125 results on '"Vilfredo De Pascalis"'
Search Results
2. Brain Functional Correlates of Resting Hypnosis and Hypnotizability: A Review
- Author
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Vilfredo De Pascalis
- Subjects
functional neuroimaging ,EEG oscillations ,functional connectivity ,hypnosis ,hypnotizability ,resting ,Neurosciences. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry ,RC321-571 - Abstract
This comprehensive review delves into the cognitive neuroscience of hypnosis and variations in hypnotizability by examining research employing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), positron emission tomography (PET), and electroencephalography (EEG) methods. Key focus areas include functional brain imaging correlations in hypnosis, EEG band oscillations as indicators of hypnotic states, alterations in EEG functional connectivity during hypnosis and wakefulness, drawing critical conclusions, and suggesting future research directions. The reviewed functional connectivity findings support the notion that disruptions in the available integration between different components of the executive control network during hypnosis may correspond to altered subjective appraisals of the agency during the hypnotic response, as per dissociated and cold control theories of hypnosis. A promising exploration avenue involves investigating how frontal lobes’ neurochemical and aperiodic components of the EEG activity at waking-rest are linked to individual differences in hypnotizability. Future studies investigating the effects of hypnosis on brain function should prioritize examining distinctive activation patterns across various neural networks.
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- 2024
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3. The influence of EEG oscillations, heart rate variability changes, and personality on self-pain and empathy for pain under placebo analgesia
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Vilfredo De Pascalis and Arianna Vecchio
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Medicine ,Science - Abstract
Abstract 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 reduced self-pain and self-unpleasantness, whereas we observed only a slight decrease in 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. Lower Behavioral Inhibition System scores predicted self-pain reduction through the mediating effect of a relative HR-slowing and a decreased midline ϑ-band (4–8 Hz) power factor moderated by lower Fight-Flight-Freeze System trait scores. In the other-pain condition, we detected a direct positive influence of Total Empathic Ability on the other-pain decline with a mediating role of the midline β2-band (22–30 Hz) power reduction. These findings suggest that PA modulation of first-hand versus other pain relies on functionally different physiological processes involving different personality traits.
- Published
- 2022
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4. Special Issue of Symmetry: 'Biological Psychology: Brain Asymmetry and Behavioral Brain'
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Vilfredo De Pascalis
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n/a ,Mathematics ,QA1-939 - Abstract
The study of brain asymmetry in humans represents a long-standing topic in the biobehavioral sciences and remains an attractive research domain with many potential applications [...]
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- 2022
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5. Heart Rate Variability and Pain: A Systematic Review
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Giuseppe Forte, Giovanna Troisi, Mariella Pazzaglia, Vilfredo De Pascalis, and Maria Casagrande
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pain ,heart rate variability ,autonomic response ,Neurosciences. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry ,RC321-571 - Abstract
Background and Objective: Heart rate variability (HRV) as an index of the autonomic nervous system appears to be related to reactivity to experimental pain stimuli. HRV could better explain the contributions of sympathetic and parasympathetic activity response to nociceptive stimulation. The aim of this study was to systematically review and synthesize the current evidence on HRV in relation to the experience of pain in experimental tasks. Databases and Data Treatment: Studies indexed in the PubMed, PsycINFO, MEDLINE, WebOfScience, and Scopus databases were reviewed for eligibility. Studies on the autonomic response (i.e., HRV) to experimentally induced pain in healthy adults were included. Different methods of pain induction were considered (e.g., thermal, pressure, and electrical). Data were synthesized considering the association between HRV and both pain induction and subjective measures of pain. Results: Seventy-one studies were included. The results underline significant change in both the sympathetic and parasympathetic autonomic nervous systems during the painful stimulation independent of the pain induction method. The autonomic reaction to pain could be affected by several factors, such as sex, age, body mass index, breathing patterns, the intensity of the stimulation, and the affective state. Moreover, an association between the autonomic nervous system and the subjective experience of pain was found. Higher parasympathetic activity was associated with better self-regulation capacities and, accordingly, a higher pain inhibition capacity. Conclusions: HRV appears to be a helpful marker to evaluate nociceptive response in experimentally induced pain. Future studies are also needed in clinical samples to understand better the interindividual changes of autonomic response due to pain stimuli.
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- 2022
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6. ERP Indicators of Self-Pain and Other Pain Reductions due to Placebo Analgesia Responding: The Moderating Role of the Fight-Flight-Freeze System
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Arianna Vecchio and Vilfredo De Pascalis
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phasic pain ,empathy pain ,Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory ,FFFS ,active avoidance ,EEG ,Neurosciences. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry ,RC321-571 - Abstract
This study evaluates the modulation of phasic pain and empathy for pain induced by placebo analgesia during pain and empathy for pain tasks. Because pain can be conceptualized as a dangerous stimulus that generates avoidance, we evaluated how approach and avoidance personality traits modulate pain and empathy for pain responses. We induced placebo analgesia to test whether this also reduces self-pain and other pain. Amplitude measures of the N1, P2, and P3 ERPs components, elicited by electric stimulations, were obtained during a painful control, as well as during a placebo treatment expected to induce placebo analgesia. The placebo treatment produced a reduction in pain and unpleasantness perceived, whereas we observed a decrease in the empathy unpleasantness alone during the empathy pain condition. The moderator effects of the fight-flight-freeze system (FFFS) in the relationships linking P2 and P3 amplitude changes with pain reduction were both significant among low to moderate FFFS values. These observations are consistent with the idea that lower FFFS (active avoidance) scores can predict placebo-induced pain reduction. Finally, in line with the revised Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (r-RST), we can assume that phasic pain is an aversive stimulus activating the active-avoidance behavior to bring the system back to homeostasis.
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- 2021
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7. Linear and Nonlinear Quantitative EEG Analysis during Neutral Hypnosis following an Opened/Closed Eye Paradigm
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Gianluca Rho, Alejandro Luis Callara, Giovanni Petri, Mimma Nardelli, Enzo Pasquale Scilingo, Alberto Greco, and Vilfredo De Pascalis
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hypnotic susceptibility ,eye condition ,EEG ,power spectral density ,Lempel-Ziv Complexity ,Mathematics ,QA1-939 - Abstract
Hypnotic susceptibility is a major factor influencing the study of the neural correlates of hypnosis using EEG. In this context, while its effects on the response to hypnotic suggestions are undisputed, less attention has been paid to “neutral hypnosis” (i.e., the hypnotic condition in absence of suggestions). Furthermore, although an influence of opened and closed eye condition onto hypnotizability has been reported, a systematic investigation is still missing. Here, we analyzed EEG signals from 34 healthy subjects with low (LS), medium (MS), and (HS) hypnotic susceptibility using power spectral measures (i.e., TPSD, PSD) and Lempel-Ziv-Complexity (i.e., LZC, fLZC). Indeed, LZC was found to be more suitable than other complexity measures for EEG analysis, while it has been never used in the study of hypnosis. Accordingly, for each measure, we investigated within-group differences between rest and neutral hypnosis, and between opened-eye/closed-eye conditions under both rest and neutral hypnosis. Then, we evaluated between-group differences for each experimental condition. We observed that, while power estimates did not reveal notable differences between groups, LZC and fLZC were able to distinguish between HS, MS, and LS. In particular, we found a left frontal difference between HS and LS during closed-eye rest. Moreover, we observed a symmetric pattern distinguishing HS and LS during closed-eye hypnosis. Our results suggest that LZC is better capable of discriminating subjects with different hypnotic susceptibility, as compared to standard power analysis.
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- 2021
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8. Changes of EEG band oscillations to tonic cold pain and the behavioral inhibition and fight-flight-freeze systems
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Vilfredo De Pascalis, Paolo Scacchia, Beatrice Papi, and Philip J. Corr
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tonic cold-pain ,electroencephalography (EEG) ,behavioral inhibition system ,fight-flight-freeze system ,Neurosciences. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry ,RC321-571 - Abstract
Using electroencephalography (EEG) power measures within conventional delta, theta, alpha, beta, and gamma bands, the aims of the current study were to highlight cortical correlates of subjective perception of cold pain (CP) and the associations of these measures with behavioral inhibition system (BIS), fight-flight-freeze system (FFFS), and behavioral approach system personality traits. EEG was recorded in 55 healthy right-handed women under (i) a white noise interruption detection condition (Baseline); (ii) enduring CP induced by the cold cup test. CP and Baseline EEG band power scores within conventional frequency bands served for covariance analyses. We found that: (1) higher Pain scorers had higher EEG beta power changes at left frontal, midline central, posterior temporal leads; (2) higher BIS was associated with greater EEG delta activity changes at parietal scalp regions; (3) higher FFFS was associated with higher EEG delta activity changes at temporal and left-parietal regions, and with lower EEG gamma activity changes at right parietal regions. High FFFS, compared to Low FFFS scorers, also showed a lower gamma power across the midline, posterior temporal, and parietal regions. Results suggest a functional role of higher EEG beta activity in the subjective perception of tonic pain. EEG delta activity underpins conflict resolution system responsible for passive avoidance control of pain, while higher EEG delta and lower EEG gamma activity changes, taken together, underpin active avoidance system responsible for pain escape behavior.
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- 2019
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9. Resting EEG Asymmetry Markers of Multiple Facets of the Behavioral Approach System: A LORETA Analysis
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Vilfredo De Pascalis, Giuliana Cirillo, and Arianna Vecchio
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behavioral approach system ,impulsivity ,EEG alpha asymmetry ,alpha activity ,beta activity ,eLORETA ,Mathematics ,QA1-939 - Abstract
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–GDP) and reward interest (BAS–RI), from those that deal with the actual hedonic experience of reward, i.e., reward reactivity (BAS–RR) and impulsivity (BAS–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 (7.5–13 Hz) in ten regions of interest. Compared to low BAS subtrait scorers, high BAS subtrait scorers (except for BAS–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.
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- 2020
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10. EEG Resting Asymmetries and Frequency Oscillations in Approach/Avoidance Personality Traits: A Systematic Review
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Arianna Vecchio and Vilfredo De Pascalis
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EEG ,resting-state ,asymmetry ,lateralization and brain functions ,approach ,avoidance ,Mathematics ,QA1-939 - Abstract
Background: Brain cortical activity in resting electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings can be considered as measures of latent individual disposition to approach/avoidance behavior. This systematic review aims to provide an updated overview of the relationship between resting EEG cortical activity and approach/avoidance motivation personality traits. Methods: The review process was conducted according to the PRISMA-Statement, using PsycArticles, MEDLINE, Scopus, Science Citation Index, and Research Gate database. Restrictions were made by selecting EEG studies conducted in resting idling conditions, which included approach/avoidance personality traits or parallel measures, and an index of EEG brain activity. In the review 50 studies were selected, wherein 7120 healthy adult individuals participated. Results: The study of the relationship between resting EEG cortical activity and approach/avoidance personality traits provides controversial and unclear results. Therefore, the validity of resting asymmetry or frequency oscillations as a potential marker for approach/avoidance personality traits is not supported. Conclusions: There are important contextual and interactional factors not taken into account by researchers that could mediate or moderate this relationship or prove it scarcely replicable. Further, it would be necessary to conduct more sessions of EEG recordings in different seasons of the year to test the validity and the reliability of the neurobiological measures.
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- 2020
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11. Hypnotizability-Related Asymmetries: A Review
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Vilfredo De Pascalis and Enrica Laura Santarcangelo
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hypnotic susceptibility ,neutral hypnosis ,EEG spectral analysis ,EEG nonlinear analysis ,brain activations ,functional connectivity ,Mathematics ,QA1-939 - Abstract
Hypnotizability is a dispositional trait reflecting the individual ability to modify perception, memory and behavior according to imaginative suggestions. It is measured by validated scales that classify the general population in high (highs), medium (mediums) and low (lows) hypnotizable persons, predicts the individual proneness to respond to suggestions, and is particularly popular in the field of the cognitive control of pain and anxiety. Different hypnotizability levels, however, have been associated with specific brain morpho-functional characteristics and with peculiarities in the cognitive, sensorimotor and cardiovascular domains also in the ordinary state of consciousness and in the absence of specific suggestions. The present scoping review was undertaken to summarize the asymmetries observed in the phenomenology and physiological correlates of hypnosis and hypnotizability as possible indices of related hemispheric prevalence. It presents the findings of 137 papers published between 1974 and 2019. In summary, in the ordinary state of consciousness, behavioral, neurophysiological and neuroimaging investigations have revealed hypnotizability related asymmetries mainly consisting of pre-eminent left hemisphere information processing/activation in highs, and no asymmetries or opposite directions of them in lows. The described asymmetries are discussed in relation to the current theories of hypnotizability and hypnosis.
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- 2020
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12. Chemosensory Event-Related Potentials and Power Spectrum Could Be a Possible Biomarker in 3M Syndrome Infants?
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Sara Invitto, Alberto Grasso, Dario Domenico Lofrumento, Vincenzo Ciccarese, Angela Paladini, Pasquale Paladini, Raffaella Marulli, Vilfredo De Pascalis, Matteo Polsinelli, and Giuseppe Placidi
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CSERP ,OERP ,EEG ,spectra power ,olfactory system ,3M syndrome ,Neurosciences. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry ,RC321-571 - Abstract
3M syndrome is a rare disorder that involves the gene cullin-7 (CUL7). CUL7 modulates odour detection, conditions the olfactory response (OR) and plays a role in the development of the olfactory system. Despite this involvement, there are no direct studies on olfactory functional effects in 3M syndrome. The purpose of the present work was to analyse the cortical OR through chemosensory event-related potentials (CSERPs) and power spectra calculated by electroencephalogram (EEG) signals recorded in 3M infants: two twins (3M-N) and an additional subject (3M-O). The results suggest that olfactory processing is diversified. Comparison of N1 and Late Positive Component (LPC) indicated substantial differences in 3M syndrome that may be a consequence of a modified olfactory processing pattern. Moreover, the presence of delta rhythms in 3M-O and 3M-N clearly indicates their involvement with OR, since the delta rhythm is closely connected to chemosensory perception, in particular to olfactory perception.
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- 2020
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13. Hypnotizability and Placebo Analgesia in Waking and Hypnosis as Modulators of Auditory Startle Responses in Healthy Women: An ERP Study.
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Vilfredo De Pascalis and Paolo Scacchia
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Medicine ,Science - Abstract
We evaluated the influence of hypnotizability, pain expectation, placebo analgesia in waking and hypnosis on tonic pain relief. We also investigated how placebo analgesia affects somatic responses (eye blink) and N100 and P200 waves of event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited by auditory startle probes. Although expectation plays an important role in placebo and hypnotic analgesia, the neural mechanisms underlying these treatments are still poorly understood. We used the cold cup test (CCT) to induce tonic pain in 53 healthy women. Placebo analgesia was initially produced by manipulation, in which the intensity of pain induced by the CCT was surreptitiously reduced after the administration of a sham analgesic cream. Participants were then tested in waking and hypnosis under three treatments: (1) resting (Baseline); (2) CCT-alone (Pain); and (3) CCT plus placebo cream for pain relief (Placebo). For each painful treatment, we assessed pain and distress ratings, eye blink responses, N100 and P200 amplitudes. We used LORETA analysis of N100 and P200 waves, as elicited by auditory startle, to identify cortical regions sensitive to pain reduction through placebo and hypnotic analgesia. Higher pain expectation was associated with higher pain reductions. In highly hypnotizable participants placebo treatment produced significant reductions of pain and distress perception in both waking and hypnosis condition. P200 wave, during placebo analgesia, was larger in the frontal left hemisphere while placebo analgesia, during hypnosis, involved the activity of the left hemisphere including the occipital region. These findings demonstrate that hypnosis and placebo analgesia are different processes of top-down regulation. Pain reduction was associated with larger EMG startle amplitudes, N100 and P200 responses, and enhanced activity within the frontal, parietal, and anterior and posterior cingulate gyres. LORETA results showed that placebo analgesia modulated pain-responsive areas known to reflect the ongoing pain experience.
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- 2016
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14. Pain modulation in waking and hypnosis in women: event-related potentials and sources of cortical activity.
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Vilfredo De Pascalis, Vincenzo Varriale, and Immacolata Cacace
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Medicine ,Science - Abstract
Using a strict subject selection procedure, we tested in High and Low Hypnotizable subjects (HHs and LHs) whether treatments of hypoalgesia and hyperalgesia, as compared to a relaxation-control, differentially affected subjective pain ratings and somatosensory event-related potentials (SERPs) during painful electric stimulation. Treatments were administered in waking and hypnosis conditions. LHs showed little differentiation in pain and distress ratings between hypoalgesia and hyperalgesia treatments, whereas HHs showed a greater spread in the instructed direction. HHs had larger prefrontal N140 and P200 waves of the SERPs during hypnotic hyperalgesia as compared to relaxation-control treatment. Importantly, HHs showed significant smaller frontocentral N140 and frontotemporal P200 waves during hypnotic hypoalgesia. LHs did not show significant differences for these SERP waves among treatments in both waking and hypnosis conditions. Source localization (sLORETA) method revealed significant activations of the bilateral primary somatosensory (BA3), middle frontal gyrus (BA6) and anterior cingulate cortices (BA24). Activity of these contralateral regions significantly correlated with subjective numerical pain scores for control treatment in waking condition. Moreover, multivariate regression analyses distinguished the contralateral BA3 as the only region reflecting a stable pattern of pain coding changes across all treatments in waking and hypnosis conditions. More direct testing showed that hypnosis reduced the strength of the association of pain modulation and brain activity changes at BA3. sLORETA in HHs revealed, for the N140 wave, that during hypnotic hyperalgesia, there was an increased activity within medial, supramarginal and superior frontal gyri, and cingulated gyrus (BA32), while for the P200 wave, activity was increased in the superior (BA22), middle (BA37), inferior temporal (BA19) gyri and superior parietal lobule (BA7). Hypnotic hypoalgesia in HHs, for N140 wave, showed reduced activity within medial and superior frontal gyri (BA9,8), paraippocampal gyrus (BA34), and postcentral gyrus (BA1), while for the P200, activity was reduced within middle and superior frontal gyri (BA9 and BA10), anterior cingulate (BA33), cuneus (BA19) and sub-lobar insula (BA13). These findings demonstrate that hypnotic suggestions can exert a top-down modulatory effect on attention/preconscious brain processes involved in pain perception.
- Published
- 2015
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15. Hypnotizability, hypnosis and prepulse inhibition of the startle reflex in healthy women: an ERP analysis.
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Vilfredo De Pascalis and Emanuela Russo
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Medicine ,Science - Abstract
A working model of the neurophysiology of hypnosis suggests that highly hypnotizable individuals (HHs) have more effective frontal attentional systems implementing control, monitoring performance, and inhibiting unwanted stimuli from conscious awareness, than low hypnotizable individuals (LHs). Recent studies, using prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the auditory startle reflex (ASR), suggest that HHs, in the waking condition, may show reduced sensory gating although they may selectively attend and disattend different stimuli. Using a within subject design and a strict subject selection procedure, in waking and hypnosis conditions we tested whether HHs compared to LHs showed a significantly lower inhibition of the ASR and startle-related brain activity in both time and intracerebral source localization domains. HHs, as compared to LH participants, exhibited (a) longer latency of the eyeblink startle reflex, (b) reduced N100 responses to startle stimuli, and (c) higher PPI of eyeblink startle and of the P200 and P300 waves. Hypnosis yielded smaller N100 waves to startle stimuli and greater PPI of this component than in the waking condition. sLORETA analysis revealed that, for the N100 (107 msec) elicited during startle trials, HHs had a smaller activation in the left parietal lobe (BA2/40) than LHs. Auditory pulses of pulse-with prepulse trials in HHs yielded less activity of the P300 (280 msec) wave than LHs, in the cingulate and posterior cingulate gyrus (BA23/31). The present results, on the whole, are in the opposite direction to PPI findings on hypnotizability previously reported in the literature. These results provide support to the neuropsychophysiological model that HHs have more effective sensory integration and gating (or filtering) of irrelevant stimuli than LHs.
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- 2013
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16. Sex moderates the association between the COMT Val158Met single-nucleotide polymorphism and disorderliness facet of novelty seeking
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Sonia Canterini, Maria Teresa Fiorenza, Micaela Lucarelli, Paolo Scacchia, and Vilfredo De Pascalis
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Male ,0301 basic medicine ,Character ,Genotype ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Single-nucleotide polymorphism ,Absorption (psychology) ,Catechol O-Methyltransferase ,Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Humans ,media_common ,General Neuroscience ,Suggestibility ,Novelty seeking ,General Medicine ,030104 developmental biology ,Facet (psychology) ,Exploratory Behavior ,Female ,Hypnotic susceptibility ,Temperament ,Gene polymorphism ,attentional characteristics ,COMT ,dopamine ,gene polymorphism ,hypnotic suggestibility ,novelty seeking ,personality traits ,Psychology ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery ,Clinical psychology - Abstract
Previous studies have shown inconsistent results regarding the effect of the Val158Met polymorphism of the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene on personality and cognition. Here, nonclinical Caucasian university students of Italian origin were administered the Temperament and Character Inventory-Revised, Tellegen Absorption Scale, Differential Attentional Processes Inventory, and Waterloo-Stanford Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility. We found that the COMT Val158Met polymorphism was significantly associated with the disorderliness facet of novelty seeking (NS4) and that sex was a moderator of this association. Females with the Met/Met genotype showed higher NS4 scores compared to those with the Val/Met and Val/Val genotypes. No significant genotype effect was found for males. Additionally, we failed to find a significant effect of the COMT gene on attention and hypnotic suggestibility measures. These results provide further evidence for a sex-specific influence on the gene-behaviour associations.
- Published
- 2021
17. ERP indicators of situational empathy pain
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Arianna Vecchio and Vilfredo De Pascalis
- Subjects
Behavioral Neuroscience - Abstract
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.
- Published
- 2023
18. Placebo Analgesia Changes on Self-Pain and Empathy for Pain: Influences of Event-Related EEG Oscillations, Heart Rate Variability, and Personality
- Author
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Vilfredo De Pascalis and Arianna Vecchio
- Abstract
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.
- Published
- 2021
19. Linear and Nonlinear Quantitative EEG Analysis during Neutral Hypnosis Following an Opened/Closed Eye Paradigm
- Author
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Enzo Pasquale Scilingo, Vilfredo De Pascalis, Gianluca Rho, Alejandro Luis Callara, Mimma Nardelli, Alberto Greco, and Giovanni Petri
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Hypnosis ,medicine.medical_specialty ,EEG ,Eye condition ,Hypnotic susceptibility ,Lempel-Ziv Complexity ,Power spectral density ,Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous) ,medicine.drug_class ,General Mathematics ,Context (language use) ,Electroencephalography ,Audiology ,power spectral density ,050105 experimental psychology ,Quantitative eeg ,hypnotic susceptibility ,Hypnotic ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Computer Science (miscellaneous) ,medicine ,QA1-939 ,0501 psychology and cognitive sciences ,Neural correlates of consciousness ,medicine.diagnostic_test ,05 social sciences ,Healthy subjects ,Chemistry (miscellaneous) ,eye condition ,Psychology ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery ,Mathematics - Abstract
Hypnotic susceptibility is a major factor influencing the study of the neural correlates of hypnosis using EEG. In this context, while its effects on the response to hypnotic suggestions are undisputed, less attention has been paid to “neutral hypnosis” (i.e., the hypnotic condition in absence of suggestions). Furthermore, although an influence of opened and closed eye condition onto hypnotizability has been reported, a systematic investigation is still missing. Here, we analyzed EEG signals from 34 healthy subjects with low (LS), medium (MS), and (HS) hypnotic susceptibility using power spectral measures (i.e., TPSD, PSD) and Lempel-Ziv-Complexity (i.e., LZC, fLZC). Indeed, LZC was found to be more suitable than other complexity measures for EEG analysis, while it has been never used in the study of hypnosis. Accordingly, for each measure, we investigated within-group differences between rest and neutral hypnosis, and between opened-eye/closed-eye conditions under both rest and neutral hypnosis. Then, we evaluated between-group differences for each experimental condition. We observed that, while power estimates did not reveal notable differences between groups, LZC and fLZC were able to distinguish between HS, MS, and LS. In particular, we found a left frontal difference between HS and LS during closed-eye rest. Moreover, we observed a symmetric pattern distinguishing HS and LS during closed-eye hypnosis. Our results suggest that LZC is better capable of discriminating subjects with different hypnotic susceptibility, as compared to standard power analysis.
- Published
- 2021
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
20. Regulative Theory of Temperament: Recent advances and future developments
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Małgorzata Fajkowska, Bogdan Zawadzki, Vilfredo de Pascalis, and Christian Kandler
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General Psychology - Published
- 2022
21. Influences of hypnotic suggestibility, contextual factors, and EEG alpha on placebo analgesia
- Author
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Paolo Scacchia, Arianna Vecchio, and Vilfredo De Pascalis
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Hypnosis ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Mediation (statistics) ,medicine.drug_class ,Alpha (ethology) ,Pain ,050109 social psychology ,Audiology ,Hypnotic ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,medicine ,Tonic (music) ,Humans ,Hypnotics and Sedatives ,0501 psychology and cognitive sciences ,Placebo analgesia ,Suggestion ,business.industry ,05 social sciences ,Suggestibility ,Electroencephalography ,General Medicine ,Complementary and alternative medicine ,Analgesia ,business ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery ,Eeg alpha - Abstract
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.
- Published
- 2021
22. Cross-country analysis of alternative five factor personality trait profiles
- Author
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Joseph Glicksohn, Mauricio Valdivia, Julien Morizot, André F. Carvalho, Oumar Barry, Đorđe Čekrlija, Jérôme Rossier, Gökhan Karagonlar, Olivier Desrichard, Angel Blanch, Michel Hansenne, Tarek Bellaj, Abbas Motevalian, Dorota Markiewicz, Anton Aluja, Elizabeth León-Mayer, Thomas Hyphantis, Zsuzsanna Kövi, Wei Wang, Aleksei Piskunov, Adam W. Stivers, Fritz Ostendorf, and Vilfredo De Pascalis
- Subjects
predictive power ,Alternative five factor model ,Personality types, cross-country ,media_common.quotation_subject ,alternative five factor model ,personality types, cross-country ,Sample (statistics) ,Personality types ,Determining the number of clusters in a data set ,Sample size determination ,Statistics ,cross-country ,Trait ,Personality ,Big Five personality traits ,Psychology ,Cluster analysis ,General Psychology ,Kappa ,media_common - Abstract
The aim of our study was to examine the typical personality profiles of the Alternative Five Factor Model with its new factor-facet version questionnaire (Zuckerman-Kuhlman-Aluja Personality Questionnaire, 2010) on a large, cross-country database. The total sample of this study included 15,529 participants from 23 sub-samples from 22 countries and with 16 different languages. The sample consisted of university students and staff members. We applied model-based clustering both separately on each sample and on the total sample. Agreement between country-specific and total sample clustering was similar for the three-, four- and five-cluster solutions with Cohen's kappa coefficients ranging from 0.59 to 0.60. The optimal cluster number based on BIC values increased with sample size, but the most common one was five with the following typical profiles: overcontrolled, resilient, undercontrolled, reserved, and ordinary. This research was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (grant no PSI2008-00924/PSIC ) and was performed within the framework of DURSI Consolidated Group 2009 SGR 809. Scopus
- Published
- 2019
23. Post-error slowing is associated with intelligence
- Author
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Vilfredo De Pascalis, Vincenzo Varriale, Maurits W. van der Molen, and Psychology Other Research (FMG)
- Subjects
medicine.medical_specialty ,Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous) ,Developmental and Educational Psychology ,medicine ,Experimental and Cognitive Psychology ,Context (language use) ,Adaptation (eye) ,Audiology ,Response criteria ,Psychology ,Performance results ,Mental rotation - Abstract
There is considerable evidence showing that people slow down after making an error. The post-error slowing is typically interpreted as the result of adaptation processes raising response criteria in order to avoid future errors. Here we analyze performance results of a previous study examining the relation between intelligence and electrocortical concomitants of mental rotation. Participants performed a hybrid Choice/Go-NoGo task presenting stimuli upright or rotated (60, 120, or 180 degrees) in normal or mirror image. The results showed that low-ability participants responded slower overall and committed more errors—in particular on NoGo trials with 180 degrees rotated stimuli. We selected the error trials and 7 correct Go trials preceding the error trial and 3 correct Go trials following the error trial. The results showed considerable post-error slowing and revealed that this slowing was related to intelligence—low-ability participants showed greater slowing than high-ability participants. This finding was interpreted within the context of diffusion-modeling studies of post-error slowing and may suggest that the rate of evidence accumulation and, possibly, the setting of response thresholds on trials following an error is more vulnerable in low- relative to high-ability individuals.
- Published
- 2021
24. Resting EEG Asymmetry Markers of Multiple Facets of the Behavioral Approach System: A LORETA Analysis
- Author
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Giuliana Cirillo, Vilfredo De Pascalis, and Arianna Vecchio
- Subjects
medicine.medical_specialty ,Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous) ,effective connectivity ,General Mathematics ,Middle temporal gyrus ,media_common.quotation_subject ,education ,Alpha (ethology) ,impulsivity ,eLORETA ,Audiology ,Electroencephalography ,Impulsivity ,Asymmetry ,050105 experimental psychology ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Computer Science (miscellaneous) ,medicine ,0501 psychology and cognitive sciences ,alpha activity ,behavioral approach system ,beta activity ,central executive function ,EEG alpha asymmetry ,Resting eeg ,media_common ,medicine.diagnostic_test ,lcsh:Mathematics ,05 social sciences ,lcsh:QA1-939 ,Anticipation ,Superior frontal gyrus ,Chemistry (miscellaneous) ,medicine.symptom ,Psychology ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery - Abstract
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.
- Published
- 2020
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25. Chemosensory Event-related Potentials in 3M Syndrome Infants: An Early Biomarker Based on EEG Signal Processing
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Giuseppe Placidi, Raffaella Marulli, Dario Domenico Lofrumento, Alberto Grasso, Vilfredo De Pascalis, Sara Invitto, Vincenzo Ciccarese, Matteo Polsinelli, Pasquale Paladini, and Angela Paladini
- Subjects
Olfactory system ,medicine.diagnostic_test ,Event-related potential ,business.industry ,medicine ,Biomarker (medicine) ,Electroencephalography ,business ,Neuroscience ,Eeg signal processing ,cognitive_experimental_psychology - Abstract
3M syndrome is a rare disorder that involves the gene CUL7. CUL7 modulates odour detection, conditions the olfactory response (OR) and plays a role in olfactory system development. Despite this involvement, there are no direct studies on olfactory functional effects in 3M syndrome. The purpose of the present work was to analyse the cortical OR, through chemosensory event-related potentials (CSERP) and power spectra calculated by electroencephalogram (EEG) signals recorded in 3M infants: two twins (3M-N) and an additional subject (3M-O). The results suggest that olfactory processing is diversified. Comparison of N1 and LPC components indicated substantial differences in 3M syndrome that may be a consequence of a modified olfactory processing pattern. Moreover, the presence of delta rhythms in 3M-O and 3M-N clearly indicates their involvement with OR, since the delta rhythm is closely connected to chemosensory perception, in particular to olfactory perception.
- Published
- 2020
26. Chemosensory Event-Related Potentials and Power Spectrum could be A Possible Biomarker in 3M Syndrome Infants?
- Author
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Vincenzo Ciccarese, Matteo Polsinelli, Dario Domenico Lofrumento, Raffaella Marulli, Pasquale Paladini, Angela Paladini, Sara Invitto, Alberto Grasso, Giuseppe Placidi, Vilfredo De Pascalis, Invitto, Sara, Grasso, Alberto, Lofrumento, Dario Domenico, Ciccarese, Vincenzo, Paladini, Angela, Paladini, Pasquale, Marulli, Raffaella, Pascalis, Vilfredo De, Polsinelli, Matteo, and Placidi, Giuseppe
- Subjects
Olfactory system ,3M syndrome ,medicine.diagnostic_test ,General Neuroscience ,rare disease ,Case Report ,olfactory system ,Electroencephalography ,Biology ,OERP ,lcsh:RC321-571 ,CSERP ,Rhythm ,Chemosensory perception ,Event-related potential ,Delta Rhythm ,spectra power ,medicine ,Biomarker (medicine) ,EEG ,lcsh:Neurosciences. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry ,Late positive component ,Neuroscience - Abstract
3M syndrome is a rare disorder that involves the gene cullin-7 (CUL7). CUL7 modulates odour detection, conditions the olfactory response (OR) and plays a role in the development of the olfactory system. Despite this involvement, there are no direct studies on olfactory functional effects in 3M syndrome. The purpose of the present work was to analyse the cortical OR through chemosensory event-related potentials (CSERPs) and power spectra calculated by electroencephalogram (EEG) signals recorded in 3M infants: two twins (3M-N) and an additional subject (3M-O). The results suggest that olfactory processing is diversified. Comparison of N1 and Late Positive Component (LPC) indicated substantial differences in 3M syndrome that may be a consequence of a modified olfactory processing pattern. Moreover, the presence of delta rhythms in 3M-O and 3M-N clearly indicates their involvement with OR, since the delta rhythm is closely connected to chemosensory perception, in particular to olfactory perception.
- Published
- 2020
27. Effects of Prehypnotic Instructions on Hypnotizability and Relationships Between Hypnotizability, Absorption, and Empathy
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Paolo Scacchia and Vilfredo De Pascalis
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Adult ,Male ,Materials science ,Psychometrics ,media_common.quotation_subject ,05 social sciences ,050109 social psychology ,Empathy ,General Medicine ,Absorption (psychology) ,Photochemistry ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care ,Sex Factors ,Complementary and alternative medicine ,Humans ,0501 psychology and cognitive sciences ,Female ,Suggestion ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery ,Hypnosis ,media_common - Abstract
Although hypnotizability exhibits high across-time and across-test consistencies, it is not clear (a) how different preambles to a hypnotic procedure (metasuggestions) influence responsiveness to suggestions and the strength of the association between two hypnotizability scales and (b) how hypnotizability relates to absorption and empathy. In Experiment 1, nonclinical participants (
- Published
- 2020
28. Effects of blood pressure on cognitive performance: a systematic review
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Maria Casagrande, Giuseppe Forte, Vilfredo De Pascalis, and Francesca Favieri
- Subjects
cognitive functions ,lcsh:Medicine ,030204 cardiovascular system & hematology ,Article ,memory ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,processing speed ,Medicine ,Dementia ,Cognitive skill ,Effects of sleep deprivation on cognitive performance ,Cognitive decline ,Stroke ,cognitive impairment ,visuospatial abilities ,language ,business.industry ,lcsh:R ,blood pressure ,Cognition ,General Medicine ,executive functions ,Executive functions ,medicine.disease ,attention ,Blood pressure ,business ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery ,Clinical psychology - Abstract
Background: High blood pressure has been associated with an increased risk of developing cognitive impairment. However, this relationship is unclear. This study aims to systematically review the effects of blood pressure on executive functioning, language, memory, attention and processing speed. Methods: The review process was conducted according to the PRISMA-Statement, using the PubMed, PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES and MEDLINE databases. Restrictions were made by selecting studies, which included one or more cognitive measures and reported blood pressure recordings. Studies that included participants with medical conditions or people diagnosed with dementia, psychiatric disorders, stroke and head trauma were excluded. The review allows selecting fifty studies that included 107,405 participants. The results were reported considering different cognitive domains separately: global cognitive functioning, attention, processing speed, executive functions, memory and visuospatial abilities. Results: Higher blood pressure appears to influence cognitive performance in different domains in the absence of dementia and severe cardiovascular diseases, such as strokes. This relationship seems to be independent of demographic factors (gender and education), medical co-morbidity (diabetes), and psychiatric disorders (depression). Furthermore, it presents different patterns considering ageing. In the elderly, a sort of &ldquo, cardiovascular paradox&rdquo, is highlighted, which allows considering higher blood pressure as a protective factor for cognitive functioning. Conclusions: The results underline that higher blood pressure is associated with a higher risk of cognitive decline in people without dementia or stroke. These findings highlight the need to introduce early management of blood pressure, even in the absence of clinical hypertension, to prevent the risk of a decline of cognitive functioning typically associated with ageing.
- Published
- 2020
29. Hypnotizability-Related Asymmetries: A Review
- Author
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Enrica L. Santarcangelo and Vilfredo De Pascalis
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Hypnosis ,Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous) ,General Mathematics ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Population ,050105 experimental psychology ,Lateralization of brain function ,hypnotic susceptibility ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,neutral hypnosis ,Perception ,Computer Science (miscellaneous) ,0501 psychology and cognitive sciences ,education ,media_common ,education.field_of_study ,lcsh:Mathematics ,functional connectivity ,05 social sciences ,brain activations ,Cognition ,lcsh:QA1-939 ,Psychophysiology ,Chemistry (miscellaneous) ,Hypnotic susceptibility ,EEG spectral analysis ,Consciousness ,Psychology ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery ,EEG nonlinear analysis ,Cognitive psychology - Abstract
Hypnotizability is a dispositional trait reflecting the individual ability to modify perception, memory and behavior according to imaginative suggestions. It is measured by validated scales that classify the general population in high (highs), medium (mediums) and low (lows) hypnotizable persons, predicts the individual proneness to respond to suggestions, and is particularly popular in the field of the cognitive control of pain and anxiety. Different hypnotizability levels, however, have been associated with specific brain morpho-functional characteristics and with peculiarities in the cognitive, sensorimotor and cardiovascular domains also in the ordinary state of consciousness and in the absence of specific suggestions. The present scoping review was undertaken to summarize the asymmetries observed in the phenomenology and physiological correlates of hypnosis and hypnotizability as possible indices of related hemispheric prevalence. It presents the findings of 137 papers published between 1974 and 2019. In summary, in the ordinary state of consciousness, behavioral, neurophysiological and neuroimaging investigations have revealed hypnotizability related asymmetries mainly consisting of pre-eminent left hemisphere information processing/activation in highs, and no asymmetries or opposite directions of them in lows. The described asymmetries are discussed in relation to the current theories of hypnotizability and hypnosis.
- Published
- 2020
30. Heart Rate Variability and Pain: A Systematic Review
- Author
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Mariella Pazzaglia, GIUSEPPE FORTE, Vilfredo DE PASCALIS, Maria Casagrande, and Giovanna Troisi
- Subjects
Autonomic response ,Heart rate variability ,Pain ,General Neuroscience - Abstract
Background and Objective: Heart rate variability (HRV) as an index of the autonomic nervous system appears to be related to reactivity to experimental pain stimuli. HRV could better explain the contributions of sympathetic and parasympathetic activity response to nociceptive stimulation. The aim of this study was to systematically review and synthesize the current evidence on HRV in relation to the experience of pain in experimental tasks. Databases and Data Treatment: Studies indexed in the PubMed, PsycINFO, MEDLINE, WebOfScience, and Scopus databases were reviewed for eligibility. Studies on the autonomic response (i.e., HRV) to experimentally induced pain in healthy adults were included. Different methods of pain induction were considered (e.g., thermal, pressure, and electrical). Data were synthesized considering the association between HRV and both pain induction and subjective measures of pain. Results: Seventy-one studies were included. The results underline significant change in both the sympathetic and parasympathetic autonomic nervous systems during the painful stimulation independent of the pain induction method. The autonomic reaction to pain could be affected by several factors, such as sex, age, body mass index, breathing patterns, the intensity of the stimulation, and the affective state. Moreover, an association between the autonomic nervous system and the subjective experience of pain was found. Higher parasympathetic activity was associated with better self-regulation capacities and, accordingly, a higher pain inhibition capacity. Conclusions: HRV appears to be a helpful marker to evaluate nociceptive response in experimentally induced pain. Future studies are also needed in clinical samples to understand better the interindividual changes of autonomic response due to pain stimuli.
- Published
- 2022
31. Resting Frontal Asymmetry and Reward Sensitivity Theory Motivational Traits
- Author
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Paolo Scacchia, Kathrin Sommer, and Vilfredo De Pascalis
- Subjects
Persistence (psychology) ,EEG-alpha asymmetry ,reinforcement sensitivity theory ,personality traits ,media_common.quotation_subject ,lcsh:Medicine ,Reinforcement sensitivity theory ,Electroencephalography ,Impulsivity ,050105 experimental psychology ,Article ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,medicine ,Personality ,0501 psychology and cognitive sciences ,Association (psychology) ,Reactivity (psychology) ,lcsh:Science ,media_common ,Multidisciplinary ,medicine.diagnostic_test ,05 social sciences ,lcsh:R ,Frontal asymmetry ,lcsh:Q ,medicine.symptom ,Psychology ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery ,Clinical psychology - Abstract
The revised reinforcement sensitivity theory (rRST) of personality has conceptualized three main systems: the behavioural approach system (BAS), behavioural inhibition system (BIS), and fight-flight-freeze system (FFFS). Research links greater relative left-frontal activity with BAS-related tendencies and impulsivity and greater relative right-frontal activity with “withdrawal” motivation that included both BIS and FFFS. Although rRST has addressed the separation of FFFS and BIS, much of personality neuroscience research does not indicate which system is related to right frontal activity. We administered the Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory of Personality Questionnaire (RST-PQ) to measure the BAS and its facets (goal-drive persistence, reward interest, reward reactivity, and impulsivity), BIS, and the withdrawal FFFS. We examined the association of RST-PQ traits with resting electroencephalogram (EEG) alpha-asymmetry in female participants (N = 162) by considering the influence of experimenter’s gender. In the total group, that included two subgroups with experimenters of different gender, BAS-impulsivity was related to greater left- than right-frontal activity, and FFFS, but not BIS, was related to greater relative right-frontocentral activity. These associations remained significant for the subgroup with a young same-sex experimenter, but not with opposite-sex experimenter.
- Published
- 2018
32. The behavioural approach system and placebo analgesia during cold stimulation in women: A low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (LORETA) analysis of startle ERPs
- Author
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Paolo Scacchia and Vilfredo De Pascalis
- Subjects
medicine.medical_specialty ,Analgesic ,Reinforcement sensitivity theory ,Audiology ,Impulsivity ,Somatosensory system ,Placebo ,050105 experimental psychology ,Developmental psychology ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Event-related potential ,medicine ,psychology (all) ,0501 psychology and cognitive sciences ,Big Five personality traits ,BAS traits ,tonic cold-pain ,Distress reduction ,Event-related potentials ,LORETA ,pain reduction ,placebo ,General Psychology ,05 social sciences ,Distress ,medicine.symptom ,Psychology ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery - Abstract
Personality traits have been shown to interact with environmental cues to modulate biological responses including placebo effects. We assessed the behavioural approach system (T-BAS) and its facets (goal drive persistence, GDP; reward interest and reactivity, RI and RR; Impulsivity, Imp) using the Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory Personality Questionnaire (RST-PQ; Corr & Cooper, 2016). Participants received three treatments: Baseline, Pain, and Placebo (pain plus a sham cream). Pain was produced by administering the cold-cup-test (CCT). We used exact low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (eLORETA) analysis of event-related potentials elicited by auditory-startle probes to identify regional sources of activity changes as predictors of T-BAS and its facets. We calculated pain minus placebo differences for pain and distress ratings and regional current density. We failed to find significant associations of RST-PQ traits with placebo-induced pain and distress reductions. However, multiple regression analyses and covariance analyses showed that, during placebo analgesia as compared to pain treatment, a lower activity in the primary somatosensory cortex (S1) was associated with higher T-BAS, and RI, whereas lower activity in the ACC was associated with higher T-BAS, RR, and Imp. Findings suggest that placebo analgesia may represent a form of reward responding and likely offer paths of identifying BAS traits that are liable to modulate placebo analgesic responses.
- Published
- 2017
33. Personality and placebo analgesia during cold stimulation in women: A Low-Resolution Brain Electromagnetic Tomography (LORETA) analysis of startle ERPs
- Author
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Paolo Scacchia and Vilfredo De Pascalis
- Subjects
Cold stimulation ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Low resolution ,media_common.quotation_subject ,05 social sciences ,auditory startle response ,distress reduction ,event-related potentials ,LORETA ,pain reduction ,placebo ,tonic cold-pain ,psychology (all) ,Reinforcement sensitivity theory ,Audiology ,Placebo ,050105 experimental psychology ,Developmental psychology ,03 medical and health sciences ,Distress ,0302 clinical medicine ,Event-related potential ,medicine ,Personality ,0501 psychology and cognitive sciences ,sense organs ,Psychology ,Placebo analgesia ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery ,General Psychology ,media_common - Abstract
We applied exact low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (eLORETA) method to auditory startle event-related potentials (ERPs) during cold pain (cold-cup-test: CCT). ERPs and startle data were obtained from a published dataset wherein auditory startle stimuli were used as probes of pain processing (De Pascalis & Scacchia, 2016). We wanted to identify (1) sources of cortical current density changes associated with pain/distress reductions to placebo analgesia (PA) treatment, and (2) sources of activity changes that are predictors of the behavioural inhibition system (BIS) and fight/flight/freeze system (FFFS) of the revised Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (rRST). We administered three treatments: Baseline, CCT-alone (Pain), and CCT plus sham cream (Placebo). PA, as compared to Pain treatment, was effective in pain and distress reduction, and produced a significant current density reduction within right primary somatosensory cortex (S1) and left middle frontal gyrus (MFG). In addition, current density change in the right S1 was a positive predictor of subjective pain and distress reduction, although distress reduction was also associated with decreased activity in the left MFG. We failed to identify regional sources of placebo-related current density changes as predictors of the BIS and FFFS with the exception of current density changes within left MFG that was positively correlated with BIS and a significant predictor of this trait. Findings appear consistent with rRST predictions suggesting BIS and FFFS as separate, but interacting neurobehavioural systems.
- Published
- 2017
34. Influences of EEG Activity, HRV, and Personality Traits on Placebo Analgesia During Self-Pain and Empathy for Pain
- Author
-
Vilfredo De Pascalis
- Subjects
Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology ,Eeg activity ,business.industry ,Physiology (medical) ,General Neuroscience ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Medicine ,Empathy ,Big Five personality traits ,Placebo analgesia ,business ,Clinical psychology ,media_common - Published
- 2021
35. Influences of EEG Alpha2 Power Changes and Hypnotic Suggestibility on Placebo Analgesia: The Mediation Role of Involuntariness
- Author
-
Vilfredo De Pascalis
- Subjects
Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology ,medicine.diagnostic_test ,Physiology (medical) ,General Neuroscience ,Mediation ,Suggestibility ,medicine ,Electroencephalography ,Psychology ,Placebo analgesia ,Clinical psychology - Published
- 2021
36. Symposium Title: Progress on Personality Neuroscience Research and Individual Differences
- Author
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Vilfredo De Pascalis
- Subjects
Cognitive science ,Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology ,Physiology (medical) ,General Neuroscience ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Personality ,Neuroscience research ,Psychology ,media_common - Published
- 2021
37. Psychopathy traits and reinforcement sensitivity theory: Prepulse inhibition and ERP responses
- Author
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Paolo Scacchia, Vilfredo De Pascalis, Costanza Checcucci, and Kathrin Sommer
- Subjects
Persistence (psychology) ,Adult ,Male ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Reflex, Startle ,prepulse-elicited reaction ,Psychopathy ,Reinforcement sensitivity theory ,Audiology ,Stimulus Salience ,050105 experimental psychology ,startle ,03 medical and health sciences ,Young Adult ,0302 clinical medicine ,Reward ,medicine ,Humans ,0501 psychology and cognitive sciences ,Attention ,attention ,ERP ,personality ,prepulse inhibition ,Reactivity (psychology) ,Students ,Evoked Potentials ,Prepulse inhibition ,Principal Component Analysis ,Prepulse Inhibition ,General Neuroscience ,05 social sciences ,medicine.disease ,Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology ,Acoustic Stimulation ,Trait ,Female ,Psychology ,Psychological Theory ,Goals ,Reinforcement, Psychology ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery ,Personality - Abstract
This study examined the associations between Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (RST-PQ, Corr & Cooper, 2016) and psychopathy traits (LSRPS, Levenson et al., 1995) in university students. The aim was to identify psychopathy and RST traits associated with prepulse inhibition (PPI) of acoustic startle and ERP responses by using two prepulse-stimulus intensities (70 and 85 dB) combined with a 105 dB startle pulse (200 ms prepulse-plus-pulse interval). The higher intensity prepulse produced a larger PPI, although both prepulse stimuli reliably activated the startle system. Higher Primary Psychopathy was associated with a higher Defensive-Fight trait and both measures were associated with larger PPI. A principal components factor analysis disclosed an N1-startle factor that was a significant predictor of both reward reactivity and Goal-Drive Persistence scores. Results appear in line with Newman’s response modulation hypothesis emphasizing the engagement of attention and recognition of stimulus salience, which may be disrupted in psychopathy.
- Published
- 2019
38. Changes of EEG band oscillations to tonic cold pain and the behavioral inhibition and fight-flight-freeze systems
- Author
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Beatrice Papi, Paolo Scacchia, Vilfredo De Pascalis, and Philip J. Corr
- Subjects
medicine.medical_specialty ,Materials science ,Cognitive Neuroscience ,Audiology ,Electroencephalography ,050105 experimental psychology ,Tonic (physiology) ,Fight-or-flight response ,03 medical and health sciences ,Behavioral Neuroscience ,0302 clinical medicine ,tonic cold-pain ,electroencephalography (eeg) ,behavioral inhibition system ,fight-flight-freeze system ,medicine ,0501 psychology and cognitive sciences ,Behavioral inhibition ,Delta activity ,Gamma power ,medicine.diagnostic_test ,05 social sciences ,Psychiatry and Mental health ,Cold pain ,Empirical Paper ,Neurology (clinical) ,Passive avoidance ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery - Abstract
Using electroencephalography (EEG) power measures within conventional delta, theta, alpha, beta, and gamma bands, the aims of the current study were to highlight cortical correlates of subjective perception of cold pain (CP) and the associations of these measures with behavioral inhibition system (BIS), fight-flight-freeze system (FFFS), and behavioral approach system personality traits. EEG was recorded in 55 healthy right-handed women under (i) a white noise interruption detection condition (Baseline); (ii) enduring CP induced by the cold cup test. CP and Baseline EEG band power scores within conventional frequency bands served for covariance analyses. We found that: (1) higher Pain scorers had higher EEG beta power changes at left frontal, midline central, posterior temporal leads; (2) higher BIS was associated with greater EEG delta activity changes at parietal scalp regions; (3) higher FFFS was associated with higher EEG delta activity changes at temporal and left-parietal regions, and with lower EEG gamma activity changes at right parietal regions. High FFFS, compared to Low FFFS scorers, also showed a lower gamma power across the midline, posterior temporal, and parietal regions. Results suggest a functional role of higher EEG beta activity in the subjective perception of tonic pain. EEG delta activity underpins conflict resolution system responsible for passive avoidance control of pain, while higher EEG delta and lower EEG gamma activity changes, taken together, underpin active avoidance system responsible for pain escape behavior.
- Published
- 2019
39. Influences of hypnotic suggestibility, automaticity, pain expectation, and EEG alpha on placebo analgesia responsiveness
- Author
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Vilfredo De Pascalis, Paolo, Scacchia, and Vecchio, Arianna
- Published
- 2019
40. Approach and avoidance personality traits in acute pain and placebo analgesia
- Author
-
Arianna Vecchio and Vilfredo De Pascalis
- Subjects
avoidance ,05 social sciences ,approach ,Pain relief ,acute pain ,pain ,personality traits ,placebo ,reinforcement sensitivity theory ,050109 social psychology ,Pain sensation ,050105 experimental psychology ,Avoidance behaviour ,0501 psychology and cognitive sciences ,Big Five personality traits ,Placebo analgesia ,Psychology ,Adverse effect ,General Psychology ,Acute pain ,Clinical psychology - Abstract
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.
- Published
- 2021
41. Event-Related Potential to Conscious and Nonconscious Emotional Face Perception in Females with Autistic-Like Traits
- Author
-
Giuliana Cirillo, Arianna Vecchio, Joseph Ciorciari, and Vilfredo De Pascalis
- Subjects
Autism-spectrum quotient ,medicine.medical_specialty ,media_common.quotation_subject ,emotion ,lcsh:Medicine ,Audiology ,behavioral disciplines and activities ,Article ,Autism Spectrum Quotient ,050105 experimental psychology ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Face perception ,Event-related potential ,Perception ,mental disorders ,medicine ,0501 psychology and cognitive sciences ,autism spectrum quotient ,ERPs ,face perception ,Latency (engineering) ,media_common ,business.industry ,lcsh:R ,05 social sciences ,Subliminal stimuli ,General Medicine ,medicine.disease ,Autism ,behavioral_sciences_behavioral_neuroscience ,Psychology ,business ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery ,Neurotypical - Abstract
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.
- Published
- 2020
42. Resting anxiety increases EEG delta–beta correlation: Relationships with the Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory Personality traits
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Vilfredo De Pascalis, Giuliana Cirillo, and Arianna Vecchio
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medicine.medical_specialty ,Quantitative Biology::Neurons and Cognition ,Relaxation (psychology) ,medicine.diagnostic_test ,05 social sciences ,050109 social psychology ,Reinforcement sensitivity theory ,Audiology ,Electroencephalography ,050105 experimental psychology ,Coupling (electronics) ,Correlation ,Anxiogenic ,medicine ,Anxiety ,0501 psychology and cognitive sciences ,medicine.symptom ,Psychology ,Beta (finance) ,General Psychology - Abstract
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.
- Published
- 2020
43. OLFACTORY PERCEPTION AND OLFACTORY EVENT-RELATED POTENTIALS IN NEWBORNS WITH 3M SYNDROME
- Author
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Sara Invitto, Alberto Grasso, Vilfredo De Pascalis, Raffaella Marulli, Giorgio Trianni, Alessandra Paladini, Pasquale Paladini, Invitto, Sara, Grasso, Alberto, De Pascalis, Vilfredo, Marulli, Raffaella, Trianni, Giorgio, Paladini, Alessandra, and Paladini, Pasquale
- Subjects
3M syndrome, Olfactory perception, Newborn olfactory perception - Abstract
3M syndrome is a rare autosomal recessive dwarfism syndrome. The distinctive features of this syndrome are related to a limitation of prenatal growth, facial dysmorphism, the absence of microcephaly and absence of mental impairment. The subjects affected by this form of disorder often have respiratory problems and present different facial morphology (i.e., fleshy nose, antero-verse nostrils) [1]. The aim of this research was to investigate how the 3-M syndrome could have implications in the olfactory system. No study has so far been conducted on 3M to evaluate the use of olfactory event related potentials (OERP) as tools for investigating the functional response to chemical stimulation. Materials and Methods 3 male siblings, diagnosed as 3M syndrome, [2 newborns twins of 4 months old (3M-N) and a 3M 18 months old (3M-O)], were compared with two controls couple of twins (HS), matched by age and sex. The subjects performed an olfactory recognition task. The scent was administered through the device US2017127971 (A1) [2], with 20 μL of Eucalyptus. The paradigm of presentation corresponds to the stimulation of OERP. The analysis considered the olfactory components N1 and LPC [3], the wavelet and the connectivity values. Results The subject 3M-O shows, on N1, greater amplitudes (average amplitude 3M V -45 vs HS V -25) e delayed latencies (average latency 3M 440 ms. vs HS 200 ms) and on LPC greater amplitudes (3M-O V +17,5 vs HS V +5) and faster latencies (3M-O 260 ms vs HS 380 ms). The LPC data concern the response obtained in the right fronto-lateral area. Through the brain mapping it appears that the 3M-O subject shows a greater left lateralization. The 3M-N twins show, on both N1 and LPC, smaller amplitudes (N1: 3M-NV-17,5 vs HS V18,5; LPC: 3M-N V10 vs HS V 22,50) and delayed latencies (N1:3M-N 350 ms. vs HS 225 ms; LPC: 3M-N 220 ms vs HS 340 ms). Within the range between 70ms - 250ms, there is almost minimal activation of the parietal area in the case of 3M-N twins. In the range between 250ms to 420ms, 3M-N and 3M-O subjects showed an activation of part of the left hemisphere, of the parietal and of the left occipital area; while the HS showed an activation of parietal, left frontotemporal and right occipital areas. The wavelet analysis shows greater connectivity in alpha and delta in the case of the subject 3M-O and 3M-N vs HS. Conclusions In 3M syndrome, the olfactory processing seems to be clearly diversified (see Fig.1). In particular, the differences in the N1 and LPC components indicate substantial differences in 3M syndrome that can modify the pattern of olfactory processing. Moreover, the 3M subjects, in addition to greater connectivity, show different localizations of arousal due to olfactory stimulation, highlighting the implication of much larger areas ranging from the left hemisphere to the right hemisphere including occipital localizations.
- Published
- 2018
44. Mental rotation and fluid intelligence: A brain potential analysis
- Author
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Vincenzo Varriale, Maurits W. van der Molen, Vilfredo De Pascalis, and Psychology Other Research (FMG)
- Subjects
medicine.medical_specialty ,Linear function (calculus) ,medicine.diagnostic_test ,05 social sciences ,Posterior parietal cortex ,Experimental and Cognitive Psychology ,Audiology ,Electroencephalography ,Rotation ,Fluid intelligence ,050105 experimental psychology ,Mental rotation ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Raven's Progressive Matrices ,Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous) ,Developmental and Educational Psychology ,medicine ,0501 psychology and cognitive sciences ,EEG ,intelligence ,mental rotation ,RRN ,RT ,experimental and cognitive psychology ,developmental and educational psychology ,Potential analysis ,Psychology ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery - Abstract
The current study examined the relation between mental rotation and fluid intelligence using performance measures augmented with brain potential indices. Participants took a Raven's Progressive Matrices Test and performed on a mental rotation task presenting upright and rotated letter stimuli (60°, 120° or 180°) in normal and mirror image requiring a response execution or inhibition depending on instructions. The performance results showed that the linear slope relating performance accuracy, but not speed, to the angular rotation of the stimuli was related to individual differences in fluid intelligence. For upright stimuli, P3 amplitude recorded at frontal and central areas was positively associated with fluid intelligence scores. The mental rotation process was related to a negative shift of the brain potential recorded over the parietal cortex. The linear function relating the amplitude of the rotation-related negativity to rotation angle was associated with fluid intelligence. The slope was more pronounced for high- relative to low-ability participants suggesting that the former flexibly adjust their expenditure of mental effort to the mental rotation demands while the latter ones are less proficient in doing so.
- Published
- 2018
45. Extraversion and behavioural approach system in stimulus analysis and motor response initiation
- Author
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Paolo Scacchia, Vilfredo De Pascalis, and Kathrin Sommer
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Adult ,Male ,medicine.medical_specialty ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Contingent Negative Variation ,Reinforcement sensitivity theory ,Audiology ,Stimulus (physiology) ,Motor Activity ,Impulsivity ,050105 experimental psychology ,Extraversion, Psychological ,03 medical and health sciences ,Young Adult ,0302 clinical medicine ,Reward ,Event-related potential ,Perception ,medicine ,Reaction Time ,Personality ,Humans ,0501 psychology and cognitive sciences ,Attention ,Evoked Potentials ,media_common ,Motivation ,Lateralized readiness potential ,Extraversion and introversion ,Electromyography ,General Neuroscience ,05 social sciences ,Reproducibility of Results ,Middle Aged ,Event-Related Potentials, P300 ,Inhibition, Psychological ,Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology ,extraversion ,behavioural approach system ,reaction time ,Event-related potentials ,lateralized readiness potential ,sensorimotor processes ,Impulsive Behavior ,Visual Perception ,Female ,medicine.symptom ,Psychology ,Goals ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery - Abstract
In this study, we attempt to validate previous findings on extraversion-related differences in speed of sensorimotor processing and to extend them into Behavioural Approach System (BAS) subtraits within the framework of the revised Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (rRST) of personality. Here, we assessed psychological traits of extraversion (E), four BAS facets (Goal-Drive Persistence, BAS-GDP; Reward Interest, BAS-RI; Reward Reactivity, BAS-RR; Impulsivity, BAS-I), Behavioural Inhibition System (BIS), and Fight-Flight-Freeze System (FFFS) in 51 volunteers (28 women). Stimulus-locked lateralized readiness potential (S-LRP), response-locked LRP (R-LRP), stimulus-locked and response-locked forearm electromyogram (S-EMG and R-EMG), and P3 components of the event-related potentials (ERPs), were recorded during the performance of a two-choice Go/NoGo visual letter-digit discrimination task varying in task difficulty. High extraverts, relative to introverts and individuals high relative to low on BAS-RI, were more likely to exhibit shorter S-LRP latencies and stimulus- and response-locked EMG latencies. Additionally, high BAS-I had a shorter R-RLP latency than low BAS-I participants for the difficult task. High FFFS levels were associated with longer S-LRP and S-EMG latencies, while high BIS levels had larger response accuracy. Extraverts, relative to introverts, along with those high relative to low on BAS-RR and BAS-I, exhibited smaller P3 amplitudes. The faster cortical premotor initiation, found in individuals high on extraversion, BAS-RI and low on FFFS, may account for their faster peripheral motor response initiation and execution. Smaller P3 amplitudes in extraverts and individuals high on BAS-RR and BAS-I may indicate reduced perceptual processing capacity in these individuals.
- Published
- 2017
46. Relations among EEG-alpha asymmetry and positivity personality trait
- Author
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Gian Vittorio Caprara, Vilfredo De Pascalis, and Guido Alessandri
- Subjects
Adult ,Male ,sLORETA ,positivity ,Memory, Episodic ,Rest ,Cognitive Neuroscience ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Precuneus ,Experimental and Cognitive Psychology ,Personal Satisfaction ,EEG-alpha ,Electroencephalography ,Gyrus Cinguli ,Developmental psychology ,Thinking ,Correlation ,Young Adult ,Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous) ,Developmental and Educational Psychology ,medicine ,Humans ,Personality ,Valence (psychology) ,life satisfaction ,media_common ,Cerebral Cortex ,self-esteem ,Brain Mapping ,medicine.diagnostic_test ,Autobiographical memory ,Functional Neuroimaging ,Brain ,Life satisfaction ,Self Concept ,optimism ,Alpha Rhythm ,Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Posterior cingulate ,Female ,cognitive neuroscience ,experimental and cognitive psychology ,neuropsychology and physiological psychology ,arts and humanities (miscellaneous) ,developmental and educational psychology ,Psychology ,Cognitive psychology - Abstract
The present study investigates cortical structures associated with personality dimension of positivity (POS) by using a standardized low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (sLORETA), which provides EEG localization measures that are independent of the recording reference. Resting EEG and self-report measures of positivity, self-esteem, life satisfaction, and optimism were collected from 51 female undergraduates. EEG was recorded across 29 scalp sites. Anterior and posterior source alpha asymmetries of cortical activation were obtained by using sLORETA. Based on previous research findings, 10 frontal and 6 parietal regions of interest (ROI) were derived. Alpha asymmetry in the posterior cingulate (i.e., BA23 and BA31) was uniquely associated with both POS scores. These areas are, hypothetically, part of a complex default-mode neural network (DMN). The activity in the DMN usually increases during tasks that invoke self-referential processing, such as responding to statements describing one’s personality, attitudes, or preferences. Importantly, the cortical structures associated with POS were different from those associated with indicators. Indeed, measures of “optimism” failed to maintain a significant correlation with any of the previously significant ROI, but “self-esteem” and “life satisfaction” revealed robust associations with alpha asymmetry at the precuneus (i.e., BA7), after controlling for POS residual scores. In conclusion: Present findings support the assumption that POS is a basic disposition that reflects the concerted activity of brain structures that are essential for integrating self-referential thought and autobiographical memories and for assigning a positive valence to one’s experience and attitude toward the future.
- Published
- 2015
47. Circadian typology and the Alternative Five-Factor Model of personality
- Author
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Lorenzo Tonetti, Paolo Maria Russo, Marco Fabbri, Monica Martoni, Vincenzo Natale, and Vilfredo De Pascalis
- Subjects
Evening ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Poison control ,030209 endocrinology & metabolism ,Actigraphy ,General Medicine ,medicine.disease ,Personality disorders ,Developmental psychology ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous) ,medicine ,Personality ,Big Five personality traits ,Personality Assessment Inventory ,Psychology ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery ,General Psychology ,Clinical psychology ,media_common ,Morning - Abstract
Two studies were carried out to explore the relationship between circadian typology and the Alternative Five-Factor Model of personality. In the first study, 379 participants (232 females) were administered the reduced version of the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire and the Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire. Evening types reported higher impulsive sensation-seeking scores than morning and intermediate types, whereas morning types scored higher than evening types on activity factor. In the second study, the association between morningness and activity personality factor was verified through the objective-actigraphic monitoring of the rest-activity cycle. Actigraphy allowed us to operationalise both circadian typology, through the computing of midpoint of sleep (early values, expressed in hours and minutes, correspond to an advanced phase of the sleep/wake cycle), and activity factor by the means of motor activity recording. Fifty-one individuals (30 females) wore an actigraph on the nondominant wrist continuously for 1 week. A negative correlation was observed between midpoint of sleep and mean diurnal motor activity, demonstrating that an early phase of the sleep/wake cycle (i.e. morningness preference) was related to higher diurnal motor activity. Assessed both subjectively and objectively, the results of both studies highlight a significant relationship between morningness and activity personality factor.
- Published
- 2015
48. Localizationism, antilocalizationism, and the emergence of the unitary construct of consciousness in Luigi Luciani (1840-1919)
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Giovanni Pietro Lombardo, Vilfredo De Pascalis, and Giorgia Morgese
- Subjects
History ,Opposition (planets) ,antilocalizationism ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Context (language use) ,mental functioning ,PsycINFO ,consciousness ,Unitary state ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Consciousness states ,psychology (all) ,0601 history and archaeology ,localizationism ,General Psychology ,Luigi Luciani ,history ,media_common ,Cognitive science ,06 humanities and the arts ,Experimental research ,060105 history of science, technology & medicine ,Consciousness ,Construct (philosophy) ,Psychology ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery - Abstract
This article aims to present the construct of unitary consciousness as it emerged in the work of the Italian physiologist Luigi Luciani (1840-1919). We highlight how Luciani's work, conducted during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, integrated experimental research with the clinical observation of patients, enabling him to develop elaborate theoretical conceptions. From our historical analysis of Luciani's main works, an innovative model of unitary consciousness emerges with respect to his contemporary context. We also propose Luciani's model as a contribution to the modern debate on consciousness. An analysis of his work, not considered up to now, leads us to reevaluate the assumption of an ancient opposition between localization and antilocalization in the history of cerebral localization. (PsycINFO Database Record
- Published
- 2017
49. Double dissociation between the neural correlates of the general and specific factors of the Life Orientation Test-Revised
- Author
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Guido Alessandri and Vilfredo De Pascalis
- Subjects
Adult ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Cognitive Neuroscience ,Inferior frontal gyrus ,Prefrontal Cortex ,Audiology ,Electroencephalography ,Gyrus Cinguli ,050105 experimental psychology ,Developmental psychology ,03 medical and health sciences ,Behavioral Neuroscience ,Young Adult ,0302 clinical medicine ,bifactor model ,inferior frontal cortex ,Life Orientation Test ,method effect ,method factors ,optimism ,cognitive neuroscience ,behavioral neuroscience ,medicine ,Humans ,0501 psychology and cognitive sciences ,Psychological testing ,Prefrontal cortex ,Neural correlates of consciousness ,Optimism ,Psychological Tests ,medicine.diagnostic_test ,05 social sciences ,Contrast (statistics) ,Alpha Rhythm ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Scalp ,Posterior cingulate ,Female ,Psychology ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery ,Personality - Abstract
In this article, we explore the neural correlates of the general and specific factors assessed by the Life Orientation Test–Revised. These factors have been shown to assess general optimism (GO) and a form of self-enhancement akin to unrealistic optimism (SP). Toward our aim, we used a standardized low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (sLORETA), which provides electroencephalographic (EEG) localization measures that are independent of recording reference. Resting-EEG and self-report measures of GO and SP were collected from 51 female undergraduates. EEGs were recorded across 29 scalp sites. Anterior and posterior source alpha asymmetries of cortical activation were obtained by using the sLORETA method. On the basis of previous research findings, ten frontal and six parietal regions of interest (ROIs) were derived. Alpha asymmetry in the posterior cingulate (i.e., BA31) was uniquely associated with GO. In contrast, SP was associated with areas of the inferior frontal gyrus (BA44, BA45) and with the left subcentralis area (BA43). Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are provided and discussed.
- Published
- 2017
50. The late posterior negativity in episodic memory: A correlate of stimulus retrieval?
- Author
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Salvatore De Vita, Vilfredo De Pascalis, and Kathrin Sommer
- Subjects
Adult ,Male ,medicine.medical_specialty ,genetic structures ,Computer science ,Memory, Episodic ,Event-Related Potentials ,Contingent Negative Variation ,Stimulus (physiology) ,Audiology ,behavioral disciplines and activities ,050105 experimental psychology ,Memory recognition ,memory ,Stimulus Complexity ,03 medical and health sciences ,Young Adult ,0302 clinical medicine ,stimulus complexity ,Memory task ,Event-related potential ,Physiology (medical) ,Task Performance and Analysis ,medicine ,Reaction Time ,Humans ,0501 psychology and cognitive sciences ,Episodic memory ,visual discrimination ,late posterior negativity ,General Neuroscience ,05 social sciences ,task difficulty ,neuroscience (all) ,neuropsychology and physiological psychology ,Negativity effect ,Electroencephalography ,Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology ,Visual discrimination ,Visual Perception ,Female ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery ,psychological phenomena and processes ,Photic Stimulation - Abstract
We investigated whether the late posterior negativity (LPN) is a component linked to stimulus retrieval or rather to complex, higher-order stimulus evaluation processes or response preparation processes. Participants performed three separate tasks across separate sessions: an encoding task, a memory recognition task, and a visual discrimination task. In the visual discrimination task, the difficulty of stimulus evaluation was manipulated via stimuli varying in complexity (easy vs. moderately difficult) and duration of stimulus presentation (short vs. long). Three indices of the LPN peak were examined: amplitude, latency, and width. The LPN was present in all three tasks, with maximum amplitudes at occipital sites. Results of the visual discrimination task showed that the LPN amplitude is modulated by task difficulty. No latency differences were observed between short and long presentations, suggesting that the LPN is not related to response preparation. Consequently, we compared the LPN associated with short presentations of easy and difficult stimuli with the LPN of the encoding and memory task. The LPN amplitude was more negative in the memory task compared to the other tasks. Latency and width of the LPN were modulated by stimulus complexity, with increased latency and width in the encoding and memory task relative to the visual discrimination task. Overall, these findings suggest that the LPN is not a component linked to stimulus retrieval and response preparation, but rather to complex, higher-order stimulus evaluation processes, which are modulated by task difficulty.
- Published
- 2017
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