Climate change anxiety, fear, and intention to act.

Climate change anxiety (CCA) is an emerging yet not clearly defined construct. Here, we examine the relationship between CCA and climate change-related fear in response to messages differently framing uncertainty and anticipation concerning climate change, exploring how the former differs from general anxiety measures. To this purpose, young and healthy volunteers were assigned to three different framing conditions. Their emotional responses as well as eco-emotions and beliefs about climate change were collected. By employing a Bayesian approach, we found that framing the consequences of climate change effectively induces heightened fear and that CCA strongly predicted fear levels, while general anxiety measures did not. Overall, these results reflect CCA's unique and specific nature in influencing climate change-related fear. Interestingly, we found fear to predict intention scores only following the framings that did not effectively induce action intentions, consistent with prior findings on fear without efficacy framing. Instead, reading about the negative consequences motivated action the most. Following this framing, we found that eco-anger, instead of fear, consistently predicted intentions to engage in climate action. These results emphasize the complex interplay between CCA, eco-emotions, efficacy, and behavioral engagement.

The Role of Sounds and Music in Emotion and Cognition.

It is widely agreed upon that both natural and man-made sounds, including music, profoundly impact our emotions and cognitive abilities, such as our attention, memory, problem-solving, decision-making, and creativity [...].

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.

Application of Virtual Reality in Spatial Memory.

In recent years, virtual reality (VR) has become a widely used tool with a plethora of applications in neuroscience [...].

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.

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.

A cross-sectional study of gender role adherence, moral disengagement mechanisms and online vulnerability in adolescents.

The wide availability of electronic devices accessible to teenagers has enabled them to use the internet to communicate, share, and obtain information. However, the use of the internet and social media has also increased the risk of vulnerability, exposing people, particularly adolescents, to several risks. We collected data from a sample of 366 adolescents (186 females and 180 males) aged 14-20 years (mean age = 17 ± 1.33 years) to investigate the mediating role of moral disengagement (MD) mechanisms in the relationship between gender and online vulnerability. Data were collected in both the inner-city and suburban high schools of Rome (Italy) using the Qualtrics Platform Online. The participants completed a demographic questionnaire, the Online Vulnerability Scale, and the Civic Moral Disengagement Scale. All participants declared that they accessed and used the internet frequently. Using SPSS, the data were checked for outliers, common method bias, and normal distribution; then, correlation and mediation analyses were performed. Based on the correlation results, a mediation analysis was performed using only the displacement of responsibility as a mediator of the gender-online vulnerability link. Age was entered in the mediation model as a covariate. The results showed that girls were more vulnerable online than boys, who in turn used more moral disengagement mechanisms. In addition, moral displacement showed a positive indirect effect on the relationship between gender and online vulnerability. This means that when including the moral displacement in the mediation model boys appeared more exposed to online vulnerability as they probably adopted more immoral behaviors. These results could help to develop interventions to sensitize adolescents on both taking responsibilities for their actions on the Internet. Limitations and future research directions are briefly 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.

Preschoolers' Perceptual Analogical Reasoning and Map Reading: A Preliminary Study on the Mediating Effect of Spatial Language.

Reading and interpreting a map represents an essential part of daily life, enabling appropriate orientation and navigation through space. Based on the idea that perceptual analogical reasoning is critical in aligning the spatial structure of the map with the spatial structure of the space and given the critical role of language, especially spatial language, in encoding and establishing spatial relations among elements in the environment, the present study investigated the joint contribution of perceptual analogical reasoning and spatial language in map reading. The study was conducted with 56 typically developing 4- to 6-year-old children, and the results indicated that perceptual abstract reasoning affected map reading through the mediating effect of spatial language. These findings yielded theoretical and practical implications regarding the role of perceptual abstract reasoning and spatial language in shaping map-reading abilities in the early stages of life, highlighting that domain-specific language competencies are necessary to improve the encoding of spatial relations, to establish object correspondences, and to ensure successful navigation. Limitations and future research directions were discussed.

Adaptations of the Walking Corsi Test (WalCT) for 2- and 3-year-old preterm and term-born toddlers: A preliminary study.

Introduction: Topographical memory is crucial for navigation and environmental representation. The Walking Corsi Test (WalCT) has been used to evaluate topographical memory in children from 4 years upward. The present study aims to determine whether adapted versions of the WalCT- by simplifying instructions and increasing motivation- can be adopted to test topographical memory in 2- and 3-year-old toddlers born at term and preterm. Assessing this skill in such young children is important in light of recent studies that have shown how spatial cognition underlies the development of skills in other cognitive domains as well. Methods: For this purpose, 47 toddlers (27.39 ± 4.34 months, 38.3% females), 20 born at term and 27 preterm, performed two aimed-designed versions of WalCT. Results: The results showed better performance of the term groups with increasing age and for both versions. On the other hand, performance was better in 2-year-old term toddlers vs. preterm. When rising motivation, 2-year-old preterm toddlers improve their performance but differences between both groups were still significant. The preterm group showed lower performance related to lower levels of attention. Discussion: This study provides preliminary data on the suitability of the adapted versions of WalCT in early ages and prematurity conditions.

The Effect of Sadness on Visual Artistic Creativity in Non-Artists.

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.

Working Memory in Navigational and Reaching Spaces in Typically Developing Children at Increasing School Stages.

BACKGROUND: Based on studies of children with motor disabilities on topographic working memory (TWM), no influence of age was reported. The only differences were in the degree of mobility and exploration of the environment. The more active a child was in exploring the environment, the less his/her TWM was poor. However, in typically developing children (TD), exploration of the environment increases with increasing age, and age-related effects have been described. Here, we aim at investigating TWM considering age in TD with the additional question of whether WM in the reaching space differed from that in the navigational space requiring body movements. We hypothesized that WM in both spaces would improve correspondingly with increasing age, assuming that the greater the autonomy in exploring the environment, the better TWM becomes. METHOD: 120 children (5-16 years old) performed the Corsi Block-Tapping test (CBT) and the Walking Corsi test (WalCT). RESULTS: Statistical analyses evidenced significantly increasing WalCT and CBT spans between each school stage, except in the CBT span between middle stage (MS) and upper stage (US). CBT spans were significantly higher than in the WalCT in the pre-school, lower stage, and MS, with the CBT span increasing until MS, which is sufficient for using spatial orientation strategies effectively. CONCLUSIONS: When navigation is gradually controlled, a child may be able to pay increasingly more attention to wayfinding and behavior in traffic. Since the US group even presented as good in the WalCT as young adults living in metropolitan environments, assuming that children may gain spatial orientation from having opportunities to move in their surroundings, this is also relevant for children with motor disabilities.

Where Am I? Searching for the Tangle in the Developmental Topographical Disorientation.

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.

Giant chess game enhances spatial navigational skills in 6-years-old children: preliminary findings.

The game of chess is a valuable extracurricular activity for children, with positive effects on their cognitive skills and academic achievements. We investigated the extent to which the Giant Chess Game (GCG) played on a giant chessboard enhances working memory in "navigational-vista" space and "reaching" space. We also assessed if the GCG enhances mental rotation skills. For 10 weeks, 15 children (GCG group) were involved in a giant chess class, while 15 gender and age-matched children were involved in standard didactics (control group-CG). Children were tested twice, before (T0) and after (T1) the GCG, by tasks aimed at measuring: visuo-spatial working memory (VSWM) in the navigational-vista space (Walking Corsi test); VSWM in the reaching space (Corsi Block-Tapping task); mental rotation (Rotating Flowers test). We found that the GCG group significantly improved its performance more than the CG in VSWM in both navigational-vista space and reaching space, as well as in mental rotation. Our results suggest that the GCG has positive effects on visuo-spatial abilities underlying topographical skills. Therefore, the training using GCG can help enhancing spatial ability and may have a role in contrasting the spreading of navigational deficits such as the Developmental Topographical Disorientation (DTD).

The Contribution of Cognitive Factors to Compulsive Buying Behaviour: Insights from Shopping Habit Changes during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

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.

"Where am I?" A snapshot of the developmental topographical disorientation among young Italian adults.

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.

The Relationships between Cognitive Styles and Creativity: The Role of Field Dependence-Independence on Visual Creative Production.

Previous studies explored the relationships between field dependent-independent cognitive style (FDI) and creativity, providing misleading and unclear results. The present research explored this problematic interplay through the lens of the Geneplore model, employing a product-oriented task: the Visual Creative Synthesis Task (VCST). The latter requires creating objects belonging to pre-established categories, starting from triads of visual components and consists of two steps: the preinventive phase and the inventive phase. Following the Amabile's consensual assessment technique, three independent judges evaluated preinventive structures in terms of originality and synthesis whereas inventions were evaluated in terms of originality and appropriateness. The Embedded Figure Test (EFT) was employed in order to measure the individual's predisposition toward the field dependence or the field independence. Sixty undergraduate college students (31 females) took part in the experiment. Results revealed that field independent individuals outperformed field dependent ones in each of the four VCST scores, showing higher levels of creativity. Results were discussed in light of the better predisposition of field independent individuals in mental imagery, mental manipulation of abstract objects, as well as in using their knowledge during complex tasks that require creativity. Future research directions were also discussed.

Divergent thinking in Italian elementary school children: the key role of probabilistic reasoning style.

Divergent thinking is widely recognised as an individual creative potential and an essential factor in fostering creativity since the early stages of life. Albeit previous research revealed that creativity could be pursued through controlled mental processes (e.g. reasoning), the debate about the impact of children's reasoning on divergent thinking and, ultimately, creativity is still open. The present study sought to deepen the relationships between probabilistic reasoning and divergent thinking in a sample of 106 Italian children (meanage = 8.64, SDage = 1.34; 58 F). The Beads Task was used to evaluate probabilistic reasoning, whereas the Alternative Uses Task was administered to assess divergent thinking. Results revealed that analytical, slow, and effortful forms of thought underpinned by high probabilistic competencies predict children's divergent production. These findings suggest that a higher score for divergence of thinking depends on a high involvement of reasoning style, which in this study relies on the ability to make probabilistic decisions in ambiguous situations. Future research directions were discussed.