: Moderate Cognitive Flexibility as a Key to Affective Flexibility Responses in Long-Term HRV.

This study examines the relationship between cognitive and affective flexibility, two critical aspects of adaptability. Cognitive flexibility involves switching between activities as rules change, assessed through task-switching or neuropsychological tests and questionnaires. Affective flexibility, meanwhile, refers to shifting between emotional and non-emotional tasks or states.

Autonomic Modulation in Parkinson's Disease Using Whole-Body Cryostimulation: A Pilot Study.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a multifaceted neurodegenerative disorder that progressively affects both the central and peripheral nervous systems. This pilot study aimed to examine the effects of repeated whole-body cryostimulation (WBC) sessions on the sympathovagal balance in PD patients and correlate heart rate variability (HRV) indexes with peripheral biomarkers of the autonomic nervous system (ANS). Seventeen PD patients with mild to moderate motor severity underwent a 10-session WBC cycle over 5 consecutive days.

Placebos in Healthcare: A Behavioral Study on How Treatment Responsiveness Affects Therapy Decisions in a Simulated Patient-Physician Interaction.

Background And Purpose: Treatment choice during clinical practice is crucial to best help each patient. One of the physicians' main goals is choosing a personalized effective treatment, but it also represents a challenging issue. Here, we explored different treatment choices in a simulated patient-physician interaction.

Visual placebo and nocebo effects.

Placebo and nocebo effects modulate symptom perception through expectations and learning processes in various domains. Predominantly, their impact has been investigated on pain and physical performance. However, the influence of placebos and nocebos on visual system functionality has yet to be explored.

Linking Affect Dynamics and Well-Being: A Novel Methodological Approach for Mental Health.

Emotions are dynamic processes; their variability relates to psychological well-being and psychopathology. Affective alterations have been linked to mental diseases like depression, although little is known about how similar patterns occur in healthy individuals. This study investigates the psychophysiological correlations of emotional processing in healthy subjects, specifically exploring the relationship between depressive traits, cognitive distortions, and facial electromyographic (f-EMG) responses during affective transitions.

Unveiling the underlying structure of awe in virtual reality and in autobiographical recall: an exploratory study.

Over the last two decades, awe has attracted the attention of an increasing number of researchers. The use of virtual reality has been identified as one of the most effective techniques for eliciting awe, in addition to more personalized methods for inducing emotion, such as autobiographical recall. However, previous measures of awe were unable to uncover the hidden structure of this experience.

Assessing alexithymia: the proposal of a psychometric tool based on spheric videos.

The present perspective introduces a novel psychometric tool designed to enhance the evaluation of alexithymia. Alexithymia, a condition marked by difficulties in recognizing and expressing emotions, along with a propensity to direct attention outside rather than toward one's own interior experiences, is commonly investigated through self-report questionnaires. These instruments assume that individuals have sufficient self-awareness and abstraction capabilities, which restricts the understanding of the underlying mechanisms of emotional recognition in individuals who do not possess these capacities.

Mind and body connection in expert meditators: a computational study based on central and peripheral nervous system.

A meditative 'technique' is conceived as a continuum of different affective states involving mind and body jointly. Meditative practices can involve cognitive effort (e.g.

Outlining a novel psychometric model of mental flexibility and affect dynamics.

Theoretically, affective states have always been conceived as complex phenomena enabling individuals to respond flexibly and dynamically to environmental demands. Methodologically, the novel field of Affect Dynamics has started to analyze affective states as inherently dynamic and interdependent phenomena by focusing on how and why they fluctuate over time. Fluctuations of affective states can also be conceived as a function of individuals' ability to flexibly modulate their responses according to environmental demands.

A unique neuropsychophysiological approach to objectify emotion (dys)regulation in healthy older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The response of older people to the COVID-19 pandemic has attracted much attention as they are at increased risk of adverse outcomes. A longitudinal study has shown that improvement in global cognitive, executive and language functioning in healthy older adults enrolled at the University of the Third Age appears to play a protective role against emotional dysregulation and mood changes during the pandemic. To date, no study has examined emotional dysregulation through COVID-19-related images using facial electromyographic recordings in healthy older adults.

Mental flexibility assessment: A research protocol for patients with Parkinson's Disease and Anorexia Nervosa.

Mental Flexibility oscillates between adaptive variability in behavior and the capacity to restore homeostasis, linked to mental health. It has recently been one of the most investigated abilities in mental and neurological diseases such as Anorexia nervosa and Parkinson's disease, studied for rigidity or cognitive inflexibility. Patients with anorexia nervosa have rigid cognitive processes about food and weight, which leads to restrictive eating and excessive exercise.

Correction: Technology-Assisted Cognitive Motor Dual-Task Rehabilitation in Chronic Age-Related Conditions: Systematic Review.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.2196/44484.].

Exploring Biomarkers of Mental Flexibility in Healthy Aging: A Computational Psychometric Study.

Mental flexibility (MF) has long been defined as cognitive flexibility. Specifically, it has been mainly studied within the executive functions domain. However, there has recently been increased attention towards its affective and physiological aspects.

Technology-Assisted Cognitive Motor Dual-Task Rehabilitation in Chronic Age-Related Conditions: Systematic Review.

Background: Cognitive-motor dual-task (CMDT) is defined as the parallel processing of motor (eg, gait) and cognitive (eg, executive functions) activities and is an essential ability in daily life. Older adults living with frailty, chronic conditions (eg, neurodegenerative diseases), or multimorbidity pay high costs during CMDT. This can have serious consequences on the health and safety of older adults with chronic age-related conditions.

The neuropsychology of healthy aging: the positive context of the University of the Third Age during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Older adults have been reported to have increased susceptibility to the adverse effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection, such as fatal outcomes, cognitive decline, and changes in physical and/or mental health. However, few studies have examined neuropsychological changes by comparing measurements before and during the pandemic in healthy older people. In addition, no longitudinal studies have examined whether older adults may have responded positively to the pandemic.

"Standing Up for Earth Rights": Awe-Inspiring Virtual Nature for Promoting Pro-Environmental Behaviors.

Virtual nature exposure has emerged as an effective method for promoting pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors, also due to the increased emotional connection with nature itself. However, the role played by complex emotions elicited by virtual nature, such as awe, needs to be fully elucidated. Awe is an emotion stemming from vast stimuli, including nature, and virtual reality (VR) emerged as an effective medium to elicit it.

Psychometric Calibration of a Tool Based on 360 Degree Videos for the Assessment of Executive Functions.

Introduction: Over the last decades, interactive technologies appeared a promising solution in the ecological evaluation of executive functioning. We have developed the EXecutive-functions Innovative Tool 360° (EXIT 360°), a new instrument that exploits 360° technologies to provide an ecologically valid assessment of executive functioning.

Aim: This work wanted to evaluate the convergent validity of the EXIT 360°, comparing it with traditional neuropsychological tests (NPS) for executive functioning.

ObReco-2: Two-step validation of a tool to assess memory deficits using 360° videos.

Traditional neuropsychological evaluations are usually carried out using psychometric paper and pencil tests. Nevertheless, there is a continuous discussion concerning their efficacy to capture life-like abilities. The introduction of new technologies, such as Virtual Reality (VR) and 360° spherical photos and videos, has improved the ecological validity of the neuropsychological assessment.

Cognition Meets Gait: Where and How Mind and Body Weave Each Other in a Computational Psychometrics Approach in Aging.

Aging may be associated with conditions characterized by motor and cognitive alterations, which could have a detrimental impact on daily life. Although motors and cognitive aspects have always been treated as separate entities, recent literature highlights their relationship, stressing a strong association between locomotion and executive functions. Thus, designing interventions targeting the risks deriving from both components' impairments is crucial: the dual-task represents a starting point.

Revascularization versus medical therapy for renal artery stenosis: antihypertensive drugs and renal outcome.

Endovascular procedures may play a role in renal artery stenosis (RAS) treatment in attempt to preserve renal function and improve hypertension control. We determined renal outcome and the incidence of restenosis in patients with RAS treated with renal percutaneous transluminal angioplasty and stenting (RPTAs) and medical therapy versus patients with RAS treated only with medical therapy. We performed an observational study based on 93 patients with RAS.

Multiple steno-obstructive vascular lesions and femoral superficial artery dissection in a young Caucasian male with antiphospholipid syndrome.

A young Caucasian male was admitted for claudication intermittens, hyposphygmia on the right lower limb, high blood pressure and deterioration of renal function. Instrumental investigations documented right renal artery stenosis, multiple steno-obstructive manifestations of the splanchnic artery system, occlusion of the right external iliac artery and dissection of the left superficial femoral artery. The patient had not been previously diagnosed with antiphospholipid syndrome.