The anterior insula engages in feature- and context-level predictive coding processes for recognition judgments.

Predictive coding mechanisms facilitate detection and perceptual recognition, thereby influencing recognition judgements and, broadly, perceptual decision-making. The anterior insula (AI) has been shown to be involved in reaching a decision about discrimination and recognition, as well as to coordinate brain circuits related to reward-based learning. Yet, experimental studies in the context of recognition and decision-making, targeting this area and based on formal trial-by-trial predictive coding computational quantities, are sparse.

Explicit and implicit timing across the adult lifespan.

The study of whether temporal processing in the millisecond-to-seconds range changes with age is an active and debated research field. Here, we adopted a lifespan approach in which younger to older participants performed both explicit and implicit timing tasks (time bisection and foreperiod tasks, respectively) in a single session. Three hundred seven participants (age range: 20-85 years) took part in the study.

Resting-state EEG spectral and fractal features in dementia with Lewy bodies with and without visual hallucinations.

Objective: Complex visual hallucinations (VH) are a core feature of dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), though they may not occur in all patients. Power spectral density (PSD) analysis of resting-state EEG (rs-EEG) shows associations between some frequency bands (e.g.

Comprehensive investigation of predictive processing: A cross- and within-cognitive domains fMRI meta-analytic approach.

Predictive processing (PP) stands as a predominant theoretical framework in neuroscience. While some efforts have been made to frame PP within a cognitive domain-general network perspective, suggesting the existence of a "prediction network," these studies have primarily focused on specific cognitive domains or functions. The question of whether a domain-general predictive network that encompasses all well-established cognitive domains exists remains unanswered.

Does Foreign-Accented Speech Affect Credibility? Evidence from the Illusory-Truth Paradigm.

In a pioneering study, Lev-Ari and Keysar (2010) observed that unknown statements are judged less credible when uttered with foreign accent compared to native accent. This finding was interpreted in terms of processing fluency; when intelligibility is reduced, the credibility of the message decreases. Here, we use the illusory truth paradigm to explore how accent affects credibility.

Yes, dogs are susceptible to the Kanizsa's triangle illusion: A reply to Pepperberg.

A recent paper by Pepperberg, Learning & Behavior, 51, 5-6, (2023) enquires about the validity of the finding that dogs are susceptible to the Kanizsa's triangle illusion, reported by Lõoke and coauthors (Lõoke et al., Animal Cognition, 25, 43-51, 2022). Here we elaborate on the matter, providing both theoretical considerations and further data, supporting the soundness of our previous conclusions.

Changing to Impress: Testing a Mediation Model from Instagram Self-presentation to Cosmetic Surgery.

Background: This study examined the relationship between false self-presentation on Instagram and consideration of cosmetic surgery through the mediating role of body image control in photos (BICP), photo manipulation, and body shame. We predicted that false self-presentation on Instagram was indirectly associated with cosmetic surgery intentions through the aforementioned constructs.

Methods: A total of 504 young Italian adults (28.

Linguistic identity as a modulator of gaze cueing of attention.

Eye-gaze stimuli can elicit orienting of attention in an observer, a phenomenon known as gaze cueing of attention. Here, we explored whether gaze cueing can be shaped by the linguistic identity of the cueing face. In two experiments, participants were first familiarized with different faces together with auditory sentences.

Evidence of motor intentions in plants: A kinematical study.

"How" an action is performed is not solely determined by biomechanical constraints, but it depends on the agent's intention, that is, "why" the action is performed. Recent findings suggest that intentions can be specified at a tangible and quantifiable level in the kinematics of movements; that is, different motor intentions translate into different kinematic patterns. In the present study, we used 3D kinematical analysis to investigate whether the organization of climbing plants' approach-to-grasp action is sensitive to the kind of intention driving their movement toward potential support, namely individual or social.

The Big-five personality traits and their link to problematic and compensatory Facebook use: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Social networking sites are widespread worldwide, and Facebook is the leading platform in terms of the number of users, laying the ground for potential problematic use. However, problematic Facebook use does not occur for most users but only for a minority. Previous research has found an association between the Big-five personality traits and problematic Facebook use, but the direction of these associations remains controversial.

Problematic social networking sites use and online social anxiety: The role of attachment, emotion dysregulation and motives.

Problematic Social Networking Sites Use (PSNSU) and social anxiety are associated. SNSs users may develop online social anxiety that may become a standalone problem. The present study aims to test the mediating role of emotion dysregulation and motives (coping, conformity, social, and enhancement) between attachment (anxiety and avoidance) and two outcomes (PSNSU and online social anxiety) in an integrated theory-driven model.

Language as a cue for social categorization in bilingual communities.

This registered report article investigates the role of language as a dimension of social categorization. Our critical aim was to investigate whether categorization based on language occurs even when the languages coexist within the same sociolinguistic context, as is the case in bilingual communities. Bilingual individuals of two bilingual communities, the Basque Country (Spain) and Veneto (Italy), were tested using the memory confusion paradigm in a 'Who said what?' task.

How perceived scarcity predicted cooperation during early pandemic lockdown.

Both material resources (jobs, healthcare), and socio-psychological resources (social contact) decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic. We investigated whether individual differences in perceived material and socio-psychological scarcity experienced during the pandemic predicted preference for cooperation, measured using two Public Good Games (PGGs), where participants contributed money or time (i.e.

Is psychological distress the key factor in the association between problematic social networking sites and poor sleep quality?

Background And Aims: Problematic Social Networking Sites Use (PSNSU) has been indicated as potentially detrimental for users' mental and sleep health. The present study tested whether PSNSU is directly associated with poor sleep quality and indirectly via psychological distress (stress, anxiety, depression) in a healthy adult sample of Social Networking Sites (SNSs) users.

Design: Cross-sectional study among Italian adults who completed online questionnaires between December 2020 and January 2021.

The methodology of the Italian Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) 2018 study and its development for the next round.

Introduction: The Italian "Health Behaviour in School-aged Children" (HBSC) is a national surveillance system that collects data on health and well-being among adolescents aged 11, 13 and 15 years attending school. It is part of the HBSC Research Network, an international alliance of researchers from 45 European and North American countries and regions started in 1982.

Methods: All countries and regions participating in HBSC must adhere to a common international standard protocol developed and systematically updated by the entire HBSC Network.

Self-Oriented Empathy and Personality Organisation Level: Insights from a Psychiatric Sample.

Objective: Empathy functioning is among the criteria to delineate psychiatric diagnosis. However, the self-oriented empathy dimension is almost neglected in the existing literature. On the basis of previous fragmented contributions, we hypothesised that an individual's level of personality organisation is explained by this facet of empathy more than the other components of empathy, both transversally and independently from the specific psychiatric diagnosis.

Pragmatic and knowledge range lenience towards foreigners.

Foreign-accented speech categorizes the speaker as an outgroup individual with a lower linguistic competence and a different knowledge heritage from a native speaker. Here we explore whether the identification of an individual as a native or a foreign speaker has an impact on trivia statement judgments, regardless of her foreign-accented speech. Italian native participants first read a bio description of a native and of a foreign speaker and then rate to what degree a series of statements associated with each of the speakers makes sense (Studies 1 and 2) or are true (Study 3).

Predicting comments on Facebook photos: Who posts might matter more than what type of photo is posted.

The number of likes and comments received to social media posts and images are influential for users' self-presentation and problematic Facebook use. The aim of this study was to highlight the most relevant factors predicting the popularity (i.e.

Allophonic familiarity differentiates word representations in the brain of native speakers of regional linguistic varieties.

This study aims to shed light on the issue whether familiar allophonic variation is encoded in word representations. Both Italian speakers born in Trentino and speakers born in the Central-Southern regions of Italy took part in the experiment. We tested the MMN elicited by the same word encompassing two different allophones, one of which was more familiar to one group of participants than to the other, depending on their regional variety of Italian.

Shared cognitive resources between memory and attention during sound-sequence encoding.

You are on the phone, walking down a street. This daily situation calls for selective attention, allowing you to ignore surrounding irrelevant sounds, while trying to encode in memory the relevant information from the phone. Attention and memory are indeed two cognitive functions that are interacting constantly.

Cracking the code: a comparative approach to plant communication.

The linguistic behavior of humans is usually considered the point of reference for studying the origin and evolution of language. As commonly defined, language is a form of communication between human beings; many have argued that it is unique to humans as there is no apparent equivalent for it in non-human organisms. How language is used as a means of communication is examined in this essay from a biological perspective positing that it is effectively and meaningfully used by non-human organisms and, more specifically, by plants.

Abnormal visual attention to simple social stimuli in 4-month-old infants at high risk for Autism.

Despite an increasing interest in detecting early signs of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), the pathogenesis of the social impairments characterizing ASD is still largely unknown. Atypical visual attention to social stimuli is a potential early marker of the social and communicative deficits of ASD. Some authors hypothesized that such impairments are present from birth, leading to a decline in the subsequent typical functioning of the learning-mechanisms.

Dimensions of social categorization: Inside the role of language.

The present pre-registration aims to investigate the role of language as a dimension of social categorization. Our critical aim is to investigate whether language can be used as a dimension of social categorization even when the languages coexist within the same sociolinguistic group, as is the case in bilingual communities where two languages are used in daily social interactions. We will use the memory confusion paradigm (also known as the Who said what? task).