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Background A growing body of research provides evidence for social and behavioral problems observed among adolescents with psychosis and also as precursors of vulnerability to psychosis, long before the illness onset, especially in females patients. As such, the main aim of the current study was to investigate from a patient perspective the presence of differences in the behavioral problems self-disclosed by psychotic, clinically high-risk, and non-psychotic adolescents. Moreover, since adolescent girls may present higher risk of internalizing problems, we explored the additional role of sex in interaction with psychotic risk or clinical condition in altering the self-disclosed severity of behavioral problems among the three groups of adolescents. Methods One-hundred and fifty-eight adolescent patients were interviewed by a trained child neuropsychiatrist applying the Comprehensive Assessment of At Risk Mental States in order to identify a quantitative index of risk for full-blown and attenuated psychosis. All patients self-reported on their behavioral problems filing in the well-validated Italian version of the Youth Self-Report, which quantifies internalizing, externalizing, and total behavioral problems. Results Regarding Youth Self-Report’s scores, non-psychotic adolescents had reported lower total and internalizing scores compared to clinically high-risk and psychotic counterparts. Additionally, in our sample a significant group × sex interaction effect emerged for total and internalizing scores: females reported greater risk of total and internalizing behavioral problems, only in the clinically high-risk group. Conclusions Higher variability should be expected in the behavioral profile of high-risk adolescents in comparison to psychotic ones. Elevations of internalizing behavioral symptoms, thus, might be considered as a much more relevant risk factor in girls during adolescence.

This study aimed to validate a recent conceptualization proposed by Coll and colleagues (2017a) that defines empathic response as a situational, cognitively complex process requiring emotion identification and affective sharing. Sixty right-handed women university students (18-29 years) voluntarily participated in the study. We measured ratings for empathy pain to assess the individual differences in empathy. At the same time, we collected peak amplitudes of the event-related potentials (ERPs) components to empathic stimulations of painful faces or hand stimuli and neutral images. Electrophysiological results proved that the P2, N170, N2, and P3 ERP components were associated with the modulation of empathic responses. Participants with low empathic responses (p 0.05) disclosed a larger frontal central N2 for the painful hands than for painful faces (p .05) and a reduced temporoparietal N170 for painful hands compared to neutral ones. Furthermore, our results highlighted higher frontal central P3a and P3b to painful stimuli than controls (p ≤ 0.01). We explained these findings assuming that in identifying the emotional value of a stimulus, the emotional content can modulate the reorientation of attention and the in-memory updating process associated with the empathic response. Results are in line with Coll and colleagues' conceptualization of the empathic response that includes two cognitive processes, the identification of emotions, and affective sharing, related to the recognition of the emotional state of the other in the self.

A previous study showed that about 80% of Italian adolescents reported isolated symptoms of acute or post-traumatic stress during the first lockdown in Italy. We proposed a new questionnaire to investigate the presence of symptoms related to anxiety, panic, depression, eating disorders, sleep disorders, social withdrawal, stress disorders, psychotic symptoms, anti-conservative thoughts, and self-harming acts aggravated by COVID-19 restrictions and possible differences between males and females. 500 adolescents (12–18 years) completed an online survey created using validated scales. 41% of the respondents felt more stress than during the first lockdown. 1.85% showed suprathreshold symptoms for post-traumatic stress disorder and 21% showed isolated symptoms of acute or post-traumatic stress due to the pandemic. In addition, we found psychotic symptoms (16%), panic (25% suprathreshold), anxiety (46.8% suprathreshold), depression (18.7% suprathreshold), eating-related symptoms (51%), sleep difficulties (57%), a tendency to social withdrawal after the pandemic (15%), suicidal ideation (30%), and self-harming behavior (9%). Furthermore, girls showed a more severe level of distress. The results show a high prevalence of symptoms because of the COVID-19 pandemic and confirm the need for easy access to support and treatment service to help contain the bio-psycho-social risk factors prompted by the current pandemic and promptly and effectively manage the consequences.

We induced placebo analgesia (PA), a phenomenon explicitly attenuating the self-pain feeling, to assess whether this resulted in reduced empathy pain when witnessing a confederate undergoing such pain experience. We recorded EEG and electrocardiogram during a painful control and PA treatment in healthy adults who rated their experienced pain and empathy for pain. We derived HRV changes and, using wavelet analysis of non-phase-locked event-related EEG oscillations, EEG spectral power differences for self-pain and other-pain conditions. First-hand PA produced a reduction of self-pain and self-unpleasantness, whereas we observed only a slight decrease of other unpleasantness. We derived linear combinations of HRV and EEG band power changes significantly associated with self-pain and empathy for pain changes using PCAs. We found that relative HR-slowing together with decreased midline ϑ-band (4-8 Hz) power directly influenced self-pain reduction and, indirectly, through chained mediating effects of the Behavioral Inhibition System and Fight-Flight-Freezing System traits. In the other-pain condition, we detected a direct influence of the midline β2-band (22-30 Hz) power reduction on the other-pain decline with a positive mediating role of Total Empathic Ability. These findings suggest that PA modulation of first-hand versus other pain relies on functionally different physiological processes involving different personality traits.

We tested the role of hypnotic suggestibility, involuntariness, pain expectation, and subjective hypnotic depth in the prediction of placebo analgesia (PA) responsiveness. We also tested the link of lower and upper alpha sub-band (i.e., 'alpha1' and 'alpha2') power changes with tonic PA responding during waking and hypnosis conditions. Following an initial PA manipulation condition, we recorded EEG activity during waking and hypnosis under two treatments: (1) painful stimulation (Pain); (2) painful stimulation after application of a PA cream. Alpha1 and alpha2 power were derived using the individual alpha frequency method. We found that (1) PA in both waking and hypnosis conditions significantly reduced relative pain perception; (2) during waking, all the above mentioned contextual measures were associated with pain reduction, while involuntariness alone was associated with pain reduction within hypnosis. Enhanced alpha2 power at the left-parietal lead was solely associated with pain reduction in waking, but not in hypnosis condition. Using multiple regression and mediation analyses we found that: (i) during waking, the enhancement of relative left-parietal alpha2 power, directly influenced the enhancement in pain reduction, and, indirectly, through the mediating positive effect of involuntariness; (j) during hypnosis, the enhancement of left-temporoparietal alpha2 power, through the mediation of involuntariness, influenced pain reduction. Current findings obtained during waking suggest that enhanced alpha2 power may serve as a direct-objective measure of the subjective reduction of tonic pain in response to PA treatment. Overall, our findings suggest that placebo analgesia during waking and hypnosis involves different processes of top-down regulation.

Previously published models of frontal activity linked high relative left frontal activity to the behavioral approach system (BAS) and impulsivity. Additionally, these models did not account for BAS facets encompassing the anticipation of reward, i.e., goal-driven persistence (BAS&ndash, GDP) and reward interest (BAS&ndash, RI), from those that deal with the actual hedonic experience of reward, i.e., reward reactivity (BAS&ndash, RR) and impulsivity (BAS&ndash, I). Using resting electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings, the source localization (LORETA) method allowed us to calculate the hemispheric asymmetry of the current density within the alpha band (7.5&ndash, 13 Hz) in ten regions of interest. Compared to low BAS subtrait scorers, high BAS subtrait scorers (except for BAS&ndash, I) were correlated with greater relative left-sided activity in the superior frontal gyrus (BA10). Further, an isolated effective coherence (iCOH) analysis of the beta activity (21 Hz) disclosed that high impulsive scorers as compared to low impulsive ones had higher connectivity between the superior frontal gyrus and middle temporal gyrus, which was not compensated for by enhanced inhibitory alpha (11 Hz) connectivity between these regions. For the beta frequency, we also found in highly impulsive individuals that (i) both left and right middle temporal lobes directly influenced the activity of the left and right superior frontal lobes, and (ii) a clear decoupling between left and right superior frontal lobes. These findings could indicate reduced control by the supervisory system in more impulsive individuals.

Pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential damage to the body. The experience of acute pain reflects the continuous processing of a complex hierarchical system of motivations to act that incorporates expectations and beliefs serving to limit the impact of adverse events. Research on placebo analgesia highlights that placebo analgesia can be modulated by dispositional characteristics that interact with environmental and personality-state variables. Generally, acute pain relief, and particularly placebo analgesia, is conceptualized as a self-regulated homoeostatic process associated with the achievement of a reward that serves to interrupt the ongoing pain sensation. Motivational states that drive the behaviour of aversion to acute pain and the attainment of pain relief or placebo analgesia can be conceptualized in terms of behavioural inhibition, behavioural approach, and the fight-flight-freeze system. It is desirable to conduct more research on placebo analgesia to evaluate the role of individual approach/avoidance behaviour to allow the planning of individual treatments to reduce pain.

This study explored the electrocortical correlates of conscious and nonconscious perceptions of emotionally laden faces in neurotypical adult women with varying levels of autistic-like traits (Autism Spectrum Quotient&mdash, AQ). Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded during the viewing of backward-masked images for happy, neutral, and sad faces presented either below (16 ms&mdash, subliminal) or above the level of visual conscious awareness (167 ms&mdash, supraliminal). Sad compared to happy faces elicited larger frontal-central N1, N2, and occipital P3 waves. We observed larger N1 amplitudes to sad faces than to happy and neutral faces in High-AQ (but not Low-AQ) scorers. Additionally, High-AQ scorers had a relatively larger P3 at the occipital region to sad faces. Regardless of the AQ score, subliminal perceived emotional faces elicited shorter N1, N2, and P3 latencies than supraliminal faces. Happy and sad faces had shorter N170 latency in the supraliminal than subliminal condition. High-AQ participants had a longer N1 latency over the occipital region than Low-AQ ones. In Low-AQ individuals (but not in High-AQ ones), emotional recognition with female faces produced a longer N170 latency than with male faces. N4 latency was shorter to female faces than male faces. These findings are discussed in view of their clinical implications and extension to autism.

Research has shown that the coupling between slow and fast EEG frequency oscillations reflects cortico-subcortical interaction. Specifically, the between-subject delta-beta amplitude-amplitude correlation is found to increase in some hypothetically anxiogenic conditions. We tested whether cortical-subcortical coupling would increase as a function of decreased delta (theta) or higher beta (gamma) activity. EEG recording was obtained from a group of 59 students during a resting anxiogenic situation (Anxiety) and from another group of 66 during a relaxation situation (Relaxation). Participants filled out the State Anxiety and the Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory Personality Questionnaire. Between-subjects cross-frequency correlations were calculated between power values in the delta (theta) and beta (gamma) frequency bands and compared between Anxiety and Relaxation groups. A significant positive between-subject delta-beta correlation was observed in the resting Anxiety, and this association was significantly higher than that observed in the Relaxation group. In the Anxiety, but not Relaxation group, we observed a delta-beta coupling for the low delta activity. In the Anxiety group, BIS trait was significantly associated with higher strength of within-subject delta-beta coupling, while in the Relaxation group BIS was positively associated with delta-theta coupling. Interesting, in both resting Anxiety and Relaxation groups, BAS-GDP was positively associated with higher delta-gamma coupling.