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Background: The positivity effect can be defined as an age-related attentional preference for positive information. The age differences are due to an attentional bias in which the young focused more intently on the negative stimuli, whereas the older attend to capture positive stimuli. There are two cognitive-emotional models that can explain the positivity effect: the socio-emotional selectivity theory (SST) and the dynamic integration theory (DIT). The SST states that in the older the positivity effect is related to controlled attentional processes, on the opposite, the DIT states that the positivity effect is related to automatic processes. Aims: The main aim of the present study was to examine automatic and controlled attentional orienting of young and older adults in the positivity effect. Methods: To reach these goals and to verify the generalization of the previous results, we used two experimental paradigms: the dot-probe task and the visual discrimination task with facial stimuli with positive (happy and surprise), negative (fair and angry) and neutral emotional expressions. 50 older and 35 young adults participated in this study. Results: The older adults reacted faster to positive emotions than neutral or negative ones. They had similar RTs for the three types of emotions in both automatic and controlled attention. Discussion: The findings are discussed in light of SST and DIT theories. Conclusions: This study confirms the positivity effect for the older subjects and support the idea that both automatic and controlled processes play a key role in this effect.

Background: The world’s aging population has been constantly increasing in the last decades, causing the number oldest-old individuals to increase. Aims: The present study aims to explore the different variables that contribute to the oldest-old wellbeing using a mixed-methods approach, including self-reports, standardized measures, and semi-structured interviews. Methods: Thirty-nine oldest-old (90–103) from southern Italy were involved in the study, together with a control sample of younger individuals (51–71) from the same families. Results: Data suggest that the oldest-old have better mental health, higher resilience, and more optimism than younger individuals. High resilience seems to be the key variable that promotes the overall wellbeing. Discussion: The oldest-old tend to have better mental health, higher resilience and more optimism than younger individuals. Conclusions: Wellbeing in the oldest-old appeared to be promoted by the sense of belonging and life purpose.

Background: Non-invasive brain stimulation is an effective treatment for Alzheimer's disease. Aims: The purpose of the two studies presented here is to compare the short- and long-term effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (t-DCS) on two samples of advanced AD patients. Methods: In Study 1 26 patients were involved in a 10-day anodal vs. sham tDCS intervention stimulating the left frontotemporal cortex. A pre–post test assessment was run using two different neurocognitive tests and EEG data. The same protocol was used in Study 2, which involved 18 different patients who underwent the same intervention 10 days a month for 8 months. Results: Results confirmed how the t-DCS intervention was effective both in the short- and the long-term to slow down the progression of AD on specific neurophysiological domains and, to a certain extent, on neurophysiological activity.

Purpose: Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) show reduced attention to social stimuli. The reasons for these impairments are still being debated by researchers. The aim of this study is to analyse if reduced attention towards social stimuli is determined by initial underlying difficulties in the control of visual attention. Among the variables that could produce these difficulties, the authors considered geometric complexity and typology of geometric figures. Design/methodology/approach: To test this hypothesis, in this paper, an eye-tracker paradigm was used for assessing visual exploration and recognition memory towards geometric figures (curved vs rectilinear) with two levels of geometric complexity (low and high) in 17 children with ASD matched with 17 children with typical development (TD). Findings: The results showed that the ASD group seemed indifferent to both the geometric complexity and the typology of figures (curved and rectilinear), whereas the TD group showed higher performances with highly complex and curved geometric figures than with low complex and rectilinear geometric figures. Research limitations/implications: Because of the chosen research approach, the research results may lack generalizability. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed hypotheses further. Practical implications: This paper includes implications upon the presence of an unspecified visual attention deficit that is present from the early stages of the processing of stimuli. Social implications: The understanding of this deficit from the early stages of the processing of stimuli can help educators to intervene at an early stage when disturbances in social relationships are starting. Originality/value: This study contributes to understanding the presence of dysfunctional perceptual antecedents that could determine general difficulties in paying attention to social stimuli in ASD subjects.

Background: Exploring the role of different individual factors in affecting the cognitive reserve levels is crucial step for aging research. Several studies explored the relationship between personality traits and aging, but a specific focus on the cognitive reserve is missing. Aims: This study aimed at collecting more direct evidence about possible relationships between cognitive reserve and personality traits. Methods: A sample of 100 healthy aging participants was involved in the study. They completed the Big Five personality inventory and a test to assess the cognitive reserve. Results: Results returned a positive relationship between the personality traits and participants’ cognitive reserve. The only factor that did not return a significant correlation was Emotional stability (which overlaps with Neuroticism). Discussion: This study provides additional evidence to the existing literature and also adds relevant information and a critical reading regarding the role of personality traits that has been neglected in the aging literature, Friendliness and Conscientiousness. Conclusion: The ability to measure and identify personality traits could be important in future research for developing interventions or activities that could target specific personality characteristics.

Purpose: Various studies have examined the role of executive functions in autism, but there is a lack of research in the current literature on cognitive flexibility in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The purpose of this study is to investigate whether cognitive flexibility deficits could be related to facial emotion recognition deficits in ASD. Design/methodology/approach: In total, 20 children with ASD and 20 typically developing children, matched for intelligence quotient and gender, were examined both in facial emotion recognition tasks and in cognitive flexibility tasks through the dimensional change card sorting task. Findings: Despite cognitive flexibility not being a core deficit in ASD, impaired cognitive flexibility is evident in the present research. Results show that cognitive flexibility is related to facial emotion recognition and support the hypothesis of an executive specific deficit in children with autism. Research limitations/implications: One of the limit is the use of just one cognitive test to measure cognitive flexibility and facial recognition. This could be important to be taken into account in the new research. By increasing the number of common variables assessing cognitive flexibility, this will allow for a better comparison between studies to characterize impairment in cognitive flexibility in ASD. Practical implications: Investigating impairment in cognitive flexibility may help to plan training intervention based on the induction of flexibility. Social implications: If the authors implement cognitive flexibility people with ASD can have also an effect on their social behavior and overcome the typical and repetitive behaviors that are the hallmark of ASD. Originality/value: The originality is to relate cognitive flexibility deficits to facial emotion.

Human society and its development are based on the principle of cooperation. The choice of a cooperative strategy in a context of uncertainty, such as the iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma game, can be influenced by many factors, both individual and situational. However, there is limited evidence regarding how these factors affect strategic choices when players are subjected to cognitive load conditions. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of situational factors, such as cognitive load, and two individual factors, namely peace attitude and personality, on strategic decision-making. Fifty-six adults participated in the iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma game under two conditions that differed in cognitive load: in the first condition, they had to make decisions about the Prisoner’s Dilemma task with working memory load, while in the second condition, they had to make decisions about the same task without working memory load. Additionally, participants completed the Peace Attitude Scale and the Italian 10-Item Big Five Inventory. The results indicated that both individual and situational factors influenced strategic choices. Specifically, cognitive load increased the cooperative strategy in the iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma game. Furthermore, individual factors influenced strategic choices only in the condition with cognitive load: people with higher levels of peace attitude and conscientiousness tended to be more cooperative than those with lower peace attitude.

The article discusses the importance of hypermedia tools, computer-based devices with graphics, audio, video, plain text and hyperlinks, to enhance learning capabilities in students with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Topics discussed include functions of hypermedia tools to motivate students, multimedia exposure to increase procedural knowledge and experiment conducted on students by exposing them to hypermedia tools.