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This document, titled "The Contribution of Internal and External Factors to Human Spatial Navigation," explores the various factors that influence spatial navigation. The authors discuss the importance of cognitive processes such as memory, attention, and problem-solving skills, as well as internal and external factors like age, gender, familiarity with the environment, and landmark attributes. The document includes seven papers from distinguished scientists in the field, covering topics such as verbal and imagery-based strategies, bilingualism, mood disorders, different types of cognitive maps, the effects of spaceflight on brain activity, and the influence of cues and gender on spatial navigation. The authors emphasize the need for further research to fully understand the complex factors that impact navigation and to develop new approaches and protocols. [Extracted from the article]

Virtual reality (VR) has become a widely used tool in neuroscience, with applications in enhancing spatial memory. VR can simulate real-world environments, helping individuals with navigation difficulties such as neurodegenerative disorders, brain damage, and psychological diseases. It can also be used in educational settings to improve spatial memory and learning. The use of VR in healthcare, architecture, education, and entertainment has extensive benefits, improving spatial memory and cognitive skills. This special issue includes studies on VR and spatial memory, investigating factors that affect spatial navigation and the use of VR in diagnosing and treating agoraphobia. [Extracted from the article]

The last decade has seen an increase in compulsive behaviours among young adults worldwide, particularly in 2020, during restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Importantly, even if shopping is an ordinary activity in everyday life, it can become a compulsive behaviour for certain individuals. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of working memory and decision-making style in compulsive behaviour. A total of 105 participants (65 F, 40 M) were recruited online from May 2020 to December 2020. They completed a series of questionnaires to measure shopping compulsive behaviour, decision-making styles, deficits in working memory and online shopping habits. The results show that during the COVID-19 pandemic, people spent much more time shopping online, made more purchases and spent more money than prior to the pandemic. Moreover, both higher working memory deficits and spontaneous decision-making style predicted a greater tendency to engage in compulsive buying. These results suggest the need to develop specific training programs to improve cognitive aspects related to compulsive shopping behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Cognitive Theory of Mind (ToM) predicts the occurrence of a road accident. • Driving styles mediated the relationship between ToM and road crashes. • The higher the Cognitive ToM, the higher the skill to estimate road crash danger. • Our findings may provide suggestions for drive-assistance systems. Drivers consider external and hypothetical behaviours of other drivers, but internal factors also impact road safety. This study aims to examine the connection between Cognitive and Affective Theory of Mind (ToM) and Driving Style in road safety. It hypothesizes that a higher level of ToM corresponds to a greater ability to avoid accidents and to assume virtuous driving behaviour. The study investigates how ToM impacts driving behaviour, directly correlating with assessing potential accidents' probability and severity. 207 non-expert drivers, including 164 females, participated in assessing Cognitive and Affective ToM through two tasks. They also completed self-measured questionnaires to assess their driving style and behaviours. In addition, they evaluated 12 videos depicting cars, motorcycles, trucks, and pedestrians to determine the probability of a road accident and the level of danger in each scenario. The results of the mediation models clearly indicate a relationship between ToM and the reduction of road accidents. Specifically, Cognitive ToM plays a crucial role in assessing the probability of risky and dangerous situations related to Risky and Angry Driving Styles. However, it was observed that Cognitive ToM does not significantly affect the prediction of actual driving behaviours. Findings are discussed within the theoretical framework of the Task-Capability Interface Model and the Embodied Simulation Model based on mirror neuron research. Our results suggest the importance of creating drive-assistance systems considering both the Cognitive ToM and Driving Style to reduce road accidents among non-expert drivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many automotive industries are developing technologies to assist human drivers in suggesting wiser choices to improve drivers' behaviour. The technology that makes use of this modality is defined as a "digital nudge". An example of a digital nudge is the GPS that is installed on smartphones. Some studies have demonstrated that the use of GPS negatively affects environmental learning because of the transformation of some spatial skills. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the use of the GPS nudge and its relationship with spatial ability, together with its function in supporting the driving behaviour of non-expert drivers, in order to reduce the number of road crashes. A total of 88 non-expert drivers (M age = 21 years) filled in questionnaires and carried out tasks to measure spatial abilities, sense of direction, driver behaviour, and six different real-life driving scenarios. The results reveal that the higher the spatial skills are, the greater the GPS use is, and that drivers who use GPS improve their sense of direction. Moreover, people with high visuospatial abilities use GPS more extensively. Finally, young drivers do not consider the GPS aid to be useful when they have no time pressure. The results are discussed by taking into account the familiarity-and-spatial-ability model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Divergent thinking involves the ability to find many different and new responses or solutions to open-ended problems. The ability to think divergently has been associated with different cognitive processes, including intuitive and rational thinking styles. However, research has not specifically addressed the extent to which divergent thinking is associated to decision-making styles, which involve habits to react in a certain way in specific decisional contexts. The present study was devoted to explore the relationships between verbal and visual divergent thinking, assessed using the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking, and decision-making styles (e.g., rational, intuitive, dependent, avoidant, and spontaneous), assessed using the General Decision-Making Style inventory. The scores of both verbal and visual divergent thinking (e.g., fluency, flexibility, originality; elaboration only for visual divergent thinking) were converted in z-scores and summed separately in order to get verbal and visual composite creative indices. Results revealed that only and rational decision-making style predicted both creative indices. This finding confirms the key role of rationality during the creative process. Possible explanations for the lack of significance of intuitive decision-making style are presented. Future research directions are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In using the Internet to solve everyday problems, older adults tend to find fewer correct answers compared to younger adults. Some authors have argued that these differences could be explained by age‐related decline. The present study aimed to analyze the relationship between web‐searching navigation and usersʼ age, considering the Intelligence Quotient (IQ) and frequency of Internet and personal computer use. The intent was to identify differences due to age and not to other variables (that is, cognitive decline, expertise with the tool). Eighteen students (18–30 years) and 18 older adults (60–75 years) took part in the experiment. Inclusion criteria were the frequent use of computers and a web‐searching activity; the older adults performed the Mini‐Mental State Examination to exclude cognitive impairment. Participants were requested to perform the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test 2nd ed. to measure their IQ level, and nine everyday web‐searching tasks of differing complexity. The results showed that older participants spent more time on solving tasks than younger participants, but with the same accuracy as young people. Furthermore, nonverbal IQ improved performance in terms of time among the older participants. Age did not influence web‐searching behavior in users with normal expertise and intelligence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Good and bad navigators use different strategies for spatial orientation. • Spatial strategies used to navigate the environment may predict driving behavior. • An accurate mental map of the environment allows to have good driving skills. • Good navigators drive without incurring in violations and fines. • Bad navigators drive committing both errors and violations. How people acquire environmental information brings out individual differences that are extremely large and robust. We assume that different spatial strategies used to represent, explore and move through the environment may predict risky driving behaviour. Here, we investigated spatial strategies and driving behaviour in 167 college students (86 women) using the following tests: the Spatial Cognitive Style Test, aimed at assessing spatial strategies characterized by different degrees of spatial competences (ranging from landmark, route to survey); the Manchester Driver Behavior Questionnaire, aimed at assessing errors, lapses, ordinary and aggressive Highway Code violations; the Attitude toward Road Safety Issues, aimed at assessing road safety attitudes related to driving. A series of regression analysis showed that spatial strategy used by drivers predicted the number of errors, lapses, ordinary and aggressive violations, as well as the number of road-safety behaviours. In conclusion, our results suggest that drivers preferring a survey strategy are much more able to make correct spatial decisions. Specifically, they are more confident about their spatial competence that in turn makes them less aggressive towards other drivers. Our findings suggest that good navigators travel without incurring in violations and fines. Implications regarding the possibility to use spatial navigational training to improve driving skills and release driving licence, as well as limitations of the study are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Enhanced Cognitive Interview (ECI) is one of the most useful witness interviews, consisting of 5 techniques (context reinstatement: CR; report everything: RE, mental imagery: MI, change order: CO and change of perspectives: CP) aimed at increasing both the quantity and the quality of elements recalled. All the techniques require mental imagery skills. The present study investigates the relationship between forward and backward visuospatial working memory (VSWM) and correct elements recalled through the ECI with respect to its techniques. 99 college students (48 males) watched a color videotape of a fictional crime and performed a visuo-spatial working memory task. The following day they were interviewed about what they had seen. Results showed that high forward VSWM capacity has a role in favoring the total amount of correct information recalled, specifically in the MI technique. This suggests that maintaining and processing mood-related contents in VSWM is easier for individuals with high working memory skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the impact of sounds and music on emotions and cognitive abilities. It highlights that auditory stimuli can influence attention, memory, problem-solving, decision-making, and creativity. The article presents research on the effects of learning to play a musical instrument on cognitive abilities and academic success, as well as the cognitive and emotional benefits of musical training. It also explores how music can enhance mood, cognitive functions, and quality of life for individuals with brain damage or neurodegenerative diseases. The article includes studies on the performance of cognitive tasks by musicians and non-musicians, the influence of music on artistic creativity, and the use of music in therapeutic settings. The authors emphasize the positive effects of music on mood regulation and cognitive performance for individuals of all expertise levels and mental health statuses. [Extracted from the article]

According to the peak and decline model divergent thinking declines at a specific age (in or after middle age). However, if divergent thinking declines steadily in aging still has to be clarified. In order to explore the age-related changes in verbal and visual divergent thinking, in the present study a sample of 159 participants was divided in five age groups: young adults (18-35 years), middle-aged adults (36-55), young old (56-74), old (75-85) and the oldest-old (86-98). Two divergent thinking tasks were administered: the alternative uses for cardboard boxes, aimed at assessing verbal ideational fluency, flexibility and originality; the completion drawing task, aimed at assessing visual ideational fluency, flexibility and originality. Results showed that after peaking in the young adult group (20-35 years) all components of verbal and visual divergent thinking stabilized in the middle-aged adult group (36-55 years) and then started declining in the young old group (56-75). Interestingly, all components were found to be preserved after declining. Yet, verbal and visual divergent thinking were found at the same extent across age groups, with the exception of visual ideational fluency, that was higher in the young old group, the old group and the oldest-old group than verbal ideational fluency. These results support the idea that divergent thinking does not decline steadily in the elderly. Given that older people can preserve to some extent verbal and visual divergent thinking, these findings have important implications for active aging, that is, divergent thinking might be fostered in aging in order to prevent the cognitive decline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examined the influence of specific evidence and testimonies on a juror's decision to make a verdict of intentional or negligent homicide in a Civil law country. Italian students (N=280; M age=25.0 years, SD=2.9) read different affidavits characterized by the presence or absence of three elements against the defendant: motive, skill in use of weapons, and previous violence toward the victim. Participants then decided a verdict and provided a confidence judgment on their decision. Results showed that the presence of motive, skill, and previous violence influenced the jurors' decision, significantly changing the verdict from negligent to intentional homicide. The findings were discussed in terms of the folk-concept approach of intentionality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sex differences in visuospatial abilities are long debated. Men generally outperform women, especially in wayfinding or learning a route or a sequence of places. These differences might depend on women's disadvantage in underlying spatial competences, such as mental rotation, and on the strategies used, as well as on emotions and on self-belief about navigational skills, not related to actual skill-levels. In the present study, sex differences in visuospatial and navigational working memory in emotional contexts were investigated. Participants' mood was manipulated by background music (positive, negative or neutral) while performing on the Corsi Block-tapping Task (CBT) and Walking Corsi (WalCT) test. In order to assess the effectiveness of mood manipulation, participants filled in the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule before and after carrying out the visuospatial tasks. Firstly, results showed that after mood induction, only the positive affect changed, whereas the negative affect remained unconfounded by mood and by sex. This finding is in line with the main effect of 'group' on all tests used: the positive music group scored significantly higher than other groups. Secondly, although men outperformed women in the CBT forward condition and in the WalCT forward and backward conditions, they scored higher than women only in the WalCT with the negative background music. This means that mood cannot fully explain sex differences in visuospatial and navigational working memory. Our results suggest that sex differences in the CBT and WalCT can be better explained by differences in spatial competences rather than by emotional contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last two decades, interest towards creativity has increased significantly since it was recognized as a skill and as a cognitive reserve and is now always more frequently used in ageing training. Here, the relationships between visual creativity and Visualization–Verbalization cognitive style were investigated. Fifty college students were administered the Creative Synthesis Task aimed at measuring the ability to construct creative objects and the Visualization–Verbalization Questionnaire (VVQ) aimed at measuring the attitude to preferentially use either imagery or verbal strategy while processing information. Analyses showed that only the originality score of inventions was positively predicted by the VVQ score: higher VVQ score (indicating the preference to use imagery) predicted originality of inventions. These results showed that the visualization strategy is involved especially in the originality dimension of creative objects production. In light of neuroimaging results, the possibility that different strategies, such those that involve motor processes, affect visual creativity is also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We compared the ability of men and women to remember a path from different points of view both in “real” (WalCT) and in virtual reality environments (VR-WalCT). The main aim of the study was to compare the effects of real and virtual reality on recalling environment. A secondary aim was to detect the presence of gender-related differences in the two environments. On the basis of the literature, we did not expect differences between real and virtual WalCT. Moreover, we expected that men would perform better in both environments. Eighty college students (40 men) were assigned to real or virtual environments and had to learn four different paths and then to recall them from 8 different points of view. Results showed that when people have to remember a path from different points of view it is more difficult in a virtual than in a real environment, and that in a real environment women performed best. The results are discussed considering the different spatial strategy used by men and women to recall spatial information and on the basis of visuo-spatial working memory load. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We compared the performance of men and women on a modified and a virtual version of the Walking Corsi Test (WalCT). The WalCT is a large version of the Corsi Block-Tapping Task that requires learning a path and then recalling it. It has been proved to measure topographical memory. The main aim of the study was to compare the effects of real and virtual reality learning environment on the acquisition of spatial information. A secondary aim was to detect the presence of gender-related differences in the two environments. Specifically, we expected that men would perform better in both environments. Eighty college students (40 men) were assigned to real or virtual environments and had to learn four different paths. Gender differences emerged in both environments: men outperformed women in both the real and the virtual reality environment. Results did not show difference in virtual and real environment supporting the equivalence of the two tests to measure topographical memory. Gender-related differences are interpreted in light of Coluccia and Louse’s model, according to which men outperform women when tasks require a high visuo-spatial working memory load and the different spatial strategy used by men and women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim was to explore the role of imagery in the Enhanced Cognitive Interview (ECI). The use of imagery was specifically introduced in the ECI and it is reasonable that some mixed results on specific mnemonics could be due to individual differences in the use of imagery ability. Eighty participants performed a questionnaire (Verbalizer–Visualizer Questionnaire) to measure their imagery abilities and watched a short film. Successively, participants were informed that they would be interviewed the next day as witnesses of the event they viewed earlier. Each participant was randomly allocated to one of the two interview conditions: ECI or Structured Interview (SI). Results showed that: (1) ECI elicited more correct information, specifically for action and environmental details, than SI; (2) mental image users (visualizers) recalled more correct information than verbal users (verbalizers) apart from type of interview used without increased confabulation and incorrect information. Results are discussed on the basis of the recent research on imagery individual differences for each ECI techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hypothesis that visual perception and mental imagery are equivalent has never been explored in individuals with vision defects not preventing the visual perception of the world, such as refractive errors. Refractive error (i.e., myopia, hyperopia or astigmatism) is a condition where the refracting system of the eye fails to focus objects sharply on the retina. As a consequence refractive errors cause blurred vision. We subdivided 84 individuals according to their spherical equivalent refraction into Emmetropes (control individuals without refractive errors) and Ametropes (individuals with refractive errors). Participants performed a vividness task and completed a questionnaire that explored their cognitive style of thinking before their vision was checked by an ophthalmologist. Although results showed that Ametropes had less vivid mental images than Emmetropes this did not affect the development of their cognitive style of thinking; in fact, Ametropes were able to use both verbal and visual strategies to acquire and retrieve information. Present data are consistent with the hypothesis of equivalence between imagery and perception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the course of a trial, the main task that every judge or juror has to face concerns the evaluation of various pieces of evidence from a variety of different sources, with the aim of integrating such data into a single, final verdict. Algebraic models have tried to explain and predict decisional paths by identifying formal, mathematical combinatory rules. The aim of the present research was to test two main integration information models, namely adding and averaging, when combining items of judicial evidence. In the first study, we investigated how the probability of guilt varied as a function of the value of the pieces of evidence and information presented, in legal and not legal professional samples. In the second study, we analysed combinatory rules with more complex and realistic experimental material. Results indicated that participants summed the values of pieces of evidence in a linear fashion when they had to provide estimates of guilt. We found evidence of an adding rule among both legal and not legal professionals as well as in simple and more complex judicial cases, thus providing even stronger support for the use and the generalization of a summative model. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Research on the relationship between personality and social factors in spatial cognitive style is sparse. The present research was conducted to help fill the gap in this domain. We investigated the influence of specific personality traits (masculine/feminine, spatial and trait anxiety), state anxiety, and sex on spatial cognitive style. One hundred forty-two participants completed a battery of spatial tasks in order to assess their spatial cognitive style and filled in questionnaires about the personality traits under examination. Results showed that state anxiety, spatial anxiety, sex, and masculine/feminine trait of personality are predictors of spatial cognitive style. More specifically, it seems that masculine/feminine trait mediates the relationship between sex and spatial cognitive style. Such findings confirm the importance of personality in determining differences in spatial representation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The degree to which the way of learning spatial information (primary/secondary learning) and spatial cognitive style (landmark/route/survey) affect orientation specificity (alignment effect) is studied. We think that the most important factor explaining the absence of the alignment effect is the spatial cognitive style. We hypothesise that while landmark participants show an alignment effect after both primary and secondary learning, route participants show this effect only after secondary learning, and survey participants do not show it at all. Participants performed three tasks in order to distinguish their cognitive style; they were then randomly assigned to primary or secondary learning and submitted to directional judgment tasks to verify whether the alignment effect was present. The results confirm our hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies on spatial memory reveal that people represent spatial information in 3 different forms: landmark, route, and survey. The aim of this work was to assess spatial abilities in order to predict a person's cognitive style. In order to do this we used 9 different spatial tasks, which were linked with these 3 forms of spatial representations. We found that the 9 spatial tasks are able to distinguish different levels of spatial ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Gambling Disorder (GD) is a bio-psycho-social disorder resulting from the interaction of clinical, cognitive, and affective factors. Impulsivity is a crucial factor in addiction studies, as it is closely linked to cognitive distortions in GD by encompassing impulsive choices, motor responses, decision-making, and cognitive biases. Also, emotions, mood, temperament, and affective state are crucial in developing and maintaining GD. Gambling can be used as a maladaptive coping strategy to avoid or escape problems and distress. Methods: The aim of the present study is to explore differences in personality traits and emotion regulation of people suffering from GD, substance-dependent gamblers (SDGs), and healthy controls (HCs). Additionally, the study proposes a new experimental task: the "Gambling Affective Task" (GAT) to investigate the influence of affective priming on risk-taking behaviors. Results: Our findings indicate that participants placed lower bets following positive priming. Additionally, SDGs wagered significantly higher amounts than HCs, regardless of priming type. In general, participants exhibited longer response times after positive priming trials, compared to negative and neutral priming trials. These findings suggest that experiencing positive emotions can act as a protective factor by delaying and lengthening gambling behaviors. By comparing gamblers with and without substance comorbidity, we can gain insight into the exclusive factors of GD and improve our understanding of this disorder. Conclusions: By elucidating the impact of emotional states on risk-taking, the research also provides new insights into the prevention and treatment of GD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bondi, Danilo, Vittore Verratti, Raffaella Nori, Laura Piccardi, Giulia Prete, Tiziana Pietrangelo, and Luca Tommasi. Spatial abilities at high altitude: Exploring the role of cultural strategies and hypoxia. High Alt Med Biol. 22: 157–165, 2021. Background: Over the past couple of decades, the number of people of different cultures traveling to places of high altitude (HA) increased. At HA, a decline in cognitive abilities has been described, including spatial skills. However, it is still unknown whether people accustomed to hypobaric hypoxia are less susceptible to cognitive decline. Method: We aimed to determine if three ethnic groups would show any difference in the performance of spatial abilities. Italian trekkers (46.20 ± 15.83 years), Nepalese porters (30.33 ± 8.55 years), and lowlander and highlander Sherpas (30.33 ± 8.55 and 37.00 ± 16.51 years) were tested with a building photograph recognition, a map orienting, and a mental rotation task during a Himalayan expedition. Accuracy and response times were collected at low altitude (LA) and HA. Results: Nepalese performed the worst (photograph task: p = 0.015, η2p = 0.36; map task: p = 0.016, η2p = 0.36), but the difference was mitigated after correcting for length of schooling. Participants took more time to respond at LA than in HA condition (photograph task: 24.0 ± 15.3 seconds vs. 12.7 ± 6.3 seconds, p = 0.008, η2p = 0.57; map task: 12.5 ± 1.8 seconds vs. 7.8 ± 0.6 seconds, p = 0.038, η2p = 0.40). In the map task, participants performed with greater accuracy at LA (5.1 ± 0.4 vs. 4.4 ± 0.4 number of correct responses, p = 0.006, η2p = 0.59). Conclusions: Altitude hypoxia elicited impairments in cognitive spatial tasks. This may be due to the inability to acquire new unfamiliar patterns, and to the difficulty in managing a high cognitive workload. The ethnic differences were ascribed to schooling, even we consider the different system of reference usually exploited in each culture (egocentric: dependent, or allocentric: independent from the personal viewpoint), and that Westerners are more likely to focus on specific details of the scene. Further studies should investigate the diverse strategies to complete spatial tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The psychological assessment of parents involved in proceedings about their parental rights is often ordered by the Court in order to determine personality traits linked to potential problems in parental competences. We compared the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)-2 scores of this specific sample with a comparison group of parents involved in child custody litigations, considering a total of 429 individuals undergoing personality evaluations ordered by several Italian courts. The results showed moderate elevations on clinical scales 4 (Psychopathic Deviate) and 6 (Paranoia) in the first group. Results for the Diamond's Axes, supplementary scales, content scales, and PSY-5 point to other psychological concerns, which were not considered widely in the literature we reviewed. This paper creates a comparative norm set for the MMPI-2 in Italian parental assessment, comparing the MMPI-2 scores of parents in custody litigations versus those whose parental fitness was under investigation. This study compares the MMPI-2 scores of a sample of parents involved in proceedings about their parental rights with a comparison group of parents involved in child custody litigations. Results showed a clinically useful relationship between some personality characteristics and parental competency vulnerability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People orient themselves in the environment using three different, hierarchically organized, spatial cognitive styles: landmark, route, and survey. Landmark style is based on a representation encompassing only visual information (terrain features); route style is based on a representation that connects landmarks and routes using an egocentric (body-centred) frame of reference; survey style is based on a global map-like representation that mainly involves an allocentric (world-centred) frame of reference. This study was aimed at investigating whether individual spatial cognitive style affected the way to plan a path when searching for a lost object. Participants with landmark, route, and survey style were assessed with an ecological navigational planning task (the Key Search Task), which required planning a strategy to search for the lost key in a hypothetical wide squared field. Results showed that spatial cognitive styles were associated to different navigational planning strategies, although the time to complete the Key Search Task was comparable across the styles. As revealed by the Key Search Task score, survey style individuals were the best navigational planners, route style individuals were less efficient and landmark style individuals were the least efficient. These results suggest that spatial cognitive style has effects on navigational planning. Implications for clinical settings, such as for developmental topographical disorientation, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• fMRI studies use visual illusions to elicit perceptual inference related networks. • ALE meta-analysis reveals separate networks related to static and motion illusions. • These networks include areas of both ventral and dorsal visual streams. • The LOC is connected to middle temporal, parietal and premotor cortices. • These nodes are involved in perceptual inference, impaired in hallucinations. Visual illusions have long been used to study visual perception and contextual integration. Neuroimaging studies employ illusions to identify the brain regions involved in visual perception and how they interact. We conducted an Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE) meta-analysis and meta-analytic connectivity modeling on fMRI studies using static and motion illusions to reveal the neural signatures of illusory processing and to investigate the degree to which different areas are commonly recruited in perceptual inference. The resulting networks encompass ventral and dorsal regions, including the inferior and middle occipital cortices bilaterally in both types of illusions. The static and motion illusion networks selectively included the right posterior parietal cortex and the ventral premotor cortex respectively. Overall, these results describe a network of areas crucially involved in perceptual inference relying on feed-back and feed-forward interactions between areas of the ventral and dorsal visual pathways. The same network is proposed to be involved in hallucinogenic symptoms characteristic of schizophrenia and other disorders, with crucial implications in the use of illusions as biomarkers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we investigated the presence of trauma-induced sequelae in a sample of 41 young individuals exposed to the L’Aquila earthquake who did not seek mental help in the aftermath of the disaster or in the ensuing months. We compared this group with 43 individuals, matched for age and education, who had not experienced an earthquake but had moved to and lived in L’Aquila after the earthquake and thus experienced the challenges of living in an earthquake-struck city. This study aimed to show that earthquake-exposed individuals scored significantly higher than nonexposed persons on certain scales of the Trauma Symptom Inventory (TSI) seven years after the event. Our results indicated that exposed individuals exhibited higher scores on the dissociation, intrusive experience, and defensive avoidance scales. Furthermore, a correlational analysis between specific conditions detected by the Earthquake Checklist L’Aquila (ECLA) and the TSI identified the influences of specific conditions, such as being trapped or injured under rubble during the earthquake, experiencing a persistent fear of aftershocks or a life-threatening feeling, and witnessing the death of a loved one. All of these experiences resulted in the persistence of trauma-related symptoms. Dissociative experiences during the trauma, cognitive and behavioral avoidance and reexperiencing were associated with negative effects and may hinder the natural process of recovery in trauma-exposed individuals. Knowledge of mid- and long-term psychological difficulties following a traumatic event may be useful for promoting interventions in mental health across exposed populations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this study we aim to evaluate the impact of ageing and gender on different visual mental imagery processes. Two hundred and fifty-one participants (130 women and 121 men; age range = 18–77 years) were given an extensive neuropsychological battery including tasks probing the generation, maintenance, inspection, and transformation of visual mental images (Complete Visual Mental Imagery Battery, CVMIB). Our results show that all mental imagery processes with the exception of the maintenance are affected by ageing, suggesting that other deficits, such as working memory deficits, could account for this effect. However, the analysis of the transformation process, investigated in terms of mental rotation and mental folding skills, shows a steeper decline in mental rotation, suggesting that age could affect rigid transformations of objects and spare non-rigid transformations. Our study also adds to previous ones in showing gender differences favoring men across the lifespan in the transformation process, and, interestingly, it shows a steeper decline in men than in women in inspecting mental images, which could partially account for the mixed results about the effect of ageing on this specific process. We also discuss the possibility to introduce the CVMIB in clinical assessment in the context of theoretical models of mental imagery. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The study of the relationships between mood and creativity is long-standing. In this study, the effects of mood states on artistic creativity were investigated in ninety non-artist participants. Mood states were induced by instructing participants to listen to self-selected happy, sad, or neutral music for ten minutes. Then, all participants were asked to make two artistic drawings. To check for mood manipulation, the Profile of Mood States (POMS) was administered before and after listening to the self-selected music. After the mood induction, the negative group reported higher scores than the other two groups in the 'depression' subscale and lower scores than the other two groups in the 'vigour' subscale of the POMS; the positive mood group showed more vigour than the negative mood group. Yet, three independent judges assigned higher ratings of creativity and emotionality to the drawings produced by participants in the negative mood group than drawings produced by participants in the other two groups. These results confirmed that specific negative mood states (e.g., sadness) positively affect artistic creativity, probably because participants are more likely to engage in mood-repairing. Limitations and future research directions are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Developmental Topographical Disorientation (DTD) is a pathological condition that impairs an individual's ability to orient in space, even in the most familiar environments. It is a lifelong selective condition in individuals without brain damage or without impaired general cognitive functions. Here, we aimed at characterizing 54 individuals with DTD identified in a previous study, aged between 18 and 35 years and assessed through a 4-year-long online survey. To this purpose, we compared them with 54 matched healthy participants. We described the demographics, sense of direction, town knowledge, navigational strategies, left-right confusion as well as agnosic disorders (for landmarks, faces and objects). This novel study attempts to characterize the phenotype of DTD, providing an important contribution to the worldwide definition of a condition that was first described only 13 years ago, but which, considering the growing number of cases complaining of the disorder, deserves continuous and increasing attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last decade, several cases affected by Developmental Topographical Disorientation (DTD) have been described. DTD consists of a neurodevelopmental disorder affecting the ability to orient in the environment despite well-preserved cognitive functions, and in the absence of a brain lesion or other neurological or psychiatric conditions. Described cases showed different impairments in navigational skills ranging from topographic memory deficits to landmark agnosia. All cases lacked a mental representation of the environment that would allow them to use high-order spatial orientation strategies. In addition to the single case studies, a group study performed in Canada showed that the disorder is more widespread than imagined. The present work intends to investigate the occurrence of the disorder in 1,698 young Italian participants. The sample is deliberately composed of individuals aged between 18 and 35 years to exclude people who could manifest the loss of the ability to navigate as a result of an onset of cognitive decline. The sample was collected between 2016 and 2019 using the Qualtrics platform, by which the Familiarity and Spatial Cognitive Style Scale and anamnestic interview were administered. The data showed that the disorder is present in 3% of the sample and that the sense of direction is closely related to town knowledge, navigational strategies adopted, and gender. In general, males use more complex navigational strategies than females, although DTD is more prevalent in males than in females, in line with the already described cases. Finally, the paper discusses which protective factors can reduce DTD onset and which intervention measures should be implemented to prevent the spread of navigational disorders, which severely impact individuals' autonomy and social relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Categorical spatial information is considered more useful for recognizing objects, and coordinate spatial information for guiding actions-for example, during navigation or grasping. In contrast with this assumption, we hypothesized that buildings, unlike other categories of objects, require both categorical and coordinate spatial information in order to be recognized. This hypothesis arose from evidence that right-brain-damaged patients have deficits in both coordinate judgments and recognition of buildings and from the fact that buildings are very useful for guiding navigation in urban environments. To test this hypothesis, we assessed 210 healthy college students while they performed four different tasks that required categorical and coordinate judgments and the recognition of common objects and buildings. Our results showed that both categorical and coordinate spatial representations are necessary to recognize a building, whereas only categorical representations are necessary to recognize an object. We discuss our data in view of a recent neural framework for visuospatial processing, suggesting that recognizing buildings may specifically activate the parieto-medial-temporal pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Personality can play a crucial role in how people reason and decide. Identifying individual differences related to how we actively gather information and use evidence could lead to a better comprehension and predictability of human reasoning. Recent findings have shown that some personality traits are related to similar decision-making patterns showed by people with mental disorders. We performed research with the aim to investigate delusion-proneness, obsessive-like personality, anxiety (trait and state), and reasoning styles in individuals from the general population. We introduced personality trait and state anxiety scores in a regression model to explore specific associations with: (I) amount of data-gathered prior to making a decision; and (2) the use of confirmatory and disconfirmatory evidence. Results showed that all our independent variables were positively or negatively associated with the amount of data collected in order to make simple probabilistic decisions. Anxiety and obsessiveness were the only predictors of the weight attributed to evidence in favour or against a hypothesis. Findings were discussed in relation to theoretical assumptions, predictions, and clinical implications. Personality traits can predict peculiar ways to reason and decide that, in turn, could be involved to some extent in the formation and/or maintenance of psychological disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To give new insight about the relationship between imagery processes and different types of hemispatial neglect, we assessed different mental imagery abilities in a sample of right- and left-brain-damaged patients. Furthermore, because of reports of a mental representation disorder for environments in patients affected by representational neglect we also tested their navigational imagery ability. We found that patients with no signs of perceptual or representational neglect performed flawlessly on our imagery tasks regardless of whether they had left- or right-sided lesions. By contrast, patients affected by neglect failed most of the tests; in particular, representational neglect patients failed one test of mental transformation and tests requiring the manipulation of cognitive maps. These results suggest there is a specific relationship between hemispatial neglect and deficits in visual mental imagery and demonstrate that the right hemisphere plays a specific role in visual mental imagery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individuals with agoraphobia exhibit impaired exploratory activity when navigating unfamiliar environments. However, no studies have investigated the contribution of visuospatial working memory (VSWM) in these individuals' ability to acquire and process spatial information while considering the use of egocentric and allocentric coordinates or environments with or without people. A total of 106 individuals (53 with agoraphobia and 53 controls) navigated in a virtual square to acquire spatial information that included the recognition of landmarks and the relationship between landmarks and themselves (egocentric coordinates) and independent of themselves (allocentric coordinates). Half of the participants in both groups navigated in a square without people, and half navigated in a crowded square. They completed a VSWM test in addition to tasks measuring landmark recognition and egocentric and allocentric judgements concerning the explored square. The results showed that individuals with agoraphobia had reduced working memory only when active processing of spatial elements was required, suggesting that they exhibit spatial difficulties particularly in complex spatial tasks requiring them to process information simultaneously. Specifically, VSWM deficits mediated the relationship between agoraphobia and performance in the allocentric judgements. The results are discussed considering the theoretical background of agoraphobia in order to provide useful elements for the early diagnosis of this disorder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dual process theories of decision making distinguish between type 1 processes, which are commonly assumed to be fast and autonomous and related to intuitive thinking, and type 2 processes, which require the involvement of working memory and are closely linked to analytical reasoning. The purpose of this work was to study the role of external information about intuitively made decisions, examining whether type 2 processes engagement is modified by exposure to positive or negative feedback. One hundred six participants completed a set of conditional reasoning tasks, adopting a two-response paradigm. Results showed that participants who expected to receive feedback information took longer to make intuitive decisions, but they took less time to give intuitive responses after the administration of positive feedback and more time after the administration of negative feedback; moreover, time spent by participants to provide their reflected responses progressively decreased throughout the experiment. A significant negative feedback effect also emerged, showing an increase in the accuracy of intuitive responses. Results are discussed from a dual process perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of emotional landmarks in navigation has been scarcely studied. Previous findings showed that valence and arousal of landmarks increase landmark's salience and improve performance in navigational memory tasks. However, no study has directly explored the interplay between valence and arousal of emotionally laden landmarks in embodied and not-embodied navigational tasks. At the aim, 115 college students have been subdivided in five groups according to the landmarks they were exposed (High Positive Landmarks HPL; Low Positive Landmarks LPL; High Negative Landmarks HNL; Low Negative Landmarks LNL and Neutral Landmarks NeuL). In the embodied tasks participants were asked to learn a path in a first-person perspective and to recall it after five minutes, whereas in the not-embodied tasks participants were asked to track the learned path on a silent map and to recognize landmarks among distractors. Results highlighted firstly the key role of valence in the embodied task related to the immediate learning, but not to the delayed recall of the path, probably because of the short retention interval used. Secondly, results showed the importance of the interplay between valence and arousal in the non-embodied tasks, specifically, neutral and high negative emotional landmarks yielded the lowest performance probably because of the avoidance learning effect. Implications for future research directions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cognitive style refers to the preference in perceiving, organizing and remembering information. Different cognitive styles have been identified across the years. Amongst others, field-dependence/independence cognitive style is the extent to which the person perceives part of a field as discrete from the surrounding environment as a whole, rather than embedded in the field. Instead, visualizer/verbalizer cognitive style involves the preference in processing visual versus verbal information. Both cognitive styles can influence navigational behaviour. The present study aimed at clarifying the extent to which field-dependence/independence and visualizer/verbalizer cognitive styles affect route-based navigational tasks. Therefore, 44 healthy participants from L’Aquila City were assessed for their cognitive styles and were asked to perform two different navigational tasks: reorder paths using a series of photos depicting landmarks from L’Aquila (visually presented task, visual path task—VisPT); orally describe specific paths of L’Aquila (verbally presented task, verbal path task—VerPT). Results showed that the field-independence cognitive style predicted response times of VisPT, whereas the visualizer/verbalizer cognitive style predicted the instructions given when performing the VerPT, namely, the number of metrical distance indicators provided by participants. By investigating two different cognitive styles, the study clarifies that field-dependence/independence and visualizer/verbalizer cognitive styles can play a different role in spatial navigation and suggests that the material by which a navigational task is presented affects its performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mental imagery plays a crucial role in several cognitive processes, including human navigation. According to the Kosslyn's Model, mental imagery is subserved by three components: generation, inspection and transformation. The role of transformation, where by individuals recognise, from a different perspective, a place they have already visited, is no longer a matter of debate. However, the role of the other two components when recalling a map from different perspectives, has never been fully investigated. In the present study, we enrolled forty-nine college students and asked them to learn a schematic map and to provide directional judgements aligned or counter-aligned compared to the learnt map orientation. Their mental imagery generation, inspection and transformation skills were also investigated. Results demonstrated that all three visual mental imagery components negatively correlate with errors in providing directional judgements. Specifically, generation assumes a role in aligned directional judgements, while inspection and transformation predict the capability to provide counter-aligned directional judgements. Although all mental imagery components play a role in mentally recalling a map, only the proficiency in inspection and mental rotation can predict the accuracy in changing perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To successfully navigate within an environment, individuals have to organize the spatial information in terms of salient landmarks, paths and general layout of the navigational environment. They may differ in the strategy they adopt to orientate themselves, with some individuals preferring to use salient landmarks (landmark spatial style, L-SS), others preferring to plan routes or paths through an egocentric strategy in which landmarks are connected with each other (route spatial style, R-SS) and others still create a global map-like configuration of the environment regardless of their own position in the environment (survey spatial style, S-SS). Here, we assessed whether Field independence (FI), that is the extent to which the individual perceives part of a field as discrete from the surrounding field rather than embedded in the field, predicted the individual's spatial style. We assessed the individual's spatial style using the spatial cognitive style test (SCST) and measured FI using the group embedded figure test (GEFT). We found that FI predicted general spatial ability, with a higher level of FI being associated with better performances on the SCST. Also, Field-independent individuals showed a marked preference for an S-SS. These results suggest that a higher level of FI is associated with better performance on higher level spatial tasks (i.e. R-SS and S-SS) that is tasks requiring individuals to restructure the 'navigational field' according to the navigational goal. The results also suggest that a higher level of FI makes individuals more prone to use a global and complex map-like representation of the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, many studies have investigated the role of individual and cognitive differences during Web navigation and Web searching. Despite this interest, no works have considered the role may assume individual differences in real-environment navigation during Web navigation. The aim of this work is to investigate the effect of different spatial cognitive styles: Landmark style (LS), Route style (RS) and Survey style (SS), on Web searching behaviour. In real-environment navigation, having a specific style determines the type of information individuals selected to navigate and orient themselves. We hypothesize that LS individuals are less proficient during Web exploration due to their analytical analysis of the environmental features. Vice versa SS individuals will show high performance on Web exploration for their holistic analysis of the World. We asked 30 College Students (10 LS, 10 RS, 10 SS) to solve three Web information tasks. The spatial cognitive style of participants was assessed through the Spatial Cognitive Style Test, and they were also asked to fill in a questionnaire about their internet and computer use. An ad hoc key-logger program for browsers was used to collect Web behaviour measures. In particular, the measures considered were: search engine tools used (e.g. back button), pages visited and revisited, time spent on information searching, and mouse cursor movements. The results showed significant differences between the spatial cognitive styles: LS seems to use a trial and error strategy in order to obtain the relevant information. Differences also emerged in the distribution of mouse cursor movements during Web navigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eye-tracking technology may represent a possible solution to overcoming issues related to motor disability in cognitive assessment. In this study we assessed the equivalence between the standard version of the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test–second edition (KBIT-2) and its eye-controlled version. Forty-three undergraduate volunteers were administered the KBIT-2 twice in a counterbalanced within-subjects design. Overall, scores obtained in the eye-controlled version correlate with those obtained in the standard version. Significant differences were found between raw scores, number of errors and time needed to complete the test in the Vocabulary subtest but not in the Matrices subtest. Further analyses revealed no significant differences in cognitive workload across test modalities. Explanations and implications for further research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The congenital lack of imagery affects selectively spatial and object processing. • In spatial aphantasia there are visuo-spatial imagery and navigational difficulties. • Object aphantasia affects imagery of objects, events, faces, and sense of direction. • Associative involuntary visual imagery is spared in aphantasia. • There are two kinds of exceptional imagery ability: object and spatial hyperphantasia. Studies that have shown a distinction between object and spatial imagery suggest more than one type of aphantasia and hyperphantasia, yet this has not been systematically investigated in studies on imagery ability extremes. Also, if the involuntary imagery is preserved in aphantasia and how this condition affects other skills is not fully clear. We collected data on spatial and object imagery, retrospective, and prospective memory, face recognition, and sense of direction (SOD), suggesting a distinction between two subtypes of aphantasia/hyperphantasia. S patial aphantasia is associated with difficulties in visuo-spatial mental imagery and SOD. Instead, in object aphantasia there are difficulties in imaging single items and events — with no mental visualization of objects, out-of-focus, and black-and-white mental images more frequent than expected — in SOD and face recognition. Furthermore, associative involuntary imagery can be spared in aphantasia. The opposite pattern of performance was found in spatial and object hyperphantasia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Military pilots show advanced visuospatial skills. Previous studies demonstrate that they are better at mentally rotating a target, taking different perspectives, estimating distances and planning travel and have a topographic memory. Here, we compared navigational cognitive styles between military pilots and people without flight experience. Pilots were expected to be more survey-style users than nonpilots, showing more advanced navigational strategies. Method: A total of 106 military jet pilots from the Italian Air Force and 92 nonpilots from the general population matched for education with the pilots were enrolled to investigate group differences in navigational styles. The participants were asked to perform a reduced version of the Spatial Cognitive Style Test (SCST), consisting of six tasks that allow us to distinguish individuals in terms of landmark (people orient themselves by using a figurative memory for environmental objects), route (people use an egocentric representation of the space) and survey (people have a map-like representation of the space) user styles. Results: In line with our hypothesis, military pilots mainly adopt the survey style, whereas nonpilots mainly adopt the route style. In addition, pilots outperformed nonpilots in both the 3D Rotation Task and Map Description Task. Conclusions: Military flight expertise influences some aspects of spatial ability, leading to enhanced human navigation. However, it must be considered that they are a population whose navigational skills were already high at the time of selection at the academy before formal training began. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individual factors like gender and familiarity can affect the kind of environmental representation that a person acquires during spatial navigation. Men seem to prefer relying on map-like survey representations, while women prefer using sequential route representations. Moreover, a good familiarity with the environment allows more complete environmental representations. This study was aimed at investigating gender differences in two different object-position learning tasks (i.e., Almeria Boxes Tasks) assuming a route or a survey perspective also considering the role of environmental familiarity. Two groups of participants had to learn the position of boxes placed in a virtual room. Participants had several trials, so that familiarity with the environment could increase. In both tasks, the effects of gender and familiarity were found, and only in the route perspective did an interaction effect emerge. This suggests that gender differences can be found regardless of the perspective taken, with men outperforming women in navigational tasks. However, in the route task, gender differences appeared only at the initial phase of learning, when the environment was unexplored, and disappeared when familiarity with the environment increased. This is consistent with studies showing that familiarity can mitigate gender differences in spatial tasks, especially in more complex ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, we employed the dual task technique to explore the role of language in topographical working memory when landmarks are present along the path. We performed three experiments to mainly test the effects of language but also motor, spatial motor and spatial environment interferences on topographical working memory. We aimed to clarify both the role of language in navigational working memory per se and the extent to which spatial language interferes with the main task more than the other types of interference. Specifically, in the three experiments we investigated the differences due to different verbal interference sources (i.e., articulatory suppression of nonsense syllables; right and left, up and bottom; and north, south, east and west). The main hypothesis was that the use of spatial language affected more landmark-based topographical working memory than both the verbalization of nonsense syllables and other types of interference. Results show no effect of spatial language, only spatial environmental interference affected the navigational working memory performance. In general, this might depend on the scarce role of spatial language in online navigational working memory tasks. Specifically, language is more important for learning and retrieval of the cognitive map. Implications and future research directions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]