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In two studies, we investigated for the first time the content of children's counterfactual thoughts about their own experiences. Results showed that the majority of children aged 8-13 were able to produce valid counterfactuals regarding an event that happened to them, despite not achieving an adult-level ability. Comparing counterfactual and prefactual thinking, in Study 1 we found that children showed the same temporal asymmetry previously found in adults: They focused on the controllable features of their experience more in prefactual than counterfactual thinking. However, in Study 2, comparing counterfactuals produced by children and adults after a task in which making errors became salient, children produced more controllable counterfactuals (modifying their own errors) than adults, who still focused on uncontrollable features (as in Study 1). These results suggest that the ability to reason counterfactually in complex and real-life situations is not yet fully developed at age 8-13 years, affecting counterfactual content.

The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation between psychological distress and taste and sense of smell dysfunctions on healthcare workers (HCW) who contracted the COVID-19 infection in the midst of the disease outbreak. Reports of sudden loss of taste and smell which persist even after recovery from COVID-19 infection are increasingly recognized as critical symptoms for COVID-19 infections. Therefore, we conducted a cross-sectional study on COVID-19 HCW (N = 104) who adhered to respond to a phone semistructured interview addressing the virus symptoms and associated psychological distress. Data were collected from June to September 2020. Findings confirm the association between experienced taste/olfactory loss and emotional distress and suggest that dysfunctions of taste and smell correlate positively with anxiety and depression. Furthermore, their psychological impact tends to persist even after the recovery from the disease, suggesting the need for appropriate psychological interventions to prevent people from developing more serious or long-lasting psychological disorders and, as far as HCW, to reduce the risk of work-related distress.