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When repeatedly paired with rewarding outcomes (i.e., Pavlovian conditioning), environmental cues may acquire predictive and motivational significance and later enhance instrumental responding for the same (i.e., outcome-specific transfer) or motivationally similar (i.e., general transfer) outcomes. Although outcome-specific and general Pavlovian-to-Instrumental Transfer (PIT) are characterized by different neural substrates and behavioral mechanisms, general transfer has never been studied in isolation from outcome-specific transfer in humans. The first aim of the present study was to test whether the general transfer effect could emerge in isolation and independently of outcome-specific transfer. Our results showed that general transfer can be elicited without the concurrent presence of outcome-specific transfer, supporting the idea that outcome-specific and general transfer can be studied independently of each other. The second aim of the present study was to clarify whether the affordance-like properties of the outcomes can affect the general transfer. In fact, a critical difference in current studies on general transfer concerns the use of cues associated with outcomes for which an action was previously learned (or not) during the instrumental training. This apparently minor difference affects the affordance-like properties of the outcome and may also be transferred to the cue, in turn impacting general transfer. Results revealed a general transfer of the same magnitude regardless of whether cues were associated with reward earned or not during instrumental conditioning. These findings increase the current knowledge on the incentive motivational mechanism behind general transfer, indicating that it is independent of the motor features of the outcome.

Background: Perinatal depression (PND) in mothers and fathers of very low and extremely low birth weight (VLBW and ELBW) infants has not been studied extensively. In particular, no studies investigated the reciprocal influence of depressive symptoms during the first 12 months postpartum. This study aimed at exploring the impact of the severity of prematurity on maternal and paternal PND during the first postpartum year; specifically, we used an Actor–Partner Interdependence Model (APIM) to test the interdependence of both partners on depressive symptoms.Methods: A total of 177 mothers and 177 fathers were recruited, divided into 38 couples with ELBW infants, 56 with VLBW, and 83 of full-term (FT) infants. PND was evaluated by the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) at 3, 9, and 12 months postpartum (corrected age for preterm infants).Results: Maternal depressive symptoms at 3 months were positively related to those at 9 and 12 months in the 3 groups. Conversely, paternal depressive symptoms assessed at 3 months were positively related to those measured at 9 months for the ELBW group, 12 months for the VLBW group, 9 and 12 months for FT condition. Furthermore, a significantly positive partner effect was observed regarding the influence of 3 month maternal depressive symptoms on paternal depressive symptoms at 9 months, but only in the case of the VLBW group.Conclusion: Prematurity represents a very specific scenario in the transition to parenthood, leading to specific reactions in mothers and fathers, especially in high-risk conditions. Results should be deepened given the relevance of their clinical implications.

Although several screening tests for recognizing early signs of reading and spelling difficulties have been developed, brief and methodologically grounded tools for teachers are very limited. The present study aimed to lay the foundation for a new screening tool for teachers: the Checklist for early Indicators of risk Factors in Reading Ability (CI-FRA). The proposed checklist consists of 20 items, based on a 7-point Likert scale, and it investigates five domains: reading, writing, attention, and motor skills. Six hundred sixty-seven children were evaluated by 40 teachers during the first year of primary school and, longitudinally, in the second year. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were applied to verify structural validity. Concurrent validity was assessed by Spearman correlation to analyze the link between CI-FRA and reading and spelling standardized tests and cognitive tests. Reliability was assessed by Cronbach α and interclass correlation coefficient. The CFA reported a three-factor structure as the optimal solution, including language (reading and writing), visuospatial attention, and fine motor skills subscales. Good reliability, good internal consistency, and acceptable test–retest indices were found. Concurrent validity was confirmed by significant correlations between CI-FRA total score and standardized reading and spelling test, as well as by correlations between CI-FRA subscales and neuropsychological standardized test scores. Preliminary evaluation of sensitivity by receiver operating characteristic curves showed that the CI-FRA score has particularly high sensitivity and specificity for word reading speed deficit. In conclusion, the results confirm that CI-FRA is a theoretically grounded and statistically valid tool that could help the teachers to screen for early signs of reading and spelling difficulties.

The heterogeneity of cognitive profiles among psychiatric patients has been reported to carry significant clinical information. However, how to best characterize such cognitive heterogeneity is still a matter of debate. Despite being well suited for clinical data, cluster analysis techniques, like the Two-Step and the Latent Class, received little to no attention in the literature. The present study aimed to test the validity of the cluster solutions obtained with Two-Step and Latent Class cluster analysis on the cognitive profile of a cross-diagnostic sample of 387 psychiatric inpatients. Two-Step and Latent Class cluster analysis produced similar and reliable solutions. The overall results reported that it is possible to group all psychiatric inpatients into Low and High Cognitive Profiles, with a higher degree of cognitive heterogeneity in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder patients than in depressive disorders and personality disorder patients.

Although the relationship between developmental dyslexia (DD) and the risk of occurrence of internalizing symptomatology has been widely investigated in the extant literature, different findings have been reported. In this study, two experiments with two general purposes are presented. The first study investigates whether the differences in the severity of internalizing symptoms between DD and controls are greater in students attending secondary school than in those attending primary school. Sixty-five DD and 169 controls attending primary and secondary school took part in the first study. The diagnosis of dyslexia was obtained from standardized reading tests; internalizing symptom severity was assessed with the Self Administrated Psychiatric Scales for Children and Adolescents questionnaire. The results showed that adolescents with dyslexia had an increased level of self-perceived anxiety, depression and somatic symptoms, whereas no significant differences between DD and controls emerged in childhood. In the second study, a cohort of adolescents attending secondary school (DD = 44; controls = 51) was closely analyzed to clarify whether contextual and subjective factors could contribute toward exacerbating the risk of internalizing symptomatology at that age. Internalizing symptom severity was assessed with the Child Behavior Checklist, Youth Self Report questionnaire, decision-making factors were measured with the Melbourne Decision Making Questionnaire, and student’s quality of life was gaged using the Clipper test. The results showed that high levels of internalizing symptoms in DD were associated with a low level of self-esteem and the tendency to react to problematic situations with hyperactivation. By contrast, positive relationships with peers were associated with low symptom severity. In conclusion, the intensified internalizing symptoms that could emerge in adolescents in association with the presence of dyslexia are predicted by social protective and risk factors that are associated with symptom severity. Accordingly, the results suggest that remediation programs for dyslexia should include implementing motivation strategies, self-esteem enhancement activities and building peers networks that, starting in childhood, can prevent the appearance of internalizing symptoms.