Fostering emotional intelligence in preadolescence: Effects of a pilot training on emotions, coping and psychological well-being.

The purpose of the present study was to examine the efficacy of a short training programme (eight 1-hour sessions) aimed to promote Emotional Intelligence (EI) abilities in primary school on a set of outcomes related to affect, coping and psychological well-being. Sixty-eight preadolescents (10.68±.

Using the ATN system as a guide for the neuropsychological assessment of Alzheimer's disease.

Introduction: Many studies have attempted to determine whether Alzheimer's disease (AD) in-vivo biomarkers can predict neuropsychological performance since pathophysiological changes precede cognitive changes by several years. Nonetheless, neuropsychological measures can also detect cognitive deterioration in cognitively normal individuals with AD-positive biomarkers. Recent studies have investigated whether cognitive measures can be used as a proxy for biomarkers.

Psychological well-being in childhood: The role of trait emotional intelligence, regulatory emotional self-efficacy, coping and general intelligence.

Given the increase of mental health problems in youth, focusing on the promotion of psychological well-being is essential. Among the variables recognized as linked to children's psychological well-being, trait emotional intelligence, emotional self-efficacy and coping seem to be crucial, whereas the role played by intelligence is still controversial. In the present study, we explored the combined effects of these variables, aimed at disentangling their unique contribution to psychological well-being of 74 children (41 males, mean age: 9.

Cognitive inflexibility and over-attention to detail: The Italian validation of the DFlex Questionnaire in patients with eating disorders.

Objective: Cognitive inflexibility and over-attention to detail are two cognitive styles common to eating disorders (ED) and other psychopathologies characterized by rigid perfectionism. Despite many options to assess the above styles, the only self-report tool that simultaneously permits their specific assessment is the Detail and Flexibility Questionnaire (DFlex), originally developed to investigate the ED domain. The aim of this study was to validate the Italian version of the DFlex.

Testing the transdiagnostic hypothesis of inhibitory control deficits in addictions: An experimental study on gambling disorder.

Background And Aims: Many psychopathologies, including addictions, are characterized by inhibitory control deficits. In this regard, recent studies on substance-related disorders (SRD) have shown an impairment in the ability to inhibit potentially interfering memories, despite preserved motor inhibition. To investigate whether the same dissociation could also characterize gambling disorder (GD) in a transdiagnostic perspective, we tested both cognitive and motor inhibitory processes through dedicated tasks, for the first time in this behavioral addiction.

Italian norms and naming latencies for 357 high quality color images.

In the domain of cognitive studies on the lexico-semantic representational system, one of the most important means of ensuring effective experimental designs is using ecological stimulus sets accompanied by normative data on the most relevant variables affecting the processing of their items. In the context of image sets, color photographs are particularly suited to this purpose as they reduce the difficulty of visual decoding processes that may emerge with traditional image sets of line drawings. This is especially so in clinical populations.

TDCS over the right inferior frontal gyrus disrupts control of interference in memory: A retrieval-induced forgetting study.

Retrieving information from episodic memory may result in later inaccessibility of related but task-irrelevant information. This phenomenon, known as retrieval-induced forgetting, is thought to represent a specific instance of broader cognitive control mechanisms, that would come into play during memory retrieval, whenever non-target competing memories interfere with recall of target items. Recent neuroimaging studies have shown an association between these mechanisms and the activity of the right Prefrontal Cortex.

Control over interfering memories in eating disorders.

Introduction: Recent studies have suggested that patients suffering from either anorexia nervosa (AN) or bulimia nervosa (BN) exhibit abnormal performance in the ability to control cognitive interference in response selection.

Method: We assessed the status of cognitive control in episodic memory by addressing the ability to inhibit interfering memories. To this end, we used the retrieval-practice paradigm, which allows for measuring both the beneficial and the detrimental effects of memory practice.

Task-switching preparation across semantic and spatial domains: An event-related potential study.

Previous event-related potential (ERP) studies have identified the specific electrophysiological markers of advance preparation in cued task-switching paradigms. However, it is not yet completely clear whether there is a single task-independent preparatory mechanism for task-switching or whether preparation for a switch can be selectively influenced by the domain of the task to be performed. To address this question, we employed a cued-task switching paradigm requiring participants to repeat or to switch between a semantic and a spatial task.

Neural underpinnings of the 'agent brain': new evidence from transcranial direct current stimulation.

Intentional binding (IB) refers to the temporal compression between a voluntary action and its sensory effect, and it is considered an implicit measure of sense of agency (SoA), that is, the capacity to control one's own actions. IB has been thoroughly studied from a behavioural point of view but only few studies have investigated its neural underpinnings, always using the same two paradigms. Although providing evidence that the supplementary motor complex is involved, findings are still too scarce to draw definitive conclusions.

Assessing the effects of tDCS over a delayed response inhibition task by targeting the right inferior frontal gyrus and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.

Many situations in our everyday life call for a mechanism deputed to outright stop an ongoing course of action. This behavioral inhibition ability, known as response stopping, is often impaired in psychiatric conditions characterized by impulsivity and poor inhibitory control. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has recently been proposed as a tool for modulating response stopping in such clinical populations, and previous studies in healthy humans have already shown that this noninvasive brain stimulation technique is effectively able to improve response stopping, as measured in a stop-signal task (SST) administered immediately after the stimulation.

Transcranial direct current stimulation and cognitive training in the rehabilitation of Alzheimer disease: A case study.

In the present study we tested the cognitive effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in a case of probable Alzheimer disease (AD). The patient (male, 60 years, mild AD) underwent two cycles of treatments, separated by 2 months. In the first cycle, active stimulation (10 sessions, 2 mA for 20 min; anode over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) was followed by computerised tasks (CTs) specifically chosen to engage the most impaired cognitive processes in the patient (tDCS+CT condition).

Human memory retrieval and inhibitory control in the brain: beyond correlational evidence.

Retrieving information from long-term memory can result in the episodic forgetting of related material. One influential account states that this retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) phenomenon reflects inhibitory mechanisms called into play to decrease retrieval competition. Recent neuroimaging studies suggested that the prefrontal cortex, which is critically engaged in inhibitory processing, is also involved in retrieval competition situations.

Electrode montage dependent effects of transcranial direct current stimulation on semantic fluency.

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has proved to be valuable in improving many language processes. However, its influence on verbal fluency still needs to be fully proved. In the present study, we explored the effects of different electrode montages on a semantic fluency task, aimed at comparing their effectiveness in affecting language production.

Individual differences and decision making: when the lure effect of gain is a matter of size.

The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) is widely used in investigations of decision making. A growing number of studies have linked performance on this task to personality differences, with the aim of explaining the large degree of variability in healthy individuals' performance of the task. However, this line of research has yielded inconsistent results.

Circadian preference and the big five: the role of impulsivity and sensation seeking.

In the present study, the relationship between personality dimensions and Circadian Preference was evaluated using a structural equation modeling approach. Participants (N=390; 53.8% female, mean age: 26.

Asymmetric cortical adaptation effects during alternating auditory stimulation.

The present study investigates hemispheric asymmetries in the neural adaptation processes occurring during alternating auditory stimulation. Stimuli were two monaural pure tones having a frequency of 400 or 800 Hz and a duration of 500 ms. Electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded from 14 volunteers during the presentation of the following stimulus sequences, lasting 12 s each: 1) evoked potentials (EP condition, control), 2) alternation of frequency and ear (FE condition), 3) alternation of frequency (F condition), and 4) alternation of ear (E condition).

Individual differences affecting caffeine intake. Analysis of consumption behaviours for different times of day and caffeine sources.

The main purpose of the present study was to investigate the individual variables contributing to determine the high variability in the consumption behaviours of caffeine, a psychoactive substance which is still poorly investigated in comparison with other drugs. The effects of a large set of specific personality traits (i.e.

Neurophysiological markers of retrieval-induced forgetting in multiplication fact retrieval.

Event-related potential (ERP) counterparts of practice effects in multiplication fact retrieval were examined. Participants performed a multiplication verification task after having practiced a specific problem set. Practice was either active (retrieval of solutions to multiplication problems) or passive (reexposure to the same operands plus the correct result).

The relation between self-reported empathy and motor identification with imagined agents.

Background: In a previous study, we found that when required to imagine another person performing an action, participants reported a higher correspondence between their own handedness and the hand used by the imagined person when the agent was seen from the back compared to when the agent was seen from the front. This result was explained as evidence of a greater involvement of motor areas in the back-view perspective, possibly indicating a greater proneness to put oneself in the agent's shoes in such a condition. In turn, the proneness to put oneself in another's shoes could also be considered as a cue of greater identification with the other, that is a form of empathy.

Cortical reorganization in dyslexic children after phonological training: evidence from early evoked potentials.

Brain plasticity was investigated in 14 Italian children affected by developmental dyslexia after 6 months of phonological training. The means used to measure language reorganization was the recognition potential, an early wave, also called N150, elicited by automatic word recognition. This component peaks over the left temporo-occipital cortex and its amplitude depends on linguistic expertise.

Gender differences in reading in school-aged children: an early ERP study.

Language lateralization in the auditory modality occurs relatively early in pre-school children. Instead, lateralization of linguistic processes involved in reading develops more slowly in parallel with learning to read. In adults there is limited evidence that language lateralization differs across genders.

Effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on episodic memory related to emotional visual stimuli.

The present study investigated emotional memory following bilateral transcranial electrical stimulation (direct current of 1 mA, for 20 minutes) over fronto-temporal cortical areas of healthy participants during the encoding of images that differed in affective arousal and valence. The main result was a significant interaction between the side of anodal stimulation and image emotional valence. Specifically, right anodal/left cathodal stimulation selectively facilitated the recall of pleasant images with respect to both unpleasant and neutral images whereas left anodal/right cathodal stimulation selectively facilitated the recall of unpleasant images with respect to both pleasant and neutral images.

Brain plasticity in developmental dyslexia after phonological treatment: a beta EEG band study.

Linguistic EEG hemispheric reorganization was investigated in 14 dyslexic children after a 6-month phonological training (10 min/day through PC software). Error rates from three linguistic tasks significantly decreased and reading speed improved after the training. A significant positive correlation (r(12)=0.