Search

Psychological research has extensively shown that individuals are limited in their ability to process environmental information temporally. In a rapid serial visual presentation, the ability to identify the second of two targets presented in close succession among distractors is usually impaired, a phenomenon known as attentional blink (AB). Paradoxically, when the second target immediately succeeds the first one (lag 1), such an ability is relatively spared, but individuals are more prone to misreport their correct temporal succession. Competitive mechanisms based on prior entry and perceptual integration processes have been suggested to account for the apparent loss of temporal information. We report findings from four experiments, showing that, once identified, categorical dimensions of the stimuli used as targets (here, the ordinality of numbers) may guide the perception and the resulting report of their temporal order. Specifically, at lag 1 individuals more frequently encode the two digits in ascending order. Such a biased regularization may represent another possible outcome of the failure in temporal segregation observed at lag 1, indicating that a mechanism based on prior entry is not generalizable in explaining order reversals. The kind of stimuli chosen as targets in AB paradigms can activate high-level categorical dimensions capable of influencing the performance on this task. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several studies have demonstrated that the processing of visuospatial memory for locations in reaching space and in navigational space is supported by independent systems, and that the coding of visuospatial information depends on the modality of the presentation (i.e., sequential or simultaneous). However, these lines of evidence and the most common neuropsychological tests used by clinicians to investigate visuospatial memory have several limitations (e.g., they are unable to analyze all the subcomponents of this function and are not directly comparable). Therefore, we developed a new battery of tests that is able to investigate these subcomponents. We recruited 71 healthy subjects who underwent sequential and simultaneous navigational tests by using an innovative sensorized platform, as well as comparable paper tests to evaluate the same components in reaching space (Exp. 1). Consistent with the literature, the principal-component method of analysis used in this study demonstrated the presence of distinct memory for sequences in different portions of space, but no distinction was found for simultaneous presentation, suggesting that different modalities of eye gaze exploration are used when subjects have to perform different types of tasks. For this purpose, an infrared Tobii Eye-Tracking X50 system was used in both spatial conditions (Exp. 2), showing that a clear effect of the presentation modality was due to the specific strategy used by subjects to explore the stimuli in space. Given these findings, the neuropsychological battery established in the present study allows us to show basic differences in the normal coding of stimuli, which can explain the specific visuospatial deficits found in various neurological conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Limitations in the rate at which our attention can sample rapidly presented visual events are reflected in the attentional blink (AB), the inability to successfully report the second of two target stimuli embedded among distractors when separated by a temporal interval of approximately 300 ms. In two experiments we tested for predictions of two accounts of AB that ascribe the phenomenon to a temporary loss of attentional control or to an overzealous application of attentional control over the input filter. Manipulating the control load during the rapid serial presentation of visual events by means of a cued attentional switching procedure, we found an AB improvement when the target category was switched from the previous trial compared to when it was repeated from the previous trial. Findings appear inconsistent with the temporary loss of control account of the AB and support the hypothesis that AB results from an over-investment of attentional control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Selective attention relies on working memory to maintain an attention set of task priorities. Consequently, selective attention is more efficient when working memory resources are not depleted. However, there is some evidence that distractors are processed even when working memory load is low. We used tDCS to assess whether boosting the activity of the Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex (DLPFC), involved in selective attention and working memory, would reduce interference from emotional distractors. Findings showed that anodal tDCS over the DLPFC was not sufficient to reduce interference from angry distractors. In contrast, cathodal tDCS over the DLPFC reduced interference from happy distractors. These findings show that altering the DLPFC activity is not sufficient to establish top-down control and increase selective attention efficiency. Although, when the neural signal in the DLPFC is altered by cathodal tDCS, interference from emotional distractors is reduced, leading to an improved performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives The psychomotor vigilance task (PVT) is a widely used method for the assessment of vigilance after sleep deprivation (SDEP). However, the neural basis of PVT performance during SDEP has not been fully understood. In particular, no studies have investigated the possible relation between EEG topographical changes after sleep loss and PVT performance. The aim of the present study is to assess the EEG topographic correlates of PVT performance after SDEP. Methods During 40 h of SDEP, 16 healthy male subjects were evaluated in four sessions performed at the same time (11:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m.) of the first and second day with: (a) subjective sleepiness recordings by means of the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS); (b) EEG recordings (5 min eyes-open condition); and (c) PVT. Results SDEP induced a slowing of PVT reaction times (RTs), higher level of subjective sleepiness and an increase of delta, theta, alpha and beta 1 EEG activity. Only slowest PVT RTs were influenced by circadian factors, with longer RTs in the morning. Both fastest PVT RTs and KSS scores were positively correlated with post-SDEP changes in EEG theta activity, mainly in centro-posterior areas, but not with other EEG frequencies. KSS scores and PVT measures were also positively correlated. Conclusions These findings suggest that SDEP differently affects PVT variables, and that an increase in theta activity may be the principal EEG basis of the post-SDEP slowing of fastest PVT RTs. Similar neural mechanisms seem to underlie both performance deterioration to PVT and the increase of subjective sleepiness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The aim of the study was to evaluate the use of videos in educational programs for improving road safety. Particularly, we evaluated the cognitive and emotional effects of viewing videos taken from cameras placed along Italian highways and showing car crashes or traffic flow images. One hundred and seventy students from the Sapienza University of Rome participated in the study as volunteers. Each participant was randomly assigned to one of three experimental groups (“Video”, “Video plus commentary”, “Written Description”). Results showed that the overall emotional activation was significantly higher in the two conditions that employed live video (both with and without verbal explanations). However, scores on the Information dimension were significantly higher in the conditions that contained only verbal descriptions or that combined video and verbal explanations. Results of this experiment suggest that live videos of car crashes have the primary feature of inducing a high emotional activation (especially when they represent action scenes, as car crashes) that can be modulated by co-occurring verbal explanations. When these videos are not integrated by an appropriate verbal explanation, they can be experienced as not fully instructive. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Nepotistic practices are detrimental for academia. An analysis of shared last names among academics was recently proposed to measure the diffusion of nepotism, the results of which have had a huge resonance. This method was thus proposed to orient the decisions of policy makers concerning cuts and funding. Because of the social relevance of this issue, the validity of this method must be assessed. Thus, we compared results from an analysis of Italian and United Kingdom academic last names, and of Italian last and given names. The results strongly suggest that the analysis of shared last names is not a measure of nepotism, as it is largely affected by social capital, professional networking and demographic effects, whose contribution is difficult to assess. Thus, the analysis of shared last names is not useful for guiding research policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The study aims at investigating the dynamics of visual information processing during sequential control of attentional selection. By combining two different traditional paradigms we show for the first time that during rapid selection of visual targets, encoding of a new target stimulus is facilitated by suppression of the preceding relevant stimulus category (Backward Blink; BB). Such inhibition would operate to reduce interference from previously stored information, in order to facilitate the instantiation of a new attentional episode. Results suggest that the same underlying inhibitory mechanism might contribute to two different attentional effects, specifically, the switch cost and the Attentional Blink, suggesting a general inhibitory mechanism of attentional control, with broad implications for understanding how the brain perceives any task-relevant stimulus. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In three experiments, participants performed two tasks concurrently during driving. In the peripheral detection task, they responded manually to visual stimuli delivered through a LED placed on the internal rear mirror; in the conversation task, they were engaged in a conversation with a passenger, or through earphone-operated, loudspeaker-operated, or hand-held cell phones. Results showed that drivers were slower at responding to the visual stimuli when conversing through a hand-held cell phone or an earphone-operated cell phone than when conversing through a loudspeaker-operated cell phone or with a passenger. These results suggest that due to the brain coding the space into multiple representations, devices that make phone conversations taking place in the near, personal space make drivers slower at responding to visual stimuli, compared to devices that make the conversation occurring in a far space. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Human attention is limited in the ability to select and segregate relevant distinct events from the continuous flow of external information while concurrently encoding their temporal succession. While it is well-known that orienting attention to one external target stimulus impairs the encoding of ensuing relevant external events, it is still unknown whether orienting attention to internally generated events can interfere with concurrent processing of external input. We addressed this issue by asking participants to identify a single target embedded among distractors in a non-spatial rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) stream and to indicate whether that target appeared before or after an internally estimated midpoint of the stream. The results indicate that (a) such an internally generated temporal benchmark does not interfere with the identification of a subsequent physical target stimulus but (b) the two events cannot be accurately segregated when the physical target immediately follows the internally generated temporal event. These findings indicate that the asymmetrical distribution around the midpoint of order reversals reflects an impaired temporal discrimination ability. Orienting attention to a moment in time reduces episodic distinctiveness as much as orienting attention to external events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Previous findings suggest that planning an action “backward-primes” perceptual dimension related to this action: planning a grasp facilitates the processing of visual size information, while planning a reach facilitates the processing of location information. Here we show that dimensional priming of perception through action occurs even in the absence of active action planning. Subjects watched video clips showing a grasping or reaching action before detecting size- or location-defined deviants in visual stimulus sequences. Size deviants were detected faster after seeing a grasp and location deviants were detected faster after seeing a reach. This supports the assumption that perceptual codes and action plans share a common representational medium, and that “attention to action” controls “attention to stimuli”. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Six experiments examined the issue of whether one single system or separate systems underlie visual and auditory orienting of spatial attention. When auditory targets were used, reaction times were slower on trials in which cued and target locations were at opposite sides of the vertical head-centred meridian than on trials in which cued and target locations were at opposite sides of the vertical visual meridian or were not separated by any meridian. The head-centred meridian effect for auditory stimuli was apparent when targets were cued by either visual (Experiments 2, 3, and 6) or auditory cues (Experiment 5). Also, the head-centred meridian effect was found when targets were delivered either through headphones (Experiments 2, 3, and 5) or external loudspeakers (Experiment 6). Conversely, participants showed a visual meridian effect when they were required to respond to visual targets (Experiment 4). These results strongly suggest that auditory and visual spatial attention systems are indeed separate, as far as endogenous orienting is concerned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigates the usefulness of the generalizability theory in providing information about the reliability of experimental results in psychophysiology. Role of reliability in experimental research; Measures of reliability.

Proposes the use of the bootstrap resampling technique as a tool to assess the within-subject reliability of experimental modulation effects on event-related potentials (ERP). Examination of the relationship between ERP and memory processes; Assessment of the effect of word imagery values on ERP.

Switching between competing tasks is supported by active inhibition of the preceding task. The level of task stimulus processing at which interference between competing tasks must occur for inhibition to be recruited is still unclear. Here, we investigated whether inhibition is recruited by task conflict occurring at an early or late (semantic) stage of task stimulus processing by dissociating the task stimulus format from its meaning. In two experiments, participants performed three different numerical judgment tasks on numerical stimuli that could be presented as digits or number words (e.g., "6" or "six") in a cued task-switching procedure. The effects of the change of stimulus format for the inhibition of the previous task were investigated and assessed by the N-2 task repetition cost, an index of the extent to which task representations are inhibited. The N-2 task repetition cost observed in the same stimulus format condition disappeared when target stimuli on task N-1 were presented in a different format from stimuli of task N-2 and N. This occurred both when the format changed from digits to number words stimuli (Experiment 1) as well as when it changed from number words to digits stimuli (Experiment 2). Results indicated that task set inhibition is recruited very early during the stimulus processing stage. They also provided evidence that task inhibition is not tied to task preparation processes but operates as a reactive, rather than proactive mechanism of conflict resolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Switching between tasks requires individuals to inhibit mental representations of the previous task demands and to activate representations of the new task demands. The inhibition of the executed task remains active for a while so that when the inhibited task set must be re-activated shortly after, the need to overcome residual task set inhibition leads to behavioral costs. In a sham-controlled balanced-order within-subjects experimental design we investigated whether applying right anodal/left cathodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the dorsolateral prefrontal or parietal cortex modulated the ability to overcome persistent task inhibition during task switching. Results showed that right anodal/left cathodal tDCS over the parietal cortex improves performance selectively when switching back to a recently inhibited task that requires previous inhibition to be overcome. Right Anodal/left cathodal tDCS over the prefrontal cortex improves performance during task switching in general, either when re-engaging in a inhibited task or when engaging in a non-inhibited task. Results suggest a different contribution of prefrontal and parietal regions to task switching, with parietal cortex being selectively involved in overcoming persistent task inhibition and prefrontal cortex being more generally involved in the control of task set during task switching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Car accidents gradually decreased but motorcycle accidents increased in Europe. • Driving attitudes and behaviours, risk perception and risk concern. • Young car-drivers, motorcyclists and non-drivers from six EU Countries were involved. • Motorcyclists reported more violations than drivers in imagined driving situations. • Motorcyclists are less concerned than car-drivers about the risk of a road accident. The number of car crashes has gradually reduced in the last decade across all European Countries, but the number of motorcycle crashes has remained nearly the same. In our research we investigate whether there are differences in attitudes towards road safety issues, driving behaviours in specific imagined situations, risk perception and risk concern, among young student drivers and riders. The study involved a large sample taken from across six European countries. The results reveal that although there are no differences between motorcyclists and car drivers in their attitudes toward road safety rules, differences do appear when the road rules compliance is assessed in specific imagined situations, with motorcyclists reporting to be more prone than car-drivers to violations of traffic rules. Moreover, despite the perceived risk during driving is the same for motorcyclists and car-drivers, differences do appear on their concern about this risk, with motorcyclists reporting to be less concerned than car-drivers about the risk of a road crash. This could lead to a high probability of risky driving behaviour in motorcyclists than in car-drivers. Present findings have important practical implications for road safety training courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives: The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of a partial sleep deprivation night on executive functions in participants reporting chronic insomnia and good sleepers using a Task Switching paradigm.Methods: Sixteen participants reporting symptoms of chronic insomnia and sixteen good sleepers were tested after a night of habitual sleep and after a night of partial sleep deprivation (5 h of sleep allowed). The Switch Cost (SC) and the Backward Inhibition (BI) were computed as measures of switching attention and response inhibition, respectively.Results: We observed a marginally significant interaction Night × Group on SC (F(1,29) = 4.06, p = 0.053), η2 = 0.123. Fisher's least significant difference (LSD) post-hoc revealed a smaller SC after the sleep deprived night relative to the habitual night for the good sleepers (p = 0.027; M = 192.23 ± 201.81 vs M = 98.99 ± 141.16). Differently, participants with insomnia did not show any change after the two nights.Limitations: Several limitations must be acknowledged including the use of a convenient sample of university students and the use of a single task of cognitive performance.Conclusions: We found that SC was smaller in the good sleepers after a night of partial sleep deprivation compared to a habitual night, indicating a better switching performance. The insomnia group showed no differences in performance after the two experimental nights. Several factors may account for these results, including increased levels of arousal and cognitive effort during task execution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The imposition of lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic placed individuals under conditions of environmental stress, threatening individual and collective wellbeing. This study aimed to investigate the temporal effects of isolation and confinement during and after the Italian lockdown on decision-making, risk propensity, and cognitive control processes. The present study covered almost the entire Italian lockdown period (each week from the end of March to mid-May 2020), plus a follow-up measure (September 2020). At each time-point, respondents completed online behavioral tasks, which involved measuring risk-propensity (Balloon Analogue Risk Task), decision-making (Iowa Gambling Task), and cognitive flexibility (Category Switch Task). They also filled in questionnaires regarding subjective stress and anxiety. The main findings showed that the decision-making abilities of the respondents were affected as the confinement progressed. Furthermore, individuals who were more subjectively impacted by the lockdown/isolation experience exhibited impaired decision-making, especially during the lockdown. The results of the study highlight that prolonged confinement may affect human decision making, and help understand individuals' misbehaviors during emergencies and develop effective countermeasures aimed at reducing the burden of the healthcare system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Exposure to early life adversities (ELA) can influence a plethora of biological mechanisms leading to stress-related disorders later in life through epigenetic mechanisms, such as microRNAs (miRs). MiR-34 is a critical modulator of stress response and stress-induced pathologies and a link between ELA and miR-34a has been reported.Methods: Here using our well-established model of ELA (Repeated Cross Fostering) we investigate the behavioral long-term effects of ELA in male and female mice. We also assess basal and ELA-induced miR-34a expression in adult mice and investigate whether ELA affects the later miR-34a response to adult acute stress exposure across brain areas (medial preFrontal Cortex, Dorsal Raphe Nuclei) and peripheral organs (heart, plasma) in animals from both sexes. Finally, based on our previous data demonstrating the critical role of Dorsal Raphe Nuclei miR-34a expression in serotonin (5-HT) transmission, we also investigated prefrontal-accumbal 5-HT outflow induced by acute stress exposure in ELA and Control females by in vivo intracerebral microdialysis.Results: ELA not just induces a depressive-like state as well as enduring changes in miR-34a expression, but also alters miR-34a expression in response to adult acute stress exclusively in females. Finally, altered DRN miR-34a expression is associated with prefrontal-accumbal 5-HT release under acute stress exposure in females.Limitations: Translational study on humans is necessary to verify the results obtained in our animal models of ELA-induced depression.Conclusions: This is the first evidence showing long-lasting sex related effects of ELA on brain and peripheral miR-34a expression levels in an animal model of depression-like phenotype. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: A large body of evidence has documented the impact of the global COVID‐19 outbreak – and especially the lockdown period – on sleep quality and quantity. Here, we present the first Italian longitudinal study on sleep and COVID‐19 considering four different time points collected during lockdown (from 29 March 2020 to 3 May 2020) and a subsequent follow‐up period (October 2020). We used an online survey to collect socio‐demographic and COVID‐19 related information. Subjects were also asked to complete a sleep diary at each time point of the study. Our longitudinal sample included 147 participants. Statistical comparison across time intervals showed remarkable changes in sleep patterns during and after the lockdown. In particular, during lockdown we observed longer sleep latency, less ease of falling asleep, a higher total bedtime, and a lower dream frequency. The week‐by‐week evaluation described relatively stable patterns in the observed measures during the lockdown period, except for dream frequency, affected by a rapid increase in the early phase of lockdown. Our findings are in line with the current literature. Furthermore, the prospective longitudinal investigation comprising several time points offered the possibility of (a) observing the temporal dynamics and the different entities of such changes over time, and (b) reducing the typical memory bias for these studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Recently the psychological effects of space flight have gained in attention. In uncovering the psychological challenges that individuals and teams can face, we need research options that integrate psychosocial aspects with behavioral, performance, technical and environmental issues. Future perspectives in Space Psychology and Human Spaceflight are reviewed in this paper. The topics covered include psychosocial and neurobehavioural aspects, neurocognitive testing tools, decision making, autonomy and delayed communications, well being, mental health, situational awareness, and methodology. Authors were members of a European Space Agency (ESA) Research Topical Team on Psychosocial and Behavioral Aspects of Human Spaceflight. They discuss the different topics under a common perspective of a theoretical and practical framework, showing interactions, relationships and possible solutions for the different aspects and variables in play. Recommendations for every topic are offered and summarized for future research in the field. The different proposed research ideas can be accomplished using analogs and simulation experiments, short- and long-duration bed rest, and in-flight microgravity studies. These topics are especially important for future Moon and Mars mission design and training. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Several studies on cross-modal attention showed that remapping processes between sensory modalities occur in the spatial orienting of attention. One hypothesis that accounts for such links is that spatial attention operates upon representations of common locations in the external space. However, convincing evidence only exists for cross-modal links in spatial orienting, leaving the dynamics of these effects unexplored. Four experiments were designed to cope with this issue by having participants being involved in an endogenous orienting task to visual and auditory target stimuli. Targets on invalid trials were embedded into two different kinds of sequences of stimuli: (1) long sequences, wherein three valid trials in one modality preceded the invalid trial in the other modality; (2) short sequences, wherein only one valid trial in one modality preceded the invalid trial in the other modality. Results revealed modality-specific meridian effects in the short sequences, and a significant decrement of the modality-specific meridian effect in the long sequences. The results of these experiments indicate that cross-modal links in visual and auditory spatial attention are based on representations of common locations in the external space across sensory modalities. Moreover, the results strongly support the hypothesis that representations of space are dynamically built and updated according to task demands. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper introduces a perspective accounting for errors that may occur as a result of the human interaction with the three-dimensional (3D) space. Particularly, we are interested in errors that are caused by cognitively crossing the boundary between peripersonal and extrapersonal space. Several behavioural, neurophysiological, and neuropsychological perspectives are reviewed in order to develop the theoretical framework on which our ideas are founded. We argue that cognitively crossing the boundary implies switching from one frame of reference to another, which, as a consequence, implies specific costs. The results of five experiments (overall involving 76 participants) support our hypothesis, suggesting the existence of different action-oriented spatial frames of reference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing body of evidence consistently describes the side‐effects of coronavirus disease 2019 lockdown on mental health and sleep quality. We conducted a longitudinal web‐based survey of 217 Italian participants at two time points: lockdown and subsequent follow‐up. To thoroughly investigate lockdown‐related changes in sleep quality, we first evaluated variations in overall sleep quality assessed by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. We then examined sleep changes in specific components of sleep quality. Results revealed a clear dissociation of sleep effects, as a function of the specific domain considered, with longer sleep latency, worse sleep efficiency, and massive sleep medication use during forced confinement. On the other hand, we simultaneously observed an increased sleep duration and better daytime functioning. Our present findings highlight the importance of an accurate examination of sleep quality during lockdown, as the effects were not uniform across populations and different sleep domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to explore whether the attentional system, as far as an endogenous orienting is concerned, allocates resources along the sagittal plane and whether such a process is affected by, and is likely to be based on, different functional representations of 3D space in the brain. Several models make a main action-based distinction between representations of peripersonal space and of those extrapersonal space. Accordingly, if attention has to move from one representation to another, it should be possible to observe a decrease in performance during such a transition. To test this hypothesis three experiments were run in which participants performed a cued detection task. Cue stimuli were informative and were centrally located around the fixation point. Target stimuli were displayed at four different depth planes. In the first experiment, assuming that the border between the peripersonal space and the extrapersonal space was at 1 m from the observer, half the target stimuli were located in the peripersonal space and half in the extrapersonal space. The fixation point was located at 1 m from the observer. In the second experiment, the fixation point was moved at 2 m from the observer in order to rule out the possible effects of ocular motor programming. In the third experiment, in order to rule out effects related to the spatial layout of target stimuli (i.e., centre of mass effect) two target stimuli were located in the peripersonal space and six in the extrapersonal space. In all the experiments, besides a validity effect, we observed greater reaction times when attention shift was across spatial representations than when it was within the same representation. The implications for action-oriented models of attention are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To assess auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) before sleep and upon 3 awakenings during an undisturbed baseline night and to compare them to AEPs during a night characterized by a recuperative increase in the amount of slow-wave sleep (SWS) as a consequence of two consecutive nights of selective SWS deprivation.Methods: Ten male subjects slept in the laboratory for 6 consecutive nights. The first 2 nights were undisturbed. The 3rd night was considered as baseline. During the 4th and 5th nights, selective SWS deprivation was obtained by means of acoustic stimulation. The 6th night was a recovery. The data reported here were collected during the baseline and the recovery night. Subjects were awakened 3 times: after 2 h, 5 h (nocturnal awakenings) and 7.5 h (final morning awakening) of sleep, respectively. All the awakenings were carried out from stage 2. The AEP recordings were carried out in bed, while subjects were performing a simple auditory reaction time task.Results: The amplitude of the N1-P2 complex decreased upon the first awakening of the baseline night as compared to pre-sleep wakefulness levels; during the recovery night, the decrease of N1-P2 amplitude was present also upon the second and final awakening. N1 latency increased upon the two nocturnal awakenings regardless of the night, while P2 latency was not affected. Moreover, the N1-P2 amplitude increased during recovery at the frontal midline derivation as compared to baseline, while it decreased at Pz and Oz.Conclusions: The N1-P2 amplitude and, to a lesser extent, the N1 latency, are sensitive in showing a state of brain deactivation during the sleep-wake transition. The decrease of N1-P2 amplitude at the parieto-occipital locations during recovery is coherent with the hypothesis of a functional link between SWS amount and cortical hypoarousal upon awakening. The unexpected increase of the same variable at Fz can be interpreted as the effect of a compensatory effort of the frontal areas for the increased homeostatic drive for sleep during the recovery night. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early palliative/supportive care (ePSC) is a medical intervention focused on patient's needs, that integrates standard oncological treatment, shortly after a diagnosis of advanced/metastatic cancer. ePSC improves the appropriate management of cancer pain. Understanding the semantic and emotional impact of the words used by patients to describe their pain may further improve its assessment in the ePSC setting. Psycholinguistics assumes that the semantic and affective properties of words affect the ease by which they are processed and comprehended. Therefore, in this cross-sectional survey study we collected normative data about the semantic and affective properties of words associated to physical and social pain, in order to investigate how patients with cancer pain on ePSC process them compared to healthy, pain-free individuals. One hundred ninety patients and 124 matched controls rated the Familiarity, Valence, Arousal, Pain-relatedness, Intensity, and Unpleasantness of 94 words expressing physical and social pain. Descriptive and inferential statistics were performed on ratings in order to unveil patients' semantic and affective representation of pain and compare it with those from controls. Possible effects of variables associated to the illness experience were also tested. Both groups perceived the words conveying social pain as more negative and pain-related than those expressing physical pain, confirming previous evidence of social pain described as worse than physical pain. Patients rated pain words as less negative, less pain-related, and conveying a lower intense and unpleasant pain than controls, suggesting either an adaptation to the pain experience or the role played by ePSC in improving patients' ability to cope with it. This exploratory study suggests that a chronic pain experience as the one experienced by cancer patients on ePSC affects the semantic and affective representation of pain words. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inhibitory mechanism named backward inhibition (BI) counteracts interference of previous tasks supporting task switching. For instance, if task set A is inhibited when switching to task B, then it should take longer to immediately return to task set A (as occurring in an ABA sequence), as compared to a task set that has not been just inhibited (as occurring in a CBA sequence), because extra time will be needed to overcome the inhibition of task set A. The evidenced prefrontal and cerebellar role in inhibitory control suggests their involvement even in BI. Here, for the first time, we modulated the excitability of multiple brain sites (right presupplementary motor area (pre-SMA), left and right cerebellar hemispheres) through continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) in a valuable sham-controlled order-balanced within-subject experimental design in healthy individuals performing two domain-selective (verbal and spatial) task-switching paradigms. Verbal BI was abolished by prefrontal or cerebellar stimulations through opposite alterations of the basal pattern: cTBS on pre-SMA increased CBA reaction times, disclosing the current prefrontal inhibition of any interfering old task. Conversely, cerebellar cTBS decreased ABA reaction times, disclosing the current cerebellar recognition of sequences in which it is necessary to overcome previously inhibited events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Moral sense is defined as a feeling of fairness or unfairness of an action that knowingly causes harm to people other than the subject. It is crucial in determining human behavior and becomes pivotal in operational environments. Here we assessed whether professional daily life experience in an operational environment affects moral judgment by asking 41 military pilots of the Italian Air Force (P) and 69 controls (C) to solve 40 moral dilemmas. We found that P gave more morally acceptable utilitarian responses to moral dilemmas. Interestingly, men and women in P equally accepted utilitarian resolutions of moral dilemmas, whereas in C women were less prone than men to accept utilitarian responses. We conclude that professional daily life experience of P, in an operational environment, affects moral judgment and mitigates gender predisposition towards moral dilemmas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective task switching is supported by the inhibition of the just executed task, so that potential interference from previously executed tasks is adaptively counteracted. This inhibitory mechanism, named Backward Inhibition (BI), has been inferred from the finding that switching back to a recently executed task (A-B-A task sequence) is harder than switching back to a less recently executed task (C-B-A task sequence). Despite the fact that BI effects do impact performance on everyday life activities, up to now it is still not clear whether the BI represents an amodal and material-independent process or whether it interacts with the task material. To address this issue, a group of individuals with Williams syndrome (WS) characterized by specific difficulties in maintaining and processing visuo-spatial, but not verbal, information, and a mental age- and gender-matched group of typically developing (TD) children were subjected to three task-switching experiments requiring verbal or visuo-spatial material to be processed. Results showed that individuals with WS exhibited a normal BI effect during verbal task-switching, but a clear deficit during visuo-spatial task-switching. Overall, our findings demonstrating that the BI is a material-specific process have important implications for theoretical models of cognitive control and its architecture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present investigation sought to expand our understanding of the cognitive processes underlying the recognition of antonyms and to evaluate whether these processes differed in patients with schizophrenia and in healthy controls. Antonymy is the most robust of the lexico-semantic relations and is relevant to both the mental organization of the lexicon and the organization of coherent discourse, as attested by the resurgence of interest in antonymy in the linguistic and psychological domains. In contrast, the vast literature on semantic processing in schizophrenia almost ignored antonymy. In this study, we tested the online comprehension of antonyms in 39 Italian patients with paranoid schizophrenia and in an equal number of pairwise-matched healthy controls. Participants read a definitional sentence fragment (e.g., the opposite of black is), followed by the correct antonym (white) or by a semantically unrelated word (nice), and judged whether or not the target word was correct. Patients were rather accurate in identifying antonyms, but compared to controls, they showed longer response times and higher priming scores, suggesting an exaggerated contextual facilitation. Presumably, this reflects a deficient controlled semantic processing and an overreliance on stored semantic representations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a general consensus that sleep is strictly linked to memory, learning, and, in general, to themechanisms of neural plasticity, and that this link may directly affect recovery processes. In fact, a coherent pattern of empirical findings points to beneficial effect of sleep on learning and plastic processes, and changes in synaptic plasticity during wakefulness induce coherent modifications in EEG slow wave cortical topography during subsequent sleep. However, the specific nature of the relation between sleep and synaptic plasticity is not clear yet. We reported findings in line with two models conflicting with respect to the underlying mechanisms, that is, the "synaptic homeostasis hypothesis" and the "consolidation" hypothesis, and some recent results that may reconcile them. Independently from the specific mechanisms involved, sleep loss is associated with detrimental effects on plastic processes at a molecular and electrophysiological level. Finally, we reviewed growing evidence supporting the notion that plasticity-dependent recovery could be improved managing sleep quality, while monitoring EEG during sleep may help to explain how specific rehabilitative paradigms work.We conclude that a better understanding of the sleep-plasticity link could be crucial from a rehabilitative point of view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Typically, approach behaviour is displayed in the context of moving towards a desired goal, while avoidance behaviour is displayed in the context of moving away from threatening or novel stimuli. In the current research, we detected three subpopulations of C57BL/6J mice that spontaneously responded with avoiding, balancing or approaching behaviours in the presence of the same conflicting stimuli. While the balancing animals reacted with balanced responses between approach and avoidance, the avoiding or approaching animals exhibited inhibitory or advance responses towards one of the conflicting inputs, respectively. Individual differences in approach and avoidance motivation might be modulated by the normal variance in the level of functioning of different systems, such as endocannabinoid system (ECS). The present research was aimed at analysing the ECS involvement on approach and avoidance behavioural processes. To this aim, in the three selected sub-populations of mice that exhibited avoiding or balancing or approaching responses in an approach/ avoidance Y-maze we analysed density and functionality of CB1 receptors as well as enzyme fatty acid amide hydrolase activity in different brain regions, including the networks functionally responsible for emotional and motivational control. The main finding of the present study demonstrates that in both approaching and avoiding animals higher CB1 receptor density in the amygdaloidal centro-medial nuclei and in the hypothalamic ventro-medial nucleus was found when compared with the CB1 receptor density exhibited by the balancing animals. The characterization of the individual differences to respond in a motivationally based manner is relevant to clarify how the individual differences in ECS activity are associated with differences in motivational and affective functioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Humans have an individual profile of the electroencephalographic power spectra at the 8 to 16Hz frequency during non-rapid eye movement sleep that is stable over time and resistant to experimental perturbations. We tested the hypothesis that this electroencephalographic 'fingerprint' is genetically determined, by recording 40 monozygotic and dizygotic twins during baseline and recovery sleep after prolonged wakefulness. We show a largely greater similarity within monozygotic than dizygotic pairs, resulting in a heritability estimate of 96%, not influenced by sleep need and intensity. If replicated, these results will establish the electroencephalographic profile during sleep as one of the most heritable traits of humans. Ann Neurol 2008 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The restrictions imposed by the Italian government because of the coronavirus outbreak have been shown to be demanding on the Italian population. Data were collected at four different time points from 29 March 2020 to 3 May 2020 and during the final follow-up survey on 12 October 2020. In the present study, we provided longitudinal evidence on the relationship between the lockdown and mental health dimensions, such as emotional state, perceived stress, and time perspective, for three age groups. The results allowed us to observe their psychological status from different perspectives at five different time points. Notably, a negative effect of the lockdown individual well-beings emerged as a trend, and differences in individual adaptation strategies to a prolonged stressful situation were observed at the follow-up. Indeed, pairwise comparisons between age groups showed that the young adult group (18–23 years old) seemed to be the most psychologically affected by the lockdown. The findings are discussed according to the most recent literature on the topic. To the best of our knowledge, this is one of the first longitudinal studies carried out in Italy concerning the general psychological effects of the coronavirus lockdown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Changes of cortical and corticospinal excitability as a function of sleep deprivation have been studied, using EEG power maps and several TMS measures in 33 normal subjects before and after a 40-h sleep deprivation (SD). The effects of SD were independently assessed by subjective and EEG measures of sleepiness, the latter being represented in terms of cortical maps for different frequency bands. Short intracortical facilitation (SICF) and inhibition (SICI) were measured by the paired-pulse TMS technique with different inter-stimulus intervals. Besides standardized motor threshold (MT), lower threshold (LT) and upper threshold (UT) were also determined. Subjective sleepiness severely increased as a consequence of SD, paralleled by a drastic decrease of alertness. EEG topography showed large increases in delta and theta activity, mainly evident at fronto-central areas. Standard MTs, as well as LTs and UTs, all increased as a consequence of SD. SICF also showed a significant increase as compared to pre-deprivation values, but only in females. The increase of theta activity was strongly associated in the left frontal and prefrontal cortex to a smaller decrease of corticospinal excitability, expressed by MTs, and a larger increase of intracortical facilitation, expressed by SICF. TMS and EEG measures converge in indicating that SD has severe effects on both cortical and corticospinal excitability, as shown respectively by the increases of slow-frequency EEG power and MTs. The SICF enhancement in females and the results of the combined topographical analysis of EEG and TMS changes are coherent with the hypothesis that cortical TMS-evoked responses are higher as a consequence of a longer wakefulness. However, the lack of an increase in cortical excitability after prolonged wakefulness in males suggests some caution in the generalization of these effects, that deserve further investigation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• MicroRNAs regulate the neuroadaptations of the Dorsal Raphè to stressful stimuli. • Chronic stress alters behavioral constructs within the RDoC negative valence system. • RISC RNA sequencing identifies miRNAs and their targets associated to the RISC complex. • In the mouse dorsal Raphe RISC-Seq maps in vivo microRNA/target interaction networks. The Dorsal Raphe (DR) is the primary source of serotonergic input in the brain and a center for the homeostatic maintenance of the serotonergic tone. Under repeated stimulation, it can undergo adaptive modifications that alter serotonergic neurotransmission, which can lead to behavioral dysfunction. Post-transcriptional regulation by microRNAs is implicated in these adaptations. However, a global microRNA/target network effect on the DR neuroplasticity has yet to be elucidated. Here we investigate the microRNAs/mRNAs regulatory activity in the mouse DR after a chronic stress experience. First, we assessed the behavioral consequences of repeated restraint stress exposure and the functional adaptations of the DR by measuring the change in acute stress-induced serotonin release. Then, through next generation RNA-Seq of Argonaute2-bound RNA (RISC-Seq) we identified microRNAs and their targets that are associated to the RISC complex of the DR in unstressed and stressed mice. We mapped the potential microRNA/mRNA network within the stress-altered transcripts, uncovering new interactions that contribute to the chronic stress-induced DR modifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adaptive behaviour requires the ability to process goal-relevant events at the expense of irrelevant ones. However, perception of a relevant visual event can transiently preclude access to consciousness of subsequent events — a phenomenon called attentional blink (AB). Here we investigated involvement of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in conscious access, by using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to potentiate or reduce neural excitability in the context of an AB task. In a sham-controlled experimental design, we applied between groups anodal or cathodal tDCS over the left DLPFC, and examined whether this stimulation modulated the proportion of stimuli that were consciously reported during the AB period. We found that tDCS over the left DLPFC affected the proportion of consciously perceived target stimuli. Moreover, anodal and cathodal tDCS had opposing effects, and exhibited different temporal patterns. Anodal stimulation attenuated the AB, enhancing conscious report earlier in the AB period. Cathodal stimulation accentuated the AB, reducing conscious report later in the AB period. These findings support the notion that the DLPFC plays a role in facilitating information transition from the unconscious to the conscious stage of processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]