-30% of...
Minimally Conscious State (MCS) is a Disorders of Consciousness (DoC) characterized by inconsistent signs of consciousness and fluctuations of responsiveness.
The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between electroencephalographic (EEG) and electrocardiographic (ECG) indicis and responsiveness in MCS patients.
We involved 15 MCS patients in a multimodal (EEG and ECG)...
Beyond Top-down and Bottom-up attention, growing evidence has highlighted that neutral stimuli could earn attentional priority when paired with stimuli – appetitive or aversive – that are highly relevant to the individual. This phenomenon, called Value-Driven Attentional Capture (VDAC), has been attested across a wide range of procedures. However, little is known about how broadly this...
L’OMS identifica la scarsa aderenza alla terapia come una delle principali cause di aumento delle ospedalizzazioni e della mortalità nei pazienti cronici, inclusi coloro che soffrono di ipertensione arteriosa. Dal 43% al 65.5% dei pazienti che non aderiscono alle terapie prescritte sono ipertesi. Per queste ragioni l'obiettivo dello studio è di identificare le possibili barriere all’aderenza...
Emotional processing is closely linked with spatial attention, which tends to prioritize emotional stimuli over neutral ones. The brain network responsible for directing spatial attention towards different sectors of the space also play a role in processing emotional stimuli. Recent evidence has identified a connection between the rightward shift in spatial attention, assessed through the line...
One of the most influential models of visual information processing describes the dorsal visual pathway as not involved in object perception. However, growing evidence highlights the engagement of the dorsal stream in processing some object proprieties, such as global shape. Therefore, there is a lively debate concerning the role of the dorsal stream in this context.
Our work aims to...
Background. Vaccine hesitancy encompasses a complex attitude intertwined with social, cognitive, and affective processes not clearly understood. We aimed to provide new insights to the field by focusing on the role of ethical appraisal in vaccine hesitancy.
Methods. We utilized the Moral Foundations Questionnaire (MFQ) and a set of moral dilemmas to investigate potential links...
Secondo la teoria della Prospettiva Temporale di Zimbardo e Boyd, cinque dimensioni latenti esprimono il rapporto fra time frame mentali e comportamenti, emozioni e cognizione. Recenti progressi teorici hanno però proposto ulteriori dimensioni; nonostante tali proposte impieghino soprattutto costrutti legati all'autoregolazione, come ansia per il futuro e mindfulness, manca però un un quadro...
The body image is the conscious visual representation of body parts' size and shape, and it reflects how one's own body is perceived. A distorted body image characterizes various psychiatric disorders, such as anorexia nervosa; however, even healthy individuals show distortions, for instance in estimating the length of their limbs. As body image, interoception, i.e., signals originating from...
Increasing evidence suggests that cognitive stimulation (CS) can be beneficial for people with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and Mild Dementia (MD)[1]. However, there are only a few computerised cognitive stimulation programmes available in Italian and some of them require long training sessions or expensive softwares and devices (e.g. virtual reality)[2]. We developed a free and easy-to-use...
Comprendere quali fattori possano essere predittori di drop-out è un tema sul quale la letteratura si interroga da decenni. Agire preventivamente sui fattori di successo o di insuccesso accademico porta con sé la possibilità di poter attuare interventi efficaci a supporto dello studente.
Negli ultimi anni, un fattore che è subentrato nelle vite di tutti è l’utilizzo massivo dello smartphone....
Recent advancements in virtual reality (VR) have provided new avenues for investigating cognitive processes, particularly spatial orientation and creating cognitive maps. This study aims to develop and validate a Virtual Spatial Configuration Task (VSCT) within a VR environment using the established Spatial Configuration Task (SCT) paradigm. The classical SCT involves participants identifying...
Assessing measurement invariance is crucial for ascertaining whether observed differences in a construct genuinely represent differences between groups or arise from inconsistencies in the measurement process. Among the various types of measurement invariance, dyadic invariance represents an important assumption to test before comparing values among individuals within a dyad. Dyadic invariance...
This study explores physiological indicators associated with consumer preferences through the use of electromyography (EMG) of the submental muscle in a virtual supermarket context. By observing 60 healthy participants in a simulated environment, the EMG of the submental muscle is analyzed to determine its correlation with preferences scores rated by participants. The submental muscle, part of...
Creating humanoid robots is an engineering longstanding goal. Yet a significant psychological obstacle stands in the way: the Uncanny Valley (UV). This phenomenon describes the abrupt shift in people’s affective reactions towards robots, from affinity to discomfort, when the robot closely resembles a human, but fails to achieve true human-like appearance. Some scholars propose that this...
Remembering where negative events occur has undeniable value, but how emotional memories are encoded remains elusive. It is widely recognized that information in working memory (WM) is consciously processed. During the encoding, emotion-related information attracts attention more quickly or occupies more attention resources and has an emotional bias effect. However, evidence that WM can...
The DIPPS project endeavors to construct a digital platform aimed at supporting psychological and psychiatric interventions to improve mental health. The DIPPS platform encompasses various functionalities, from the digitalized assessment data to a predictive system for potential symptom exacerbation.
Utilizing the digitalized assessment data, Bayesian network (BNs) can be informed to forecast...
Il corretto riconoscimento delle espressioni emotive è fondamentale per l’interpretazione del comportamento umano e la conseguente pianificazione e produzione di risposte nei processi di interazione sociale. Le informazioni provenienti dall’ambiente, di natura visiva ed uditiva, insieme alle specifiche caratteristiche dell’individuo, sono alla base dell’interpretazione dello stimolo. Un ruolo...
Previous findings show a strong involvement of the right dominant limb on the Body Schema (BS), a sensorimotor body map: a dominant body part is recognized faster than the non-dominant one in a mental rotation task (e.g., 'feet dominance effect’). Although the reorganization in the left hemisphere strongly impacts the body processes involved in motor control, further investigations must...
Approaching (AP) and avoiding (AV) tendencies are basic behavioral aptitudes in responding to rewarding and aversive stimuli, and their balancing (BA) is critical for successful adaptation to the environment. The AP tendency, associated with novelty seeking, plays an important evolutionary role in identifying new sources of reward but also heightens the risk of externalizing behaviors like...
Insect-based foods represent an intriguing solution to address issues associated with traditional meat diets. However, in Western cultures, there is a predominantly negative attitude towards such foods.
We conducted an experimental study implementing a Vicarious Approach-Avoidance procedure, a subtype of social learning. The aim was to investigate whether and how attitudes towards...
Creativity is defined as a process that involves both generation and evaluation of ideas.Cognitive style refers to how people acquire, organize, and use information and is related to creativity.Amongst all cognitive styles, the explanatory power of the field-dependent (global) or independent (local) cognitive style has been widely recognized. Unlike field-dependent subjects, field-independent...
Background: La relazione positiva tra uno stile di attaccamento sicuro e relazioni soddisfacenti, unite a una migliore regolazione emotiva, in età adulta è ampiamente riconosciuta. Le stesse variabili sono anche state riportate come fattori importanti nello sviluppo della riserva cognitiva (RC), che predice un invecchiamento più sano dal punto di vista cognitivo, fisico ed emotivo. Come queste...
