Exploring the relationship between perceived loneliness and subjective cognitive decline in older individuals.

OBJECTIVE: Loneliness has been associated to a greater risk of cognitive decline and dementia in older individuals. However, evidence on whether this association also exists for older individuals who complain of cognitive problems is limited. We conducted a survey to examine the association between subjective cognitive decline in the working memory domain, perceived loneliness, depression, anxiety, and stress in older individuals with different profiles. METHODS: A total of 302 healthy, old individuals completed 3 questionnaires to assess subjective cognitive problems in attention, executive functions, storage, depression, anxiety, stress, and perceived loneliness. RESULTS: We conducted a cluster analysis and 3 clusters of individuals with different profiles emerged. Individuals with greater subjective cognitive problems (cluster 1) in the attention and storage domains, reported higher perceived loneliness and stress but not depression. In contrast, individuals with the least subjective cognitive problems (cluster 3) in the storage domain, reported lower perceived loneliness. CONCLUSIONS: Individuals with higher subjective cognitive decline also report higher levels of perceived loneliness but not more depression than their peers. However, this correlation is present only for individuals with mild subjective cognitive decline (cluster 2). The implications for future research and interventions are discussed.

Neural networks underlying visual illusions: An activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis.

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.

Changes in sleep pattern and dream activity across and after the COVID-19 lockdown in Italy: A longitudinal observational study.

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.

Off-label use of combined antiretroviral therapy, analysis of data collected by the Italian Register for HIV-1 infection in paediatrics in a large cohort of children.

BACKGROUND: Early start of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in perinatally HIV-1 infected children is the optimal strategy to prevent immunological and clinical deterioration. To date, according to EMA, only 35% of antiretroviral drugs are licenced in children < 2 years of age and 60% in those aged 2-12 years, due to the lack of adequate paediatric clinical studies on pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and drug safety in children. METHODS: An observational retrospective study investigating the rate and the outcomes of off-label prescription of HAART was conducted on 225 perinatally HIV-1 infected children enrolled in the Italian Register for HIV Infection in Children and followed-up from 2001 to 2018. RESULTS: 22.2% (50/225) of included children were receiving an off-label HAART regimen at last check. Only 26% (13/50) of off-label children had an undetectable viral load (VL) before the commencing of the regimen and the 52.0% (26/50) had a CD4 + T lymphocyte percentage > 25%. At last check, during the off label regimen, the 80% (40/50) of patients had an undetectable VL, and 90% (45/50) of them displayed CD4 + T lymphocyte percentage > 25%. The most widely used off-label drugs were: dolutegravir/abacavir/lamivudine (16%; 8/50), emtricitbine/tenofovir disoproxil (22%; 11/50), lopinavir/ritonavir (20%; 10/50) and elvitegravir/cobicistat/emtricitabine/ tenofovir alafenamide (10%; 10/50). At logistic regression analysis, detectable VL before starting the current HAART regimen was a risk factor for receiving an off-label therapy (OR: 2.41; 95% CI 1.13-5.19; p = 0.024). Moreover, children < 2 years of age were at increased risk for receiving off-label HAART with respect to older children (OR: 3.24; 95% CI 1063-7.3; p = 0.001). Even if our safety data regarding off-label regimens where poor, no adverse event was reported. CONCLUSION: The prescription of an off-label HAART regimen in perinatally HIV-1 infected children was common, in particular in children with detectable VL despite previous HAART and in younger children, especially those receiving their first regimen. Our data suggest similar proportions of virological and immunological successes at last check among children receiving off-label or on-label HAART. Larger studies are needed to better clarify efficacy and safety of off-label HAART regimens in children, in order to allow the enlargement of on-label prescription in children.

COVID-19 lockdown and poor sleep quality: Not the whole story.

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.

Loss and beauty: how experts and novices judge paintings with lacunae.

Lacunae are the voids left by missing or damaged pieces of artwork, and their presence constitutes a central problem in the aesthetic experience of viewing artwork. However, we hypothesize that experience and knowledge of art might differentially modify viewer reactions to degraded artwork. Here, we investigated the implicit and explicit attitudes of art experts and non-experts towards the aesthetics of perfectly intact and lacunar artwork. Sections of Flemish oil paintings were displayed with or without a degradation mask, which mimics lacunae. Three groups differing in their interaction with art were assessed: art restorers, art historians, and art viewers lacking any art-related professional expertise. We found that (1) professional experience/expertise in art restoration affected implicit, but not explicit, attitudes among restorers, (2) art historians had positive explicit, but not implicit, attitudes toward intact artwork, and (3) it was difficult for non-specialist viewers to understand or appreciate artwork that was not perfectly intact. We further discuss the implications of these results to other forms of aesthetic evaluation and expertise. Modified preferences in experts may improve knowledge of the plastic changes that occur in the cognition of aesthetics and may thus be of significant relevance to enhance the effectiveness of art conservation programs.

My hand in my ear: a phantom limb re-induced by the illusion of body ownership in a patient with a brachial plexus lesion.

Corporeal awareness of body unity, continuity, and integrity is hardwired in the brain, even following massive deafferentation. Following peripheral limb injury, referred phantom sensations are reported frequently on the cheek and, rarely, on the ear. Here, we explore how brain plasticity mechanisms induced by multisensory stimulation of different facial regions (cheek and ear) modulate the feeling that a complete missing limb is still attached to the body. We applied the modified rubber hand illusion (RHI) paradigm following synchronous and asynchronous stimulation of the face-hand and ear-hand in the unusual case of a patient with a brachial plexus lesion, who had lost upper-left limb sensation and developed a phantom sensation of the arm restricted to the ear. He experienced a strong illusion of ownership of the rubber hand during synchronous stroking of the ear but not the cheek and reported more defined tactile sensations in his previously numb body part during the illusion than when simply touching the ear. Phantom experiences are not exclusively based on sensory memories of the once-present body periphery, they are organized into a topographic cortical map with the ear-hand area adjoining but separate from the face. Multimodal experiences specifically modulate possible remapping of ear-hand representations and generate a more defined connection between the brain's memory of the body and what one feels of the actual physical body. We suggest that RHI is a form of sensory intervention that makes the best use of residual signals from disconnected body parts after peripheral injury, evoking and controlling the limb sensations.

"What about Military Decision-Making?": A Bibliometric Review of Published Articles.

Decision-making processes in the military domain constitute a strategic field of research in cognitive psychology, although there are currently few scientific publications addressing the topic. Professionals in the field and interested parties need access to data on military decision-making processes to understand where and how the scientific community is directing its investigations on the issue. Military decision-making is a strategic field of study because the military is crucial to the security and defense of a country or community. This work aims to be a point of reference for those involved in various capacities in military decision-making, providing key data regarding research trends over the years, the geographical distribution of scientific productivity, methodologies employed, annual statistics, and the prevalence of the most-investigated terms and topics. Therefore, this study serves as a bibliometric analysis of the literature on military decision-making publihed from 1992 to 2023 on the Scopus and Web of Science databases.

An explorative study on consequences of abuse on psychological wellbeing and cognitive outcomes in victims of gender-based violence.

Background: The issue of gender-based violence has been a public health problem for years. Considering its systemic nature, the possible consequences at the individual level on the psychological and cognitive wellbeing of victims have been examined. The present research aims to explore the differences in the various types and forms of violence. Methods: A non-probability and convenience sample was used; a total of 83 participants joined the research. Inclusion criteria were minimum age of 18 years, female gender, and knowledge of the Italian language. Two non-parametric One-Way ANOVAs (Kruskal-Wallis) were performed according to the type of violence experienced and the type of self-reported abuse (i.e., no victimization, single victimization, complex victimization). Results and discussion: Results showed that victims of violence scored higher overall than non-victims on all subscales of the Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale. Analyses among the three groups-no violence, single violence, and complex violence-showed no differences in any of the dimensions between those who experienced single and complex violence, while differences emerged between the "no victimization" group and the other groups. The results were discussed in relation to the existing literature on the topic, highlighting the limitations and future applications of the collected data.

Exploring the Interplay of problematic pornography use, sexism, and rape myth acceptance: An Italian cross-sectional study.

The relationships among pornography use, sexist ideology and false or stereotypical ideas about rape are controversial. This study specifically examines the associations of problematic pornography use (PPU) with sexism and rape myth acceptance among both male and female participants within the Italian context utilizing a cross-sectional methodology. Based on data from 815 participants collected through an online questionnaire, the study identifies significant gender-based differences, with men typically exhibiting higher scores on sexism, rape myth acceptance, and token resistance beliefs. Correlation analysis revealed that in men, there was a positive relationship between pornography cravings and sexist beliefs but not between pornography cravings and minimizing rape or accusations of lying (rape myth). Women showed significant positive correlations across all problematic pornography use dimensions with sexist ideology, although the relationship with rape myth acceptance varied. These findings underscore the critical need for acknowledging these relationships to enhance strategies for preventing gender-based violence.

"Leading through Crisis": A Systematic Review of Institutional Decision-Makers in Emergency Contexts.

This review aims to map studies on governmental and institutional decision-making processes in emergencies. The literature reveals various approaches used by governments in managing emergencies. Consequently, this article suggests the need for a systematic literature review to outline how institutional decision-makers operate during emergencies. To achieve this goal, the most widely used databases in psychological research were consulted, with a specific focus on selecting scientific articles. Subsequently, these studies were rigorously assessed for their relevance using a structured literature selection process following the PRISMA 2020 guidelines. At the conclusion of the review process, nine studies were identified, each suggesting different methods by which governments manage emergencies. This diversity arises because emergency decision-making processes must account for numerous variables that change depending on the type of crisis and the specific context. However, several critical aspects have emerged, such as the centrality of pre-disaster planning to improve intervention practices and methods, attention to information gaps that inevitably arise during an emergency, and the importance of streamlining and delegating decision-making to emergency responders in the field to counter the phenomenon of centralized decision-making that often hampers crucial interventions during emergencies.

Betting on Your Feelings: The Interplay between Emotion and Cognition in Gambling Affective Task.

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.

Gambling and virtual reality: unraveling the illusion of near-misses effect.

Introduction: Studying gambling behavior is a crucial element in reducing the impact of problem gambling. Nevertheless, most current research is carried out in controlled laboratory settings rather than real-life situations, which raises concerns about how applicable the findings are in the broader context. Virtual reality (VR) has proven to be a valuable tool and has been utilized in various experimental scenarios. A limited number of studies have employed VR to investigate gambling behaviors, and few have explored them in an older adolescent context. Methods: This study examined the behavioral and physiological effects of gambling behavior, including problem gambling, gaming addiction, and risk-taking decision-making in a sample of 36 high-school students aged between 18 to 20 years using an ad-hoc constructed VR scenario designed to simulate a slot-machine platform. Results: The behavioral results highlighted that participants reporting more problem gambling were sensitive to near-misses: i.e., they bet more after near-misses than after losses. This result may reflect the false belief that gamblers, after near-misses, are closer to winning. Physiological data showed that participants exhibited heart rate deceleration during the anticipation of the outcome, which has been suggested to represent a marker of feedback anticipation processing and hyposensitivity to losses. Discussion: Overall, this study provides evidence for a new VR tool to assess gambling behaviors and new insights into gambling-related behavioral and physiological factors. Implications for the treatment of problem gambling are discussed.

The Key Role of Empathy in the Relationship between Age and Social Support.

Aging involves several changes depending on genetic and behavioral factors, such as lifestyle and the number and quality of social relationships, which in turn can be influenced by empathy. Here, the change in the perceived social support across the lifespan as a function of empathy was investigated, considering the mediating role of empathy after controlling for gender and education. In total, 441 people (18-91 years old) filled in the Italian short version of the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List (ISEL-12), the Social Support Questionnaire (SSQ6), as well as the Empathy Questionnaire (EQ), and the Reading the Mind in the Eyes test (RMET). The mediation analyses with ISEL-12 showed that age and the EQ fully mediated the relationship between age and appraisal, belonging, and tangible scores. Further, the EQ fully mediated only the relationship between age and SSQ6-People. These results showed that empathic skills are key in the relationships between age and social support. This suggests that empathy can trigger social support and, ultimately, well-being if stimulated across the lifespan, especially from a young age; this would help to form the socio-emotional competence across the years as a sort of cushion that can be useful in the older to fulfill active aging.

Imagine All the People: A Guided Internet-Based Imagery Training to Increase Assertiveness among University Students-Study Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.

The importance of communication skills for well-being and self-realization is widely accepted. Despite that, research on assertiveness and assertiveness training has declined significantly in recent decades. Consequently, traditional training does not consider the most recent novel technologies used to spread psychological interventions. This study proposes the development of ComunicaBene: a guided Internet-based imagery intervention to promote assertiveness. Moreover, it describes the study protocol for a randomized control trial to investigate the intervention's efficacy and acceptability. Participants will be randomly assigned to an experimental (ComunicaBene) or waitlist control condition. ComunicaBene consists of different online training modules corresponding to three phases: psychoeducation, imaginative exposure, and in vivo-exposure. Each module provides participants with theoretical and practical content about needs, emotions, communication style, and assertiveness. Moreover, during the program, every student is supervised by a Tutor. Participants in the control condition will be included in a waiting list. Primary and secondary outcomes will include changes in assertiveness, well-being, emotional awareness, worry, and rumination. Outcomes will be assessed at pre- and post-intervention, and via a 6-month follow-up. We expect that the results will support the efficacy of ComunicaBene as an innovative, scalable, affordable, and acceptable intervention to spread assertive training through the Internet and among a broad population.

A Medical-Legal and Psychological Systematic Review on Vitriolage Related to Gender-Based Violence.

Attacks perpetrated using acid are a particular form of interpersonal violence, possibly one of the most heinous manifestations of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). Acid attacks are mainly motivated by extramarital cheating, marital conflicts, women's rejection of marriage proposals, and sexual advances. As these attacks are not well understood from a psychological perspective, we conducted a systematic review, following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, of 284 articles identified, 13 were eligible for inclusion. Three main focuses were identified: "Risk and vulnerability factors," "Consequences and implications," and "Interventions and treatments." Acid attacks seem to be more frequent in countries where social and economic development leads to greater tensions over traditional gender roles like Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India. Identified risk factors were young age, low socioeconomic status, low educational attainment, ethnicity, unemployment status of the victim, alcohol, and drug use of the perpetrator. Among the main psychosocial consequences of acid attacks, isolation and social exclusion emerged. Additionally, the paper will discuss the role of mental health consequences and specific treatments from psychological, clinical, and medical-legal points of view.

Attitudes towards Italian Mafias Scale (AIMS): development and validation.

In two studies we aimed at developing the Attitude towards Italian Mafias Scale (AIMS). In study 1 (N = 292) we used an Exploratory Factor Analysis to reduce the number of the items and explore their latent constructs. In study 2 (N = 393) we performed a Confirmatory Factor Analysis on the resulting 18-item questionnaire, whose latent structure was best identified by a general factor Mafia Attitude and three specific factors related to Behaviors, Cognitions and Emotions-Cognitions towards mafias. Moreover, we showed that the AIMS has (i) discriminant validity compared to a measure of attitudes towards crime, (ii) predictive validity of donation behavior to an association against mafias, (iii) internal consistency, and (iv) invariance for people of the five deep-rooted mafia regions of Southern Italy and those from the rest of Italy. Finally, we observed a difference between the participants from the five deep-rooted mafia regions (i.e., Apulia, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Sicily) and the rest of Italy, with the former having surprisingly more negative attitudes towards mafias compared to the latter. The AIMS might help to reliably survey people's sentiment towards Italian mafias and promote targeted and effective law-related education interventions.

The contribution of being physically active to successful aging.

Growing old involves changes in physical, psychological, and cognitive functions. Promoting physical and mental health has become one of the priorities for an aging population. Studies have demonstrated the benefits of engaging in regular physical activity. Here, we aimed to understand the relationships between physical activity and working memory complaints in attention, memory storage, and executive functions. We hypothesized that physical activity was negatively associated with complaints in working memory domains after controlling for socio-demographics and distress factors, such as anxiety, stress, and depression. Two hundred and twenty-three individuals aged between 65 and 100 years (74.84; SD = 7.74; 133 males) without self-reported neurological and/or psychiatric disorders completed a questionnaire on socio-demographic, with questions on physical activity and the Italian version of the working memory questionnaire (WMQ) and the DASS-21 measuring anxiety, stress, and depression. Results from three linear regression models showed that low physical activity was associated with complaints in attention (R2 = 0.35) and executive functions (R2 = 0.37) but not in memory storage (R2 = 0.28). Notably, age, gender, and total emotional distress (DASS score) were significant in all regression models. Our results suggested regular physical activity, even just walking, is crucial for maintaining efficient cognitive function. Theoretical and practical implications for engaging in physical activity programs and social aggregation during exercise are considered. Limitations are also presented.

Decision-Making and Abuse, What Relationship in Victims of Violence?

Gender-Based violence is a worldwide persisting phenomenon: during their lifetime, 30% of women have experienced sexual and/or physical violence. The literature has investigated for several years the association between abuse and possible psychiatric and psychological consequences which may occur even after many years. The most common consequences involve mood and stress disorders (e.g., depression and PTSD). These disorders seem to have secondary long-term effects, such as decision-making and cognitive function impairments. Therefore, the present literature synthesis aimed to investigate whether and how the decision-making capacities of individuals experiencing violence can change because of abuse. We conducted a thematic synthesis using PRISMA guidelines: through a double-blind procedure, 4599 studies were screened; a total of 46 studies were selected for full-text reading, which was reduced to 13 by excluding papers with a wrong focus. To better understand the results of the thematic synthesis, two main focuses have been identified: "leave or stay decision making" and "multifactorial dimensions of decision making". Results showed that decision-making is an important process in avoiding secondary victimization.

Decision-Making and Risk-Propensity Changes during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown.

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.