AIP Sperimentale 2025, 31° Congresso annuale

Embodied minds in a digital age: environmental influences on neurocognition, personality, and psychopathology

Sep 13, 2025, 12:30 PM

2h

Poster Life cycle (e.g., development and aging) Lunch and poster 3

Speakers

Prof. Daniela Pia Rosaria Chieffo (Clinical Psychology Unit, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, Italy; Department of Women, Children and Public Health, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy)Dr Deny Menghini (Psychology Unit, Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry Unit, Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy)Prof. Marco Del Giudice (Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy)

Description

This presentation explores the dynamic interplay between environmental influence, neurocognitive development, and personality organization as a central mechanism in the emergence of psychopathology during pre-adolescence and adolescence. Grounded in contemporary research in developmental neuroscience and epigenetics, we propose that environmental input – ranging from caregiving and socio-relational contexts to pervasive digital exposure – might influence and model brain structure and function through epigenetic modifications, leading to enduring changes in cognitive architecture. These neurobiological adaptations may affect core cognitive domains such as executive functioning, emotion regulation, self-representation, and mentalization. Resulting shifts in cognition contribute to the reorganization of personality traits, including emotional regulation, self-perception, and behavioral control, which in turn may increase vulnerability to psychopathological trajectories. This model reframes the development of psychopathology not as a product of fixed or inherited neurobiological deficits, but as the outcome of a continuous, reciprocal interaction between brain, cognition, and environment. Central to this framework is a reconceptualization of the mind as an embodied, environmentally responsive system – where cognitive and behavioral processes are dynamically shaped by neuroplasticity and sensorimotor experience. Special attention is given to the role of digital and social environments as emerging neurodevelopmental factors capable of influencing attentional systems, executive functions, and motor-sensory integration. By integrating environmental, neurobiological, and cognitive dimensions, this contribution aims to advance a developmental psychopathology model that deepens the understanding of personality construction and mental health across early developmental stages, while proposing new directions for early prevention and intervention.