ABSTRACT
Recent research has indicated higher levels of morally relevant personality traits—psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and narcissism (collectively known as the Dark Triad)—among non-heterosexual individuals. However, little is known about how sexual orientation may influence moral reasoning. In this study, we examined moral reasoning using the Moral Foundations Questionnaire (MFQ-30) in...
The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) is widely used to screen for cognitive impairment and is considered a reliable tool for detecting cognitive decline in Parkinson’s disease (PD). However, being a pen-and-paper test, the MoCA can be time-consuming, cognitively taxing, and stressful for patients, raising concerns about its ecological validity. To address these limitations, eye-tracking...
Long-term visual memory refers to the ability to store and retrieve visual information over extended periods. However, episodic representations may share conceptual similarities, leading to retrieval interference, particularly when multiple distinct episodes must be maintained in memory. Recent work has introduced an index of cumulative conceptual interference, combining capacity demands and...
Introduzione. La validità di contenuto rappresenta un elemento cruciale nello sviluppo dei test psicometrici. Con l'avvento dei Large Language Models (LLMs), è oggi possibile analizzare la coerenza semantica degli item in maniera preliminare, senza la necessità di raccogliere dati empirici da campioni di rispondenti. Metodo. Utilizzando gli embedding testuali generati dagli LLMs, analizziamo...
Fibromyalgia (FM) is characterized by chronic widespread pain with muscoloskeletal stiffness and tenderness.
FM patients were investigated with skin biopsy for Small Fiber Neuropathy SFN: Grayston’s metanalysis 2018 concerning 8 studies about FM pooled prevalance of Small Fiber Neuropathy (SFN) (49%).
Electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS) is characterized by a variety of no specific...
Forgetting is a fundamental aspect of memory, yet the cognitive mechanisms underlying the degradation of complex episodic representations remain a matter of debate. While traditional models characterize forgetting as a linear decline in recall over time, emerging evidence suggests a more nuanced process influenced by attentional dynamics. This study examined how attention during encoding and...
Introduction: Network analysis (NA) is increasingly being used in clinical psychology to represent psychopathological processes as complex systems of interacting symptoms. Fully Idiographic Network Analysis (FINA) estimates individual level symptom networks through intensive data collection. This study evaluated FINA’s clinical validity and utility in 15 clinician-patient dyads....
The role of neuropsychology in dementia diagnosis remains a topic of ongoing debate. The advent of disease-modifying therapies for Alzheimer’s disease amplifies the demand for accurate early diagnosis. Biomarker-driven frameworks currently dominate, favoring biological indicators over clinical evaluation. Yet biomarker positivity alone offers limited predictive value for disease onset and...
Introduction: Aging is a process characterized by a progressive physiological degeneration in global functioning, including the decline of cognitive functions and sensory processes. Previous studies from our Labs report that deficits in chemical senses such as smell and taste can predict the onset of cognitive and neurodegenerative diseases, highlighting a link between olfactory, gustatory and...
Introduction. The global increase in life expectancy has led to a steady growth in the elderly population. Psychological well-being has been identified as a key factor in promoting healthy aging, as it contributes to the prevention of chronic diseases and supports longevity. Consequently, scientific research has increasingly focused on identifying protective factors that enhance...
Evidenze recenti mostrano che la capacità di formare una rappresentazione spaziale mentale utile per orientarsi nell’ambiente è influenzata dalle emozioni, in particolare quelle positive, che sembrano migliorare la memoria spaziale. Dall’altro lato, le teorie della psicologia ambientale suggeriscono che gli ambienti naturali favoriscono il benessere e le capacità cognitive. Tra questi, la...
In sleep disorders characterized by alterations in REM sleep, such as REM sleep behavioral disorder (RBD), also the quality of slow-wave sleep (SWS) is often affected. However, no direct causal relationship between REM sleep disruption and SWS impairment has been demonstrated.
In the current study, we examined the effects of experimental REM sleep fragmentation through vibrotactile...
In recent years, motor variability has been recognized as a promising factor in studying behavioral gestures. Previous studies have explored this construct separately for each motor district, implicitly assuming that most of the variability is effector-dependent. Here, we tried to challenge this implicit assumption by proposing a study design that involves a combined within-subject...
Il bias additivo è una tendenza automatica che porta a preferire soluzioni basate sull’aggiunta piuttosto che sulla sottrazione, anche quando queste ultime risultano più funzionali (Adams et al., 2021). Sebbene l’aggiunta appaia cognitivamente più accessibile, studi sull’immaginazione visiva hanno mostrato che, in condizioni di controllo cognitivo esplicito, le operazioni sottrattive risultano...
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...
Art has long been associated with promoting well-being, yet the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Several studies suggest that engaging with art can enhance well-being, even when the artworks express cruel or emotionally intense content. In this study, we aimed to investigate how the implicit processing of art, conveying positive, neutral, or negative emotions, influences subsequent...
La flessibilità psicologica è un costrutto centrale per la salute mentale e l’adattamento nei contesti accademici complessi. Una sua compromissione può associarsi a condotte disfunzionali, come comportamenti a rischio legati a dipendenze e tendenze a mentire o omettere informazioni relative al proprio percorso universitario.
Questo studio ha esplorato le relazioni tra flessibilità...
Frailty in older people is a multisystem physiological state associated with poor clinical and functional outcomes (1; 2). This condition may be associated with cognitive decline due to impairment of brain processes and structures, particularly in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) (3). There is currently a dearth of study on cognitive function and brain activity in frailty, despite the high...
It is well known that not only memory declines but also executive functions (EFs) undergo significant changes during the ageing process.
The aim of this study was to identify neuropsychological differences, particularly in EFs, between cognitively healthy older adults (HA), individuals with subjective cognitive decline (SCD) and patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI).
A...
Connections between action and perception have been demonstrated using the grasp-compatibility task, in which participants categorize a visually presented object by performing a power or precision grip. Performance typically improves when the response grip matches the movement used to interact with the object and worsens when it does not (compatible vs. incompatible trials; Ellis & Tucker,...
Temporal summation of second pain (TSSP) is a progressive increase of pain sensation during constant thermal stimulation intensity. Triggered by low-frequency repetitive stimulation of unmyelinated C-nociceptors, such phenomenon has clinical relevance as it reflects central sensitization mechanisms which appear to be abnormal in chronic pain conditions. Lately, ‘affective touch ’ (AT) has been...
INTRODUZIONE: Diversi fattori neurali e cognitivi sono implicati nella presa di decisione sociale così come misurata attraverso il Mini-Ultimatum Game (Mini-UG; Falk et al., 2003), tra cui l’attivazione della giunzione temporo-parietale destra (rTPJ) e processi di mentalizzazione (Güroğlu et al., 2010). Questo studio approfondisce il contributo causale della rTPJ nel ruolo di rispondente nel...
Il ritmo è un elemento centrale della musica che suscita piacere, anche grazie al suo legame con i processi sensori-motori. Il groove, ovvero il piacere di muoversi a tempo con la musica, è un’esperienza universale che raggiunge il picco con ritmi di complessità media, bilanciando prevedibilità e sorpresa. Tuttavia, il ruolo di caratteristiche esecutive come tempo, dinamica e articolazione nel...
Le funzioni esecutive (FE), come la flessibilità cognitiva, la memoria di lavoro e l’inibizione, sono capacità cognitive di ordine superiore che consentono di regolare il comportamento e raggiungere obiettivi. Esse sono particolarmente rilevanti nel contesto dell’apprendimento ed esercitano un ruolo determinante sulle performance accademiche (PA). È noto che la riserva cognitiva (RC) moduli il...
In transparent orthographies like Italian, children acquire phonological decoding skills rapidly due to consistent grapheme–phoneme correspondences. However, fluent literacy also relies on the internalisation of abstract orthographic patterns that are not explicitly taught.
This study investigated whether Italian-speaking children implicitly acquire orthographic regularities—specifically...
Contemplative practices within Sufi tradition offer a distinctive approach to death, emphasizing acceptance, spiritual transcendence, and the dissolution of ego boundaries. In this study, we explored the psychological and implicit effects of long-term Sufi meditation on mortality salience (MS) using an Iranian sample composed of 25 Sufi meditators and 31 matched non-meditators. Participants...
Le tecniche di self-compassion rappresentano un approccio promettente per la promozione del benessere psicologico, in particolare nei contesti digitali, che ne facilitano l’accessibilità e l’autonomia d’uso. Il presente studio, attualmente in corso (n = 50 partecipanti), si propone di valutare l’efficacia di una breve tecnica narrativa di self-compassion, fruibile online in modalità...
The sense of ownership over a virtual body in virtual reality (VR) depends on several factors, including the perceived similarity between the avatar and the user. However, one aspect that has received little attention is the specific role of the avatar’s body size. This pilot study investigated whether embodying an avatar with a different body size from one's perceived body affects ownership,...
La capacità di interagire con gli strumenti rappresenta una delle espressioni più emblematiche dell’intelligenza umana, poiché riflette l’integrazione di conoscenze percettive, semantiche e sensorimotorie. Nel presente studio di eye-tracking abbiamo indagato in che modo la familiarità degli oggetti modula le dinamiche temporali dell’esplorazione visiva in un compito di free-viewing....
La memoria autobiografica episodica (MAE) è centrale nell’arco di vita e, durante lo sviluppo, consente di organizzare le esperienze personali in una narrazione coerente del sé. Tuttavia, la letteratura relativa all’età evolutiva è limitata.
In questo studio longitudinale abbiamo indagato lo sviluppo della MAE in un campione di 8 bambini di 5 anni, che hanno partecipato a due sessioni di...
Exposure to natural environments supports well-being by reducing psychological and physiological stress, as suggested by the Stress Recovery Theory. However, most studies have focused on the stress-relieving effects of green landscapes and elements, with limited investigation of broader biodiversity or dynamic representations of nature.
This study tested whether digital exposure to nature –...
Sleep is well known to boost memory consolidation—but it can also increase false memories, especially for semantically related content. Recent research suggests that other offline states, like quiet wakefulness and mind-wandering, might offer similar memory benefits without the need for sleep. To explore this, we first conducted a meta-analysis comparing memory retention following quiet...
Reading, like other complex abilities, can change with age and older adults may experience fatigue and rely more on contextual cues for compensation. Reduced visual acuity and increased crowding likely narrow the visual span, which in turn could affect semantic processing in the parafovea and slow down reading.
We investigated these age-related differences by examining parafoveal-on-foveal...
Achieving precise synchronization between neural, visual, and motor signals is crucial for investigating event-related potentials (ERPs) in sensorimotor paradigms. We developed a high-precision acquisition system integrating 256-channel high-density electroencephalography (hd-EEG), OptiTrack motion capture, and a custom photodiode-based triggering setup to study ERPs during a visually guided...
Building on restorative theories (Stress Reduction Theory and Attention Restoration Theory), we investigated whether exposure to digital restorative natural environments influences recovery from anaerobic exercise, focusing on the association between physiological stress markers and self-reported psychological restoration.
Italian and Spanish participants (N=35) performed a Wingate anaerobic...
In Italy, there is a growing need for scientifically validated tools capable of investigating the complex relationship between citizens and public spaces. Such instruments can provide public institutions with valuable approaches and strategies into how valorization processes of places and accessibility to them can impact individual well-being, social cohesion, and community identity.
This...
Individuals are increasingly required to navigate complex decisions that may involve risk taking which arise from a dynamic interplay between risk perception, risk attitude, situational variables, and individual traits. Affective responses play a central role in shaping how people perceive and respond to risk, in conjunction with more deliberate cognitive evaluations. Research in this area...
Animals learn about the statistical regularities of their environment by a process of implicit learning, a power- ful mechanism that may operate by mere exposure.1 Implicit learning supports processes such as speech acquisition but also learning about the spatial and temporal structure of the world more generally, which is essential for effective interaction.2 Here, we used a frequency-tagging...
Introduzione
Il presente lavoro ha l’obiettivo di confrontare il reaching e grasping nella realtà fisica (RF) vs.mista (RM). La scarsa letteratura circoscrive il confronto ad ambienti di realtà virtuale (RV), in assenza di feedback aptico. La nostra condizione RM prevede invece che l’input visivo sia fornito in RV, ma l’azione venga eseguita nell’ambiente fisico. L’ulteriore novità consiste...
Recent studies have shown that observed kinematic information drives action understanding, even in the presence of misleading contextual priors. Moreover, at the perceptual level, prior beliefs about observed actions’ goal has a top-down influence on perception, biasing it in the direction of predicted future course. This results in a perceptual shift known as Representational Momentum (RM)....
Introduction. Mindfulness meditation has been shown to enhance social skills (Luberto et al., 2017; Trautwein et al., 2013), as compassion (Gilbert, 2020; Sinclair, 2021). Together, these practices are hypothesized to influence self–other representation: mindfulness reduces self-centeredness, while compassion increases connection with others (Trautwein et al., 2013). This study examines...
I volti infantili rivestono un ruolo cruciale nel parenting, attirando l'attenzione degli adulti e attivando risposte esplicite e implicite che regolano il comportamento di cura. Tuttavia, pochi studi hanno indagato se volti con diversa valenza siano elaborati similmente e se tali risposte siano associate a comportamenti di cura reali. Questo studio ha esaminato la relazione tra risposte...
Introduction. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends updated COVID-19 vaccines for the 2024-2025 season, highlighting the importance of vaccination to protect against severe illness and hospitalization. However, vaccine hesitancy remains a significant challenge, impacting the effectiveness of vaccination campaigns and contributing to ongoing infections and...
The SNARC (Spatial-Numerical Association of Response Codes) effect describes the tendency to associate small numbers with the left side and large numbers with the right. Similarly, stimulus valence (positive/negative) is spatially lateralized, with right-handers typically associating negative stimuli with the left and positive with the right. In the present study, we investigated how these...
The Cognitive Function Instrument (CFI) is a self-report and partner-report questionnaire designed to quantify subjectively perceived cognitive difficulties in older adults. The aim of this study is to investigate whether it is possible to determine a cut-off score that can distinguish individuals with and without subjective cognitive decline (SCD).
Thirty subjects (14 females; age = 71.8 ±...
The role of selective attention in sensory memory and its implications for theories of visual consciousness have been widely explored using retro-cue paradigms. A retro-cue is typically presented after the stimulus array has disappeared, guiding internal attention to a memory representation that is no longer visually available. Studies on retro-cues consistently show that cued items are better...
Recent longitudinal studies emphasise the importance of early indicators of cognitive decline, such as subjective cognitive decline (SCD), which is associated with a higher risk of cognitive impairment. Our aim was to investigate the cognitive and behavioural changes in individuals with SCD over time.
18 individuals with SCD (both women and men) aged 60 years and older were recruited from the...
Studies on sensorimotor synchronization (SMS) have shown that the variability (CoV) of both asynchronies and inter-tapping-intervals (ITIs) decreases as the mean ITI (and Inter Onset Interval, IOI) decreases (Repp, 2005). Such relationship is particularly evident in self-paced tapping tasks. The literature also shows that SMS not only facilitates an accurate timing of motor responses, but also...
Introduction: Future-oriented cognition involves several neurocognitive processes supported by the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and beta-band oscillations. This study aimed to investigate the causal role of beta oscillations in the DLPFC during three future-related tasks: Mental Time Travel (MTT), Delay Discounting (DD), and Time-Based Prospective Memory (PM).
Methods: Thirty-four...
Introduction
Although the role of language in action learning has always been overlooked, considering the evidence on the role of inner speech (IS) in driving several cognitive processes, we speculate that it plays a role in action learning as well. We used articulatory suppression to impair participants’ IS access by disrupting the phonological loop, hypothesizing that IS inaccessibility...
INTRODUZIONE: Diversi studi dimostrano che l’ascolto di musica a bassa intensità riduce la frequenza cardiaca (Halbert et al., 2018). Verranno presentati due studi che indagano la possibilità di modulare la frequenza cardiaca e l’ansia attraverso l’ascolto di un battito cardiaco preregistrato. METODO: Esperimento1: Ventiquattro giovani adulti sani hanno completato lo State-Trait Anxiety...
Introduction: The Mental Time Line model suggests that temporal intervals are represented along a left-to-right oriented line. Patients with right brain damage, especially those with neglect (N+), underestimate time durations. This distortion can be reduced by manipulating visuospatial attention, such as through Prismatic Adaptation. Also, a link between the motor system and time...
INTRODUZIONE: Il presente studio indaga la modulazione dell’effetto di compatibilità spaziale manico-risposta (i.e., affordance effect) in funzione dello stato d'uso di un oggetto (attivo: in uso; passivo: non in uso) e della sua pericolosità (pericoloso; sicuro).
METODO: Sono state utilizzate maniglie “sicure” (maniglie di uso quotidiano) e “pericolose” (i.e., filo spinato avvolto intorno...
Ansia, depressione e stress sono condizioni psicopatologiche frequenti nella popolazione anziana, ma spesso sottodiagnosticate a causa di presentazioni atipiche e di comorbidità con condizioni mediche e declino cognitivo-funzionale. L’identificazione accurata di tali condizioni richiede strumenti validi, attendibili e adeguati a età e contesto culturale del campione. Il Depression Anxiety...
Il benessere psicologico degli studenti universitari è un indicatore chiave per la qualità dell’esperienza accademica e per la prevenzione del disagio psichico. Tra i fattori coinvolti, la regolazione emotiva si configura come un meccanismo cruciale, spesso associato a livelli di disagio psicologico e a un peggior rendimento accademico.
Questo studio trasversale ha esplorato la relazione tra...
This study consists of two components: a systematic review and a protocol validation. The first part aims to synthesize existing evidence on how workload, stress, fatigue, and sleepiness affect speech, with a focus on identifying vocal markers of these states in aviation contexts. Following PRISMA guidelines, a comprehensive search was conducted across Scopus, ScienceDirect, PsycINFO, and Web...
Introduction. Observing people perform actions activates a network of fronto-temporo-parietal brain regions known as the Action Observation Network (AON). Prior research suggests this network can engage specialized pathways depending on action features, though their temporal dynamics remain unclear.
Methods. We conducted two experiments with 50 healthy participants using an action...
Negli ultimi anni, salute e benessere sono diventati temi centrali nella ricerca psicologica, con crescente attenzione agli indicatori soggettivi. La salute percepita e il benessere soggettivo rappresentano due costrutti interconnessi, sebbene la forza di questa relazione possa variare in base all’appartenenza generazionale e alle variabili sociodemografiche. Il presente studio si propone di...
