The Influence of Gifted Children's Stress Management on Parental Stress Levels.

This study explores the associations between gifted children's stress management and parental stress level. A sample of 78 primary school children and their 76 parents took part in this study. Children were screened for intelligence and emotional quotients, while parents were tested for stress levels.

Surface-based integration approach for fNIRS-fMRI reliability assessment.

Introduction: Studies integrating functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) with functional MRI (fMRI) employ heterogeneous methods in defining common regions of interest in which similarities are assessed. Therefore, spatial agreement and temporal correlation may not be reproducible across studies. In the present work, we address this issue by proposing a novel method for integration and analysis of fNIRS and fMRI over the cortical surface.

Impact of Anatomical Variability on Sensitivity Profile in fNIRS-MRI Integration.

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is an important non-invasive technique used to monitor cortical activity. However, a varying sensitivity of surface channels vs. cortical structures may suggest integrating the fNIRS with the subject-specific anatomy (SSA) obtained from routine MRI.

Whole-Head Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy as an Ecological Monitoring Tool for Assessing Cortical Activity in Parkinson's Disease Patients at Different Stages.

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is increasingly employed as an ecological neuroimaging technique in assessing age-related chronic neurological disorders, such as Parkinson's disease (PD), mainly providing a cross-sectional characterization of clinical phenotypes in ecological settings. Current fNIRS studies in PD have investigated the effects of motor and non-motor impairment on cortical activity during gait and postural stability tasks, but no study has employed fNIRS as an ecological neuroimaging tool to assess PD at different stages. Therefore, in this work, we sought to investigate the cortical activity of PD patients during a motor grasping task and its relationship with both the staging of the pathology and its clinical variables.

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Habilitating Residential Communities for Unaccompanied Minors during the First Lockdown in Italy: The Educators' Relational Perspective.

(1) Background: Italian residential communities for unaccompanied minors suffered a long period of closure during the SARS-COV2 lockdown. Professional educators who work inside these institutions with the aim to habilitate children toward life-span achievements faced a great challenge and responsibility during this period. In this context, the psychological well-being and development of unaccompanied children were at high risk.

A Systematic Review of Cerebral Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy in Chronic Neurological Diseases-Actual Applications and Future Perspectives.

Background: The management of people affected by age-related neurological disorders requires the adoption of targeted and cost-effective interventions to cope with chronicity. Therapy adaptation and rehabilitation represent major targets requiring long-term follow-up of neurodegeneration or, conversely, the promotion of neuroplasticity mechanisms. However, affordable and reliable neurophysiological correlates of cerebral activity to be used throughout treatment stages are often lacking.

Long-Range Temporal Correlations in Alpha Oscillations Stabilize Perception of Ambiguous Visual Stimuli.

Ongoing brain dynamics have been proposed as a type of "neuronal noise" that can trigger perceptual switches when viewing an ambiguous, bistable stimulus. However, no prior study has directly quantified how such neuronal noise relates to the rate of percept reversals. Specifically, it has remained unknown whether individual differences in complexity of resting-state oscillations-as reflected in long-range temporal correlations (LRTC)-are associated with perceptual stability.

Strong long-range temporal correlations of beta/gamma oscillations are associated with poor sustained visual attention performance.

Neuronal oscillations exhibit complex amplitude fluctuations with autocorrelations that persist over thousands of oscillatory cycles. Such long-range temporal correlations (LRTC) are thought to reflect neuronal systems poised near a critical state, which would render them capable of quick reorganization and responsive to changing processing demands. When we concentrate, however, the influence of internal and external sources of distraction is better reduced, suggesting that neuronal systems involved with sustained attention could benefit from a shift toward the less volatile sub-critical state.

Social Competence in Children with Borderline Intellectual Functioning: Delayed Development of Theory of Mind Across All Complexity Levels.

Borderline intellectual functioning (BIF) is characterized by heterogeneous cognitive difficulties, with an intelligence quotient (IQ) between 70 and 85 points, and a failure to meet the developmental and sociocultural standards for personal independence and social responsibility required in daily life. The fact that this population still remain a marginal clinical category, with no diagnostic and therapeutic approaches, has stimulated the present research. Our goal was to study children with BIF investigating the development of Theory of Mind (ToM) as a pillar of social competence.

Erratum to: Long-term alterations of striatal parvalbumin interneurons in a rat model of early exposure to alcohol.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1186/1866-1955-4-18.].

Promoting Mentalizing in Pupils by Acting on Teachers: Preliminary Italian Evidence of the "Thought in Mind" Project.

Mentalization research focuses on different aspects of this topic, highlighting individual differences in mentalizing and proposing programs of intervention for children and adults to increase this ability. The "Thought in Mind Project" (TiM Project) provides training targeted to adults-teachers or parents-to increase their mentalization and, consequently, to obtain mentalization improvement in children. The present research aimed to explore for the first time ever the potential of training for teachers based on the TiM Project, regarding the enhancement of mentalizing of an adult who would have interacted as a teacher with children.

Theory of Mind and the Whole Brain Functional Connectivity: Behavioral and Neural Evidences with the Amsterdam Resting State Questionnaire.

A topic of common interest to psychologists and philosophers is the spontaneous flow of thoughts when the individual is awake but not involved in cognitive demands. This argument, classically referred to as the "stream of consciousness" of James, is now known in the psychological literature as "Mind-Wandering." Although of great interest, this construct has been scarcely investigated so far.

Long-term alterations of striatal parvalbumin interneurons in a rat model of early exposure to alcohol.

Background: Exposure to alcohol in utero is a known cause of mental retardation. Although a certain degree of motor impairment is always associated with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, little is known about the neurobiological basis of the defective motor control. We have studied the striatal interneurons containing parvalbumin in a rat model of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.