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Author(s): Michela Panebianco [sup.1] , Tindara Caprì [sup.2] , Mariateresa Panebianco [sup.1] , Rosa Angela Fabio [sup.3] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.10438.3e, 0000 0001 2178 8421, Department of Clinical and Experimental [...], The positivity effect can be defined as an age-related attentional preference for positive information. Previous research has investigated the positive effect through explicit measurements. To our knowledge, no study examined both implicit and explicit measurements. The main aim of the present study was to examine the positivity effect in older adults compared with younger adults, using both implicit and explicit measures. Fifty-nine younger (23 males and 36 females), age range 20-35, and 55 elderly (21 males and 34 females), age range 68-89, healthy adults participated in this study. As an explicit measure of the positivity effect, the index of optimism measured with the Life Orientation Test was used; as an implicit measure of the positivity effect, the Implicit Association Test was used. The results indicated that the older adults showed a higher optimism index than the younger adults. Also, the older adults showed a higher standardized difference on positive emotions compared with negative emotions, whereas the younger group showed an opposite trend. the present study confirms previous findings on positivity effect in the older adults and contributes preliminary evidence that suggests the positivity effect can be observed also when the experimental tasks do not explicitly address participants how processing the information and the task elicits an automatic processing of information.

Author(s): Rosa Angela Fabio [sup.1] , Giulia Picciotto [sup.1] , Tindara Caprì [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.10438.3e, 0000 0001 2178 8421, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Messina, [...], The main aim of the present study was to examine the effects of psychosocial and cognitive stress on executive functions and automatic processes in healthy subjects. To achieve these purposes, we investigated whether cognitive stress impaired the controlled processing underlying cognitive flexibility, working memory and initial letter fluency performances, and whether social stress impaired both performance of executive processes and of semantic fluency. We employed the psychosocial stress paradigm in which cognitive assessment was superimposed on cognitive and social stressors soon after their introduction and was carried out concurrently while they were present. With reference to cognitive stress, we employed the dual-task paradigm that involves a primary task (performances related to executive functions and automatic task) and a secondary task (focusing attention and memorizing items in another cognitive task). Eighty-eight healthy subjects, between 18 and 30 years, participated in this study. They were randomly divided into three groups: two groups undergoing a stress procedure, respectively a cognitive stress group and a social stress group, and a control group. Results indicated that stress impaired cognitive flexibility, working memory and verbal fluency. Cognitive flexibility was affected to a greater extent by psychosocial stress than cognitive stress. This study suggests that the negative effects of stress on cognitive flexibility may be a consequence of the interplay between controlled and automatic processes.

Author(s): Tindara Caprì [sup.1] , Maria Cristina Gugliandolo [sup.1] , Giancarlo Iannizzotto [sup.2] , Andrea Nucita [sup.2] , Rosa Angela Fabio [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.10438.3e, 0000 0001 2178 8421, [...], Media usage is pervasive in young children and in parents. The aim of the present study is to investigate the effect of media usage on family functioning. To measure media usage we used the Media Usage Questionnaire (MUQ). To measure the family functioning we used the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales (FACES IV), in which balanced scores (cohesion and flexibility) reveal a healthy functioning, and unbalanced scores reveal a dysfunctional functioning (disengagement, enmeshment, rigidity and chaos). Both instruments were administered to a sample of 80 families with children aged from 1 to 8 years. Results indicated that family functioning was balanced when both parents and young children showed low levels of digital device usage, whereas family functioning was dysfunctional when parents showed high levels of media usage and they allowed children high usage too. The results are discussed in terms of implications for the analysis of risk of altered family functioning.

Author(s): Rosa Angela Fabio [sup.1] , Tindara Caprì [sup.1] , Caterina Buzzai [sup.1] , Rossella Campana [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.10438.3e, 0000 0001 2178 8421, Cognitive Empowerment Laboratory, Department of [...], With reference to the rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) framework model, the purpose of the present study was to develop a multidimensional scale regarding dysfunctional beliefs of young people, and to clarify its factor structure. In line with this purpose, the dysfunctional beliefs questionnaire (DBQ) was developed. It is composed of four subscales measuring self-criticizing, catastrophizing, demandingness and frustration intolerance. Results reveal that the DBQ shows a good four-factor structure that represents the four subscales of the theoretical framework model. Furthermore, this result demonstrates adequate internal consistency reliability and supports the validity of the DBQ in terms of construct convergent (assessed with the personality belief questionnaire) and divergent validity (assessed with intelligence and coping strategies). Findings also show that dysfunctional beliefs are negatively correlated with intelligence and blunting coping and partially correlated with monitoring coping. Clinical implications and the potential utility of examining the combined influence of other cognitive factors are highlighted.

Background/Objectives: Rett syndrome is a rare neurodevelopmental disorder that can severely affect motor functioning, particularly walking. Previous training programs proposed treadmills as tools to increase walking endurance of patients with Rett syndrome, but these trainings did not include virtual reality (VR). The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of a short treadmill training coupled to VR in girls with Rett syndrome. Methods: Nine patients with Rett syndrome underwent a 3-day treadmill walking program performed in semi-immersive VR. During the training, the happiness index and performance metrics were collected. At the end of the training parents filled out the Suitability Evaluation Questionnaire (SEQ) and, when feasible, patients underwent a gait assessment. Results: All the subjects recruited performed the three GRAIL sessions and parents showed a good satisfaction and considered the integration of treadmill and VR a good possibility for future rehabilitative programs. Participants showed greater satisfaction in environments requiring walking and their attention increased during training sessions, hypothesizing the feasibility of longer trainings with treadmill and VR. Data collected from gait analysis provided insights, although preliminary, concerning differences in gait pattern amongst the recruited subjects. Conclusions: Despite the small sample size and limited training duration, the paper suggests that a walking training with a treadmill combined with VR can represent a new strategy for Rett rehabilitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Episodic autobiographical memory (EAM) has not been extensively investigated in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The objective of this study was to examine EAM in school-age children with ADHD in reference to the encoding period: recent memories (previous school years) and remote memories (first years of life). Methods: A sample of 29 children with ADHD and 29 typically developing children, matched for age and gender, completed a questionnaire to assess EAM. These participants were recruited from an initial sample of 572 participants. Developmental differences in accessing and recalling specific personal events and episodic details in groups with ADHD were predicted. Results: The control group showed a typical trend of EAM with fewer remote and episodic memories than recent ones. The ADHD groups showed a general EAM deficit. More precisely, the ADHD-I group performed equally poorly on remote and recent EAMs, whereas the ADHD-C group showed a higher number of remote EAMs than recent ones. Conclusions: The findings suggest that EAM can be impaired in children with ADHD. Clinical and medicolegal implications of these results and the relation between age and childhood amnesia are discussed.

The aims of the present pilot study were two: a) to investigate if learning and exercise in a virtual reality (VR) environment was motivating and emotionally positive for subjects with Rett Syndrome (RTT), and b) to examine if the speed of motor reaction was higher in a virtual or concrete environment. To achieve these aims, specific VR environments were developed to stimulate motor skills. Seven subjects with RTT were tested in three experimental conditions. In the concrete condition, real stimuli were placed on the table and the participants were invited to reach the stimulus. In the 2D and 3D conditions, a computer was placed on the table, and, through the developed software, stimuli were shown in 2D and 3D environments. The virtual system was able to recognize the reaching movements of participants. Thus, the object shown in the virtual environment moved towards the participant when the participant tried to grasp it. Results indicated that in the virtual environment the participants were more motivated and emotionally more involved in the proposed exercises. The motor speed was lower in concrete and 2D conditions than 3D conditions. This pilot study shows preliminary evidence on the usability of VR for RTT in improving learning, motivation and motricity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article, titled "Editorial: Computer vision and human behaviour to recognize emotions," explores the intersection of computer vision and human behavior in recognizing emotions. The authors discuss the potential of computer vision to automate tasks related to understanding emotions and human behavior. The article includes studies that compare facial emotion recognition systems, investigate emotion recognition by humans and machines, and explore facial emotion recognition in virtual reality environments. The authors emphasize the importance of responsible development and deployment of emotion recognition systems to ensure reliability, fairness, and privacy. [Extracted from the article]