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Understanding predictors of parents' willingness to vaccinate their children appears fundamental to promote vaccine acceptability, especially in a pandemic scenario. The present study aimed to investigate the role of conspiracy beliefs and absolutist thinking in parental attitude toward COVID-19 vaccine, and the predictive role of parents' individual differences on decisions against children's vaccination. An online survey was administered to 415 parents of children aged 5-11, at the very beginning of the vaccination targeting this population in Italy. Results showed that absolutism predicted the tendency to believe in conspiracies, associated with a negative attitude toward the COVID-19 vaccine administration to children. Moreover, mothers were less willing to vaccinate children and parents of children aged 5-7 were more hesitant, or even against vaccination, than parents of older children. Finally, the worry about consequences of COVID-19 infection on children's health facilitated vaccine adherence. These findings contribute to deepening mechanisms regarding the vaccine acceptability.

È stato implementato un nuovo paradigma sperimentale per verificare l'ipotesi del coinvolgimento del sistema dei neuroni specchio in un compito di previsione dell'esito di un'azione motoria, ossia la traiettoria del pallone in un calcio di rigore. In particolare, è stato messo a punto un compito sperimentale manipolando una serie di filmati di calci di rigore, tirati da calciatori professionisti e ripresi dal punto di vista del portiere, in modo che il video si interrompesse nel momento in cui il piede del calciatore toccava il pallone. Si è ipotizzato che le caratteristiche dei movimenti del calciatore durante la rincorsa forniscano indizi circa la direzione della traiettoria del pallone. Inoltre si è ipotizzato che soggetti con esperienza calcistica interpretino correttamente tali indizi grazie all'attivazione cerebrale delle rappresentazioni motorie dei movimenti che essi utilizzano durante l'esecuzione del calcio di rigore. La prestazione di 20 studenti universitari destrimani nel compito sperimentale sui calci di rigore, valutata in termini di rapidità e accuratezza, è stata messa in relazione con la capacità di rotazione mentale, la reattività di base, l'esperienza calcistica, la familiarità e l'interesse per le partite di calcio. I risultati hanno mostrato che la percentuale di risposte corrette al compito di riconoscimento della traiettoria del pallone è significativamente superiore al caso. Inoltre, si è osservato che l'esperienza calcistica ha un ruolo nel determinare la velocità dei soggetti nel compito sperimentale: i più esperti sono meno impulsivi.&nbsp

The anti-COVID-19 vaccination campaign in the United States provided a significant contribution to the control of the virus spread. Despite the recommendations by public health institutions, vaccine skepticism and hesitancy contributed to low vaccine uptake, thus possibly disrupting the management of preventable diseases associated with the COVID-19 infection. The process that led individuals to accept COVID-19 vaccines required the ability to gather, synthesize, and weigh-up information within a novel, dynamically changing, complex, and ambiguous context. To deal with such complexity, we hypothesized that both the ability of reflection and flexible adaptation played a fundamental role. Based on previous research on cognitive predictors of vaccine refusal, we decided to investigate the combined role of two constructs, namely, problem-solving skills and socio-cognitive polarization (SCP), on vaccine acceptance and uptake. Two-hundred-seventy-seven US participants completed an online survey aimed to measure problem-solving ability, through a rebus puzzles task, and SCP, through a composite measure of absolutist thinking, political conservatism, and xenophobia. Mediation analyses indicated that SCP mediated the association between problem-solving ability and vaccine acceptance, so lower problem-solving abilities associated with higher polarization predicted vaccine rejection. Thus, our findings suggested that low problem-solving skills may represent a risk factor for COVID-19 vaccine refusal, with cognitive and social rigidity playing a crucial role in undermining the anti-COVID-19 vaccine uptake.

Recent research has investigated the relationship between rigid political ideologies and underlying cognitive functions, highlighting discrepancies on how different ‘cognitive styles’ are defined and measured in relation with different shapes of social rigidity. Cognitive rigidity is often operationalized using problem solving which translates into the ability to generate novel and original ideas by exploring unusual reasoning paths and challenging rigid perspectives around us. Thus, we hypothesized a relation between forms of social rigidity, including (socio-cognitive polarization, a factor capturing conservative political ideology, absolutism/intolerance of ambiguity, and xenophobia), believing in bullshit (i.e., overestimating pseudo-profound statements), overclaiming (tendency to self-enhance) and cognitive rigidity (problem solving). Our results showed four latent profiles of social rigidity performance on problem solving tasks. Specifically, those low in socio-cognitive polarization, bullshit, and overclaiming (i.e., less rigid) performed the best on problem solving. Thus, we conclude that social and cognitive rigidity may share an underlying socio-cognitive construct, wherein those who are more socially rigid are also more likely to be also cognitively rigid when processing non-political information.

The role of executive functioning in creative thinking is under debate. Some authors suggested that increased inhibitory control, a component of executive functioning, is detrimental to creative solutions, whereas others argued that executive functions are central to creative problem-solving, thus questioning Guilford’s classical distinction between divergent and convergent thinking. Executive functions decline with age. In this study, we investigated the contributions of executive functioning and its age-related decline and divergent thinking to creative problem-solving. To this aim, we divided our sample of sixty healthy adults into two age groups of young adults (20–26 years) and elderly (60–70 years) and we assessed their creative problem-solving abilities (using the compound remote associate problems) as well as other potential cognitive predictors of creative problem-solving (i.e., impulsivity, divergent thinking, verbal working memory, and decision-making style). A linear regression model revealed that the ability to solve problems creatively is negatively predicted by older age and impulsivity, while positively predicted by divergent thinking and verbal working memory. These findings reveal a combined contribution of executive functions and divergent thinking to creative problem-solving, suggesting that both convergent and divergent processes should be considered in interventions to contrast age-related decline.

Crucial arguments in the debate about the use of transcranial electrical stimulation (tES) as an intervention for children with neurodevelopmental disorders include, besides safety and efficacy issues, neuroethical concerns as well. No agreement has been reached yet in the clinical community about the ethical aspects of stimulating, although not invasively, a developing brain. To investigate ethical concerns about the use of tES in childhood and adolescence, we explored the knowledge and opinions of practitioners (psychologists, pediatricians, child psychiatrists, and rehabilitators) working in the field of rehabilitation of neurodevelopmental disorders (N=106). An online survey was designed to collect information about what practitioners in the neurodevelopmental field think about the therapeutic use of tES in terms of ethical concerns, need for facilitating conditions, openness to alternative treatments, and need for usability. Findings showed that a previous knowledge of tES, the presence of facilitating circumstances, and lower ethical concerns were the stronger predictors of clinical professionals' propensity to use tES for children rehabilitation. The present study is the first to explore the attitudes of clinical professionals toward the therapeutic use of tES in developmental populations, which we claim are useful for furthering the communication directed to the clinical community and its involvement in the discussion about tES-related issues.

Crucial arguments in the debate about the use of transcranial electrical stimulation (tES) as an intervention for children with neurodevelopmental disorders include, besides safety and efficacy issues, neuroethical concerns as well. No agreement has been reached yet in the clinical community about the ethical aspects of stimulating, although not invasively, a developing brain. To investigate ethical concerns about the use of tES in childhood and adolescence, we explored the knowledge and opinions of practitioners (psychologists, pediatricians, child psychiatrists, and rehabilitators) working in the field of rehabilitation of neurodevelopmental disorders (N = 106). An online survey was designed to collect information about what practitioners in the neurodevelopmental field think about the therapeutic use of tES in terms of ethical concerns, need for facilitating conditions, openness to alternative treatments, and need for usability. Findings showed that a previous knowledge of tES, the presence of facilitating circumstances, and lower ethical concerns were the stronger predictors of clinical professionals' propensity to use tES for children rehabilitation. The present study is the first to explore the attitudes of clinical professionals toward the therapeutic use of tES in developmental populations, which we claim are useful for furthering the communication directed to the clinical community and its involvement in the discussion about tES-related issues.

In the first part of the chapter, recent literature is critically discussed to examine the relationships between creativity and metacognition–intended as metacognitive knowledge, metacognitive awareness, and metacognitive control. In the second part, we report an experimental study on primary school children. Participants were engaged in a creative thinking training programme with two conditions where they were either asked or not asked to rate the level of ability, effort, and liking perceived both before (prediction) and after (retrospection) carrying out the creative tasks. Creativity scores increased as a consequence of the training. The prediction/retrospection task enhanced only one aspect of creative thinking, namely, the ability to widen the mental field. Calibration—the match between the subjective prediction of the performance and the actual performance—improved across the training, as well as the quality of the retrospective judgments about the performance. Possible future directions of research about the role of metacognition in creativity and implications for education are highlighted.

In times of uncertainty, people often seek out information to help alleviate fear, possibly leaving them vulnerable to false information. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we attended to a viral spread of incorrect and misleading information that compromised collective actions and public health measures to contain the spread of the disease. We investigated the influence of fear of COVID-19 on social and cognitive factors including believing in fake news, bullshit receptivity, overclaiming, and problem-solving—within two of the populations that have been severely hit by COVID-19: Italy and the United States of America. To gain a better understanding of the role of misinformation during the early height of the COVID-19 pandemic, we also investigated whether problem-solving ability and socio-cognitive polarization were associated with believing in fake news. Results showed that fear of COVID-19 is related to seeking out information about the virus and avoiding infection in the Italian and American samples, as well as a willingness to share real news (COVID and non-COVID-related) headlines in the American sample. However, fear positively correlated with bullshit receptivity, suggesting that the pandemic might have contributed to creating a situation where people were pushed toward pseudo-profound existential beliefs. Furthermore, problem-solving ability was associated with correctly discerning real or fake news, whereas socio-cognitive polarization was the strongest predictor of believing in fake news in both samples. From these results, we concluded that a construct reflecting cognitive rigidity, neglecting alternative information, and black-and-white thinking negatively predicts the ability to discern fake from real news. Such a construct extends also to reasoning processes based on thinking outside the box and considering alternative information such as problem-solving.

The design and implementation of a serious game (SG) concerning inhibition skills in children are presented. The SG consists of a set of activities, each eliciting the tendency to respond in an immediate and inappropriate (wrong) way. The SG is based on the Dual Pathway model of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) proposed by Sonuga-Barke and on the Unity/Diversity model of executive functions proposed by Miyake. In the SG, children must block impulsive tendencies, reflect upon the situation, inhibit irrelevant thoughts, and find the non-immediate solution. A study was carried out by testing the SG on typically developing primary school children (30 children, 16 boys; age, M = 9.30 years, SD = 0.87) to verify that it measures the same variables addressed by tests usually employed to assess attention ability in children and to diagnose ADHD. Three standardized tasks belonging to the Italian Battery for ADHD were administered, as well as an ad hoc questionnaire devised to check the acceptability, usability, and comprehensibility of the SG. Positive correlations between impulsiveness as measured by standard tests and impulsiveness scores in the SG emerged. These findings support the notion that skills associated with the control of impulsivity are involved in the SG. Furthermore, self-report ratings in the questionnaire showed that the SG is easy to be understood, is engaging, and elicits positive reactions in children.

To date, legitimacy of the application of cognitive enhancement programs to healthy individuals is still fueling neuroethics discussions. The aim of the present investigation is analyzing naive conceptions of the ethical implications of different practices—namely, non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS), psychotropic drugs, diet, hydration, and physical activity—which can be followed to enhance cognitive performance. An online survey targeted the opinions of the general public about the efficacy of the neuroenhancement techniques and ethical concerns in different contexts. Measures of general self-efficacy and beliefs about intelligence have been collected as well. Responses of 89 Italian undergraduate students of medicine or psychology were analyzed statistically and thematically. Findings supported the notion that passive ways of enhancing human performance, which fail to imply any personal effort and individual responsibility, are conceived as infringing moral rules, regardless of the context where they are implemented.

The COVID-19 vaccine appears to be a crucial requirement to fight the pandemic. However, a part of the population possesses negative attitudes towards the vaccine. The spread of conspiracy theories and contradictory information about the pandemic have altered the population’s perception of risk. The risk-perception of the vaccine’s side effects may be affected by individual differences. The complex relationship between risk-perception and individual differences is relevant when people have to make decisions based on ambiguous and constantly changing information, as in the early phases of the Italian vaccination campaign. The present study aimed at measuring the effect of individual differences in risk-perception associated with the COVID-19 vaccine’s side effects in a context characterized by information ambiguity. An online survey was conducted to classify a sample of Italian pro-vaccine people into cognitive/behavioral style groups. Furthermore, changes in vaccine risk-perception after inconsistent communications regarding the vaccine’s side effects were compared between groups. The results showed that “analytical” individuals did not change their perception regarding the probability of vaccine side effects but changed their perception regarding the severity of side effects; “open” and “polarized” individuals neither changed their perception regarding the probability nor of the severity of side effects, showing a different kind of information processing, which could interfere with an informed decision-making process.

The design of a computer-supported serious game concerning inhibition skills in children with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is reported. The game consists of a series of activities, each eliciting the tendency to respond in an immediate, inadequate way. The game is based on the Dual Pathway Model of ADHD proposed by Sonuga-Barke. In the game, children must block impulsive tendencies, reflect upon the situation, inhibit irrelevant thoughts, and find the non-intuitive solution. In the game, the player personifies a superhero, who is asked to save a realm on the opposite side of the Earth (Antonyms) where things happen according to the opposite of the usual rules. The hero faces a series of challenges, in the form of mini-games, to free the planet from enemies crossing different scenarios. To succeed in the game, the player should change his/her attitude by thinking before performing any action rather than acting on impulse. The player is induced to be reflective and thoughtful as well. Results from the evaluation of a preliminary version of the serious game are reported. They support the notion that Antonyms is an adequate tool to lead children to inhibit their tendency to behave impulsively.

The latest guidelines recommend early identification of children with motor impairments using a standardized norm-referenced test. Motor coordination difficulties in developmental age have been studied extensively over recent years, with experimental literature on developmental coordination disorder (DCD) suggesting that motor proficiency assessments depend on the nature of the task at hand. In this article we reviewed 14 assessment tools to measure movement performance in childhood and adolescence, which are often referred to in an international context. This updated review aims to compare motor tests depending on a) the nature of the tasks included in the battery (i.e., questionnaire and clinical examination), b) psychometric properties, and c) cultural adaptation to relevant developmental norms. Finally, implications for diagnosis and clinical practice are discussed. Considering there are several tests used for DCD, it is important to better define their reliability and validity in different cultures in order to better compare the validation studies and select the most appropriate test to use in the assessment procedure.

La ricerca ha l’obiettivo di rilevare le differenze nei tempi di reazione di soggetti patentati all’interno di un contesto simulato di guida al fine di valutare l’influenza del livello di prevedibilita di un ostacolo. I tempi di reazione sono stati misurati durante lo svolgimento di due tipologie differenti di compiti: semplice rilevazione dell’ostacolo e identificazione (e denominazione) dello stesso. I risultati mostrano un effetto della prevedibilita dello stimolo sui tempi di risposta in entrambe le condizioni (maggiori nel caso di stimoli imprevedibili). Si e inoltre rilevato uno scarto tra i tempi di rilevazione e identificazione in funzione della prevedibilita.

Whereas the clinical manifestations and the neuropsychological predictors of Developmental Dyslexia (DD) are already well documented in Italian-speaking children, empirical evidence on DD in Italian adults is in contrast rather scarce. The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of a subset of neuropsychological skills, which have been identified by previous literature to be related to reading, in the decoding abilities of a group of Italian undergraduates with and without DD. For this purpose, 39 university students aged between 19 and 27 years, 19 of whom with a diagnosis of DD, underwent an assessment battery including standardized reading tests, rapid automatized naming (RAN), verbal working memory, and rhythmic pattern discrimination tests. Cross-group differences confirmed significantly lower performances of undergraduates with DD in all measures but rhythm discrimination, compared to typical readers, thus showing a non-compensated neuropsychological profile. Regression analyses showed that, while reading speed was strongly and uniquely predicted by RAN speed, reading accuracy was concurrently predicted by RAN and rhythmic abilities. Finally, RAN speed emerged as a strong predictor of reading performance and risk of receiving a diagnosis of DD.

L’interesse verso la musica come strumento da impiegare in ambito riabilitativo e aumentato sempre piu negli ultimi anni. In uno specifico settore sono stati indagati gli effetti che un training a base musicale puo avere sulle abilita di lettura in soggetti con dislessia. Con il presente contributo si intende illustrare i dettagli di un progetto nato in ambito italiano avente lo scopo di ideare un training musicale per la riabilitazione della dislessia. Il lavoro di ricerca ha portato alla creazione di un software denominato Training Lettura Ritmica (TLR) rivolto a bambini con disturbo della lettura. L’allenamento prevede l’utilizzo della componente ritmica associata a compiti di elaborazione fonologica. Sono qui riportati i risultati ottenuti in diverse ricerche aventi l’obiettivo di valutare l’efficacia del training tramite la sua applicazione con soggetti con dislessia. Dai dati raccolti e stato possibile verificare l’efficacia del training nell’incrementare le competenze legate alla lettura.

The core deficit underlying developmental dyslexia (DD) has been identified in difficulties in dynamic and rapidly changing auditory information processing, which contribute to the development of impaired phonological representations for words. It has been argued that enhancing basic musical rhythm perception skills in children with DD may have a positive effect on reading abilities because music and language share common mechanisms and thus transfer effects from the former to the latter are expected to occur. A computer-assisted training, called Rhythmic Reading Training (RRT), was designed in which reading exercises are combined with rhythm background. Fourteen junior high school students with DD took part to 9 biweekly individual sessions of 30 minutes in which RRT was implemented. Reading improvements after the intervention period were compared with ones of a matched control group of 14 students with DD who received no intervention. Results indicated that RRT had a positive effect on both reading speed and accuracy, and significant effects were found on short pseudo-words reading speed, long pseudo-words reading speed, high frequency long words reading accuracy, and text reading accuracy. No difference in rhythm perception between the intervention and control group were found. Findings suggest that rhythm facilitates the development of reading skill because of the temporal structure it imposes to word decoding.