Search

So far, little is known about the ability to contrast contextual bias as a protective factor in an ever-changing organizational environment. This study assessed whether professionals with different seniority can resist the reframing and the decoy effect under decision-making conditions and whether decision-making styles can predict the resistance to such covert influence tactics. To reach this aim, two groups of professionals divided into senior and junior professionals performed two novel tasks, a Resistance to Reframe Task (RRT) and a Resistance to Alternatives Task (RAT), which, by including ecological scenarios that represent typical decision situations that could arise in the company, can measure the resistance to such covert influence tactics. Decision-making styles were measured through the General Decision-Making Style (GDMS) and the Maximization Scale (MS). Results showed that all professionals were able to resist more to the reframing (at the RRT) than the decoy alternatives (RAT), without any difference between groups. In addition, higher GDMS-dependent subscale scores predict lower RRT scores, especially in the group of senior professionals. However, in the group of junior professionals, the GDMS-dependent subscale and MS high standards subscale predicted lower RAT scores. To conclude, this study showed that professionals know how to "keep the tiller straight" in organizations, especially when facing reframing conditions, rather than decoy alternatives; however, the predominance of dependent decision-making styles (for both senior and junior professionals) and the tendency to hold high standards in decisions (mainly for juniors) could undermine their resistance capacity and make them vulnerable to these covert influence tactics.

N/A

N/A

Introduzione: Le pratiche di assessment funzionale sono uno strumento prezioso per profilare atleti e adattare i metodi di allenamento alle esigenze individuali. Un aspetto cruciale ma, ad oggi, ancora in via di sviluppo riguarda la valutazione delle abilità neurocognitive necessarie per ottimizzare la performance sportiva (Aidman, 2017; Memmert, 2009; Park et al., 2015). Secondo l’ipotesi dell’efficienza neurale (Li & Smith, 2021), l’efficienza nell'esecuzione del gesto atletico si accompagnerebbe a un incremento specifico della connettività, della sincronizzazione e/o della specializzazione delle strutture neurali coinvolte nella sua pianificazione, implementazione e gestione. A partire da tale premessa, abbiamo testato un compito ecologico dedicato alla valutazione delle abilità di attenzione spaziale in atleti di sport da combattimento, utilizzando una metodologia di neuroassessment integrato (Crivelli & Balconi, 2022). Metodo: Per lo studio sono stati reclutati 40 atleti agonisti non-professionisti, di cui 20 praticanti sport da combattimento (SC; boxe, kick-boxing) e 20 praticanti altri sport (AS; tra cui pallacanestro, tennis, orienteering). I partecipanti hanno completato un protocollo di neuroassessment in cui sono state testate le funzioni attentive tramite compiti computerizzati integrati con registrazioni elettrofisiologiche, in particolare elettroencefalografia (EEG) e potenziali evento-relati (ERPs). Nello specifico, per le abilità di attenzione spaziale è stato utilizzato un compito cueing ecologico e digitalizzato, in cui i partecipanti dovevano bloccare colpi di mano e di piede provenienti da varie posizioni, preceduti da cue valide o non valide. Risultati: L'analisi dei dati ha rivelato, nel gruppo di atleti SC, tempi di risposta ridotti, accompagnati da una diminuzione dell'ampiezza del componente ERPs P3 parietale, per i trial con cue valida rispetto trial con cue non valida. Inoltre, si è riscontrato, per i trial con cue non valida

Nell’attuale contesto organizzativo, la capacità di contrastare i bias cognitivi che intervengono nel processo decisionale può essere considerata un fattore protettivo che permette al decisore di prendere delle decisioni più consapevoli. Questo studio intende testare se professionisti con diversa anzianità sono in grado di resistere al reframing e ad alternative multiple in condizioni decisionali organizzative, e se vi siano degli stili decisionali che possono predire la resistenza a tali bias. Un campione di professionisti, diviso in professionisti senior e junior, ha eseguito il Resistance to Reframe Task (RRT) e il Resistance to Alternatives Task (RAT), i quali, includendo scenari ecologici che rappresentano situazioni decisionali tipiche che si verificano in azienda, misurano la resistenza al reframe e alle alternative esca. Gli stili decisionali sono stati misurati attraverso il questionario General Decision-Making Style (GDMS) e la Maximization Scale (MS). I risultati hanno mostrato che tutti i professionisti, indipendentemente dalla seniority, sono stati in grado di resistere maggiormente al reframing (RRT) che alle alternative (RAT). Inoltre, uno stile decisionale dipendente sembrerebbe predire una minore capacità di resistenza al reframe (RRT) nel gruppo di professionisti senior. Mentre, nel gruppo dei professionisti junior, lo stile decisionale dipendente e mantenere standard elevati nella decisione predicono una minore capacità di resistere alle alternative (RAT). Questo studio dimostra che i professionisti sanno come “mantenere il timone dritto” nelle decisioni organizzative, soprattutto quando si trovano ad affrontare condizioni di reframe piuttosto che alternative esca. Tuttavia, la predominanza di stili decisionali dipendenti (sia per i professionisti senior che junior), e la tendenza a mantenere standard elevati nelle decisioni (soprattutto per i giovani) potrebbe influire sulla loro capacità di resistenza e renderli vulnerabili a questi bias.

Le Funzioni Esecutive (FE) sono considerate fattori protettivi e moderatori delle abilità di vita, del livello di funzionamento globale e delle traiettorie di sviluppo funzionale/disfunzionale nell'arco di vita. Tuttavia, nonostante la rilevanza delle FE come oggetto di screening anche in ottica preventiva, la loro valutazione si basa ancora principalmente su test ideati per identificare deficit in condizioni cliniche marcate, con conseguenti limitazioni quando utilizzati per profilare individui che presentano un processo di invecchiamento presumibilmente fisiologico. Con questo studio pilota, presentiamo un nuovo strumento di screening delle FE, riportando analisi esplorative condotte su un campione di 68 volontari sani composto da adulti e anziani. Lo strumento include subtest dedicati alla valutazione di: memoria di lavoro, abilità di apprendimento e memoria a breve/lungo termine, flessibilità cognitiva, attenzione focalizzata, regolazione attentiva, controllo delle interferenze e controllo inibitorio. Le associazioni tra le metriche di performance dei subtest sono state esplorate mediante test di correlazione parziale, controllando età e istruzione. Le analisi hanno evidenziato correlazioni di livello moderato/forte suggerendo una buona coerenza interna. Inoltre, è stata esplorata la capacità di identificare profili latenti di performance tramite Cluster Analysis. L’analisi ha evidenziato tre cluster distinti sulla base dei profili emersi dai subtest. I risultati suggeriscono il potenziale dello strumento per lo screening cognitivo di adulti e anziani senza conclamata storia clinica e la sua capacità di segmentare diversi profili di performance e di efficienza delle FE.

N/A

In the last years, wellbeing has become a topic of growing and intense debate in public policy and economics, and its improvement is considered a key societal aspiration (Steptoe et al., 2015), as also clearly highlighted by the centrality of the topic in the programmatic document Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development. While a single universal definition of wellbeing is not yet present in literature, multicomponent models typically recognise its multifaceted nature and focus on specific dimensions of being well (Fletcher, 2016). Within the framework of positive psychology, a primary determinant of psychological wellbeing is constituted by hedonic experiences (Deci & Ryan, 2008), connoted by alternating positive and negative affects. Enjoyment and efficient affective regulation are, in turn, valuable means to enhance emotional, social, and cognitive skills in an indirect – even though effective – way (Antonietti et al., 2014). Building on such theoretical framework, we here propose the PNP model, a triadic model in which Psychological balance, together with Neurocognitive efficiency and Physical fitness, constitute three distinct though interdependent pillars supporting individual wellbeing. We also discuss their role as primary targets even in remote empowerment protocols, aimed at proving a sustainable and accessible solution for promoting individual flourishing, preventing psychological distress, and contrasting psychophysical decline along the life span. Consistently, neurocognitive empowerment based on embodied awareness practices and non-invasive neuromodulation devices already proved to modulate neurocognitive efficiency and psychological balance, fostering better self-regulation skills and optimised executive functioning (Balconi et al., 2019; Crivelli et al., 2019; Lopez et al., 2021). Again, psychological balance proved to be specifically and positively affected by nature-based interventions (Song et al., 2022). And finally, combined cognitive-sensori

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

The integration of neurosciences and sport psychology has revitalized the study of cognitive and emotional mechanisms in achieving peak athletic performance and preventing burnout. Recent advancements in applied neuroscience, including wearable body/brain-sensing devices, are of particular interest to research and professional practice in exercise and sport sciences. These technologies aid in understanding and evaluating sensorimotor and cognitive functions crucial for athletic performance. Sport neuroscience is advancing with the development of neurocognitive empowerment protocols, combining mental training, cognitive-behavioural techniques, and performance testing with neuroscientific devices. This paper introduces the theoretical background and potential of applying neuroscientific models to empowerment in exercise and sport science, presenting examples of protocols aimed at optimizing athletes’ performance. These protocols highlight a threefold focus on individual, dyadic, and collective performance

N/A

Objective: Since seminal work by Sherrington, the term interoception refers to the ability to sense modifications of internal bodily states as opposed to the ability to sense stimuli coming from outside the body itself. Despite conceptual changes regarding the afferent signals subserving this type of inner perception, the core of this definition is still valid and widely accepted. The critical contribution of internal state perception to self-regulation as well as higher-order cognitive processes has led to the development of psychometric and observational measures trying to capture individual interoceptive skills, focusing especially on the ability to orient attention to internal sensations. Nonetheless, despite growing interest in interoceptive attention (IAtt), little is known about neurofunctional correlates of our ability to redirect attention to internal sensations and consciously process them, as well as on potential objective biomarkers of IAtt performance. Participants and Methods: This study included 36 volunteers who were asked to complete a heart-beat counting task (HCT), a common IAtt task. During both resting-state and HCT, central electrophysiological (EEG, 32 electrodes) and cardiovascular activity (ECG, I lead) were recorded. eLORETA was used to estimate both task-related and resting-state intracortical sources of EEG signals. Statistical non-parametric mapping (SnPM) was used to draw and investigate contrast statistical maps between rest- and task-related cortical current density. Results: Contrast analyses comparing HCT and resting revealed higher Alpha frequency current density estimates during the task, with primary cortical seed in the right parahippocampal gyrus. Regression analyses of the relationship between IAtt scores and task-related changes in intracortical current density during HCT revealed a positive relationship for the Beta frequency bands with primary cortical seeds in the cingulate gyrus and insula. Conclusions: Findings add to av

Objective: Executive functions (EF) are a primary mediator of both typical and atypical functioning, influencing the progression of psychopathology due to their role in supporting self-monitoring/regulation and top-down control of cognitive processes. According to recent models, EF impairments may contribute to the functional decline of patients with substance use disorder (SUD), exacerbating secondary affective and social symptoms. Despite these potential implications, the tools now commonly used to outline neurocognitive, and specifically EF, impairments in patients with addiction are not tailored to this clinical population, having been developed to assess cognitive or dysexecutive deficits in neurology or geriatric patients. Because of their different clinical focus, such tools are frequently unable to fully delineate the dysfunctional EF profile of addiction patients. We here present the development and validation of a novel specific screening battery for executive disorders in addiction: Battery for Executive Functions in Addiction (BFE-A). Participants and Methods: 151 SUD patients and 55 control persons were recruited for the validation of the BFE-A battery. The battery consists of two computerized neurocognitive tasks (Stroop and Go/No-go tasks) and five digitalized neuropsychological tests (focus: short/long-term memory, working memory, focused attention, verbal/non-verbal cognitive flexibility). The tests are designed to assess executive control, inhibition mechanisms, and attention bias toward drugs of abuse. Results: In tests of verbal memory, focused attention, and cognitive flexibility, as well as in computerized tasks, inferential statistical analyses revealed lower performance in SUD patients compared to control participants, indicating a lack of inhibitory processes and dysfunctional management of cognitive resources. The investigation of Cohen’s d values has revealed that inhibitory control, verbal/nonverbal fluency, and short/long-term memory are

N/A

Tele-robotics focuses on design, implementation, and testing of robotic system that, with various degree of autonomy, are controlled by a remote human operator. The effectiveness of interactions between human operator and remotely controlled robot strongly depends on such interaction being as natural and intuitive as possible, though technological limitations and human factors may hamper that experience. Embodiment of the remotely controlled robotic system may counter such detrimental effects. Yet, some persons are more prone to embodiment than others and personal factors seem to modulate embodiment. Interoceptive skills may represent a latent factor explaining different operational capacities of actual interactions with tele-robotic systems. We posit that improving our understanding of neurofunctional correlates of interoceptive skills might help to find valuable markers for profiling of tele-robotics operators in terms of their proneness towards embodiment, or for personalizing training intervention to improve operators' efficiency in interacting with such systems. This work aims at stimulating the debate on implications of embodiment- as well as of its connection with interoceptive skills - for efficiency, transparency, and usability of tele-robotic systems, also introducing an experimental assessment protocol devised to detect objective markers of individual interoceptive skills via non-invasive EEG recordings and source localization.

Revisions of classical models of acute stress response spectrum and defence cascade process might represent a valuable background for the interpretation of the link between affective reactions, traumatic experiences, and Psychogenic pseudosyncope (PPS) events in childhood and across the lifespan. Indeed, associations between subjective emotional life, early exposure to distressing and/or traumatic events, and PPS have fuelled a debate on potential causes of occurrence and recurrence of such a peculiar clinical manifestation. At the same time, such background suggests that empowering stress management and affective regulation skills could be the target for neurorehabilitation interventions aiming at reducing the severity of symptomatology and/or improving awareness and management of pseudosyncopal spells. Specifically, neuro/biofeedback-based empowerment of self-regulation skills, associated to an increased interoceptive increased awareness, could be a promising complement to classical psychological therapies. Starting from the presentation of a paediatric PPS clinical case, the present work discusses the relevance of assessing affective appraisal and autonomic reactivity in individuals suffering from PPS episodes and introduces a novel potential neuroempowerment protocol aimed at improving self-regulation and stress management skills in adolescence based on a combined neurofeedback and embodied-awareness intervention. By capitalizing available evidence of the effects of neuromodulation and embodied practices on self-awareness/regulation across the life-span, the proposed protocol is based on neurofeedback-supported affective management training, as well as both contemplative and informal awareness exercises devised to be appealing and challenging even for younger patients.

From a psychological and neuroscientific perspectives, decision-making can be defined as a skill, a function and/or a process we pervasively implement in our everyday life. Embracing a definition of decision-making that describes it as a multicomponential, pervasive, and instrumental ability, the Digitalized Assessment Tool for Decision-Making (DAssDec) - a novel digitalized assessment tool - has been devised with the specific purpose to capture the multifaceted nature of decision-making and to sketch an articulated profile of its many dispositional and situational manifestations. We here introduce preliminary outcomes from proof-of concept and feasibility study performed on the first two domains of the DAssDec Tool - Mod(1STY) and Mod(2STR) - dedicated to decisional styles and strategies. 35 professionals working in managerial departments of a large service company took part in the study. Findings pointed out the feasibility, usability, and practical value of the investigated sections of the DAssDec tool. Also, first quali-quantitative analyses of participants responses and performance at the tasks included in the tested domains have already highlighted the potential of the tool to detect inter-individual differences, thus pairing the opportunity to outline a global profile of a work team with specific individual profiles of decision-making skills and their subjective determinants.

Prolonged cognitive effort can be considered one of the core determinants of mental fatigue and may negatively affect the efficacy and efficiency of cognitive performance. Metacognition-understood as a multi-componential set of skills concerning awareness and control of one's own cognition-might reduce such negative outcomes. This study aimed to explore the relation between metacognitive skills, neurocognitive performance, and the level of mental effort as mirrored by electrophysiological (EEG) markers of cognitive load and task demand. A challenging cognitive task was used to prompt and collect metacognition reports, performance data (accuracy and response times-RTs), and physiological markers of mental effort (task-related changes of spectral power for standard EEG frequency bands) via wearable EEG. Data analysis highlighted that different aspects of metacognitive skills are associated with performance as measured by, respectively, accuracy and RTs. Furthermore, specific aspects of metacognitive skills were found to be consistently correlated with EEG markers of cognitive effort, regardless of increasing task demands. Finally, behavioral metrics mirroring the efficiency of information processing were found to be associated with different EEG markers of cognitive effort depending on the low or high demand imposed by the task.

Language disorders are among the primary obstacles in care and rehabilitation process following acquired brain injuries (ABI). While early cognitive screening is considered critical for sketching a reliable picture of patients' residual abilities and devising efficient therapeutic plans, it has been shown that commonly-used screening tools-which strongly rely on verbal materials-might be inappropriate when used with ABI patients. This study aimed at testing the robustness and validity of the Cognitive Assessment for Stroke Patients (CASP) battery-devised to minimize the use of verbal materials-and two gold-standards in clinical practice-i.e. Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA)-in presence of language comprehension difficulties. Forty-two ABI patients took part in the study. Half of the cohort was classified as aphasic. Participants underwent neuropsychological assessment including MMSE, MoCA and CASP, and completed the Token test to estimate language comprehension proficiency. The influence of linguistic ability on the outcomes of the screening tools was investigated. Regression analyses highlighted that, in aphasic patients, MMSE and MoCA scores proved to be significantly and remarkably determined by patients' proficiency in linguistic comprehension, while the outcome of the CASP battery was not significantly affected by language comprehension impairments.

According to recent neurocognitive models of addictions, a vicious combination of altered executive functions (EF) and dysfunctional reward system represents a main determinant of clinical picture. Executive dysfunctions also have a great impact on worsening addiction disorders as well as on treatment outcomes. Thus, detecting executive dysfunctions with sensitive tools is crucial in order to tailor therapeutic and rehabilitative interventions to patients. We here report the testing of the Battery for Executive Functions in Addiction (BFE-A), a novel battery for EF screening.151 patients with Substance-Use Disorder and 56 health participants completed the seven digitized BFE-A subtests tapping on: learning and memory, working memory, cognitive flexibility, focused attention, attention regulation, and inhibitory control. First-level statistical analyses highlighted lower performance of the clinical sample with respect to healthy participants across all the battery subtests, though verbal memory and focused attention proved to be te most impaired functions. Regression analyses, then, revealed that longer abstinence led to greater memory performance and that a longer history of substance abuse specifically led to less efficient information-processing speed. Findings provide support to the evaluation of the BFE-A as a brief but informative screening battery, potentially complementing the diagnostic process in clinical settings.

N/A