Optical coherence tomography of the macular ganglion cell layer in children with neurofibromatosis type 1 is a useful tool in the assessment for optic pathway gliomas.

BACKGROUND: Optic pathway glioma (OPG) is a feared complication to neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) since it can cause visual impairment in young children. The main goal of screening is to detect symptomatic OPGs that require treatment. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has been suggested as a tool for detection of neuro-retinal damage. AIMS: To investigate whether the ganglion cell layer assessed by OCT is a reliable measure to identify and detect relapses of symptomatic OPGs in children with NF1. METHODS: Children (3-6 years) with NF1, with and without known OPG and children with sporadic OPG (S-OPG) resident in the Stockholm area, were invited and followed in a prospective study during a three-year period. Brain magnetic resonance tomography (MRI) had been performed in children with symptoms of OPG. Outcome measures were VA in logMAR, visual field index (VFI), average thicknesses of the ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer (GC-IPL), and peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (pRNFL). RESULTS: There were 25 children with MRI-verified OPG and 52 with NF1 without symptomatic OPG. Eyes from NF1 patients without symptoms of OPG showed significantly better results in all four analyzed parameters compared to eyes with NF1-associated OPG. Mean GC-IPL measurements seemed stable and reliable, significantly correlated to pRNFL (correlation coefficient (r) = 0.662, confidence interval (CI) = .507 to .773 p<0.001), VA (r = -0.661, CI = -7.45 to -.551, p<0.001) and VFI (r = 0.644, CI = .452 to .774, p<0.001). GC-IPL measurements were easy to obtain and acquired at considerably younger age than pRNFL (5.6±1.5 vs 6.8±1.3; p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The mean GC-IPL thickness could distinguish well between eyes with OPG and eyes without symptomatic OPG in children with NF1. As thinning of GC-IPL assessed with OCT could indicate underlying OPG, it should be included in the screening protocol of children with questionable VA measurements and in particular in children with NF1.

PsycAssist: A Web-Based Artificial Intelligence System Designed for Adaptive Neuropsychological Assessment and Training.

Assessing executive functions in individuals with disorders or clinical conditions can be challenging, as they may lack the abilities needed for conventional test formats. The use of more personalized test versions, such as adaptive assessments, might be helpful in evaluating individuals with specific needs. This paper introduces PsycAssist, a web-based artificial intelligence system designed for neuropsychological adaptive assessment and training. PsycAssist is a highly flexible and scalable system based on procedural knowledge space theory and may be used potentially with many types of tests. We present the architecture and adaptive assessment engine of PsycAssist and the two currently available tests: Adap-ToL, an adaptive version of the Tower of London-like test to assess planning skills, and MatriKS, a Raven-like test to evaluate fluid intelligence. Finally, we describe the results of an investigation of the usability of Adap-ToL and MatriKS: the evaluators perceived these tools as appropriate and well-suited for their intended purposes, and the test-takers perceived the assessment as a positive experience. To sum up, PsycAssist represents an innovative and promising tool to tailor evaluation and training to the specific characteristics of the individual, useful for clinical practice.

Learning Landscape in Gamification: The Need for a Methodological Protocol in Research Applications.

In education, the term "gamification" refers to of the use of game-design elements and gaming experiences in the learning processes to enhance learners' motivation and engagement. Despite researchers' efforts to evaluate the impact of gamification in educational settings, several methodological drawbacks are still present. Indeed, the number of studies with high methodological rigor is reduced and, consequently, so are the reliability of results. In this work, we identified the key concepts explaining the methodological issues in the use of gamification in learning and education, and we exploited the controverses identified in the extant literature. Our final goal was to set up a checklist protocol that will facilitate the design of more rigorous studies in the gamified-learning framework. The checklist suggests potential moderators explaining the link between gamification, learning, and education identified by recent reviews, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses: study design, theory foundations, personalization, motivation and engagement, game elements, game design, and learning outcomes.

Comparison of short-stretch bandage and long-stretch bandage for post-traumatic hand edema.

INTRODUCTION AND IMPORTANCE: Hand edema is a common post-surgical or traumatic complication in orthopedic patients, necessitating effective treatment interventions. This study aimed to investigate the effects of two different types of bandages, along with finger flexion exercises, on managing hand edema. CASE PRESENTATION: Our orthopedic patients with post-surgical or traumatic hand edema and three non-edematous hands were enrolled in the study. A mixed model effect with fixed factors of time (pre-post) and bandage type (M, C, N), and random factors of hand, edema, fingers, and phalanges was applied. The bandage types were circular with short elastic bandage (M) and circular with elastic bandage (C). Finger flexion exercises involved alternating contractions of extrinsic and intrinsic flexors. Randomization ensured unbiased allocation to bandage types. CLINICAL DISCUSSION: The M bandage demonstrated a significant reduction in hand edema by effectively moving free fluids, reinforcing tissue hydrostatic pressure, and facilitating venous and lymphatic flow. On the other hand, the C bandage did not produce significant pre-post differences in hand circumference. CONCLUSIONS: The combination of a circular bandage with finger flexion exercises shows promise in reducing hand edema in orthopedic patients. Particularly, the stiff bandage M exhibited superior efficacy compared to the elastic one C in reducing hand circumference. These findings provide valuable insights for clinical practice, offering an effective strategy for managing hand edema and promoting better patient outcomes.

Preliminary evidence on machine learning approaches for clusterizing students' cognitive profile.

Assessing the cognitive abilities of students in academic contexts can provide valuable insights for teachers to identify their cognitive profile and create personalized teaching strategies. While numerous studies have demonstrated promising outcomes in clustering students based on their cognitive profiles, effective comparisons between various clustering methods are lacking in the current literature. In this study, we aim to compare the effectiveness of two clustering techniques to group students based on their cognitive abilities including general intelligence, attention, visual perception, working memory, and phonological awareness. 292 students, aged 11-15 years, participated in the study. A two-level approach based on the joint use of Kohonen's Self-Organizing Map (SOMs) and k-means clustering algorithm was compared with an approach based on the k-means clustering algorithm only. The resulting profiles were then predicted via AdaBoost and ANN supervised algorithms. The results showed that the two-level approach provides the best solution for this problem while the ANN algorithm was the winner in the classification problem. These results laying the foundations for developing a useful instrument for predicting the students' cognitive profile.

Abstract and concrete concepts in conversation.

Concepts allow us to make sense of the world. Most evidence on their acquisition and representation comes from studies of single decontextualized words and focuses on the opposition between concrete and abstract concepts (e.g., "bottle" vs. "truth"). A significant step forward in research on concepts consists in investigating them in online interaction during their use. Our study examines linguistic exchanges analyzing the differences between sub-kinds of concepts. Participants were submitted to an online task in which they had to simulate a conversational exchange by responding to sentences involving sub-kinds of concrete (tools, animals, food) and abstract concepts (PS, philosophical-spiritual; EMSS, emotional-social, PSTQ, physical-spatio-temporal-quantitative). We found differences in content: foods evoked interoception; tools and animals elicited materials, spatial, auditive features, confirming their sensorimotor grounding. PS and EMSS yielded inner experiences (e.g., emotions, cognitive states, introspections) and opposed PSTQ, tied to visual properties and concrete agency. More crucially, the various concepts elicited different interactional dynamics: more abstract concepts generated higher uncertainty and more interactive exchanges than concrete ones. Investigating concepts in situated interactions opens new possibilities for studying conceptual knowledge and its pragmatic and social aspects.

General Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer in humans: Evidence from Bayesian inference.

When repeatedly paired with rewarding outcomes (i.e., Pavlovian conditioning), environmental cues may acquire predictive and motivational significance and later enhance instrumental responding for the same (i.e., outcome-specific transfer) or motivationally similar (i.e., general transfer) outcomes. Although outcome-specific and general Pavlovian-to-Instrumental Transfer (PIT) are characterized by different neural substrates and behavioral mechanisms, general transfer has never been studied in isolation from outcome-specific transfer in humans. The first aim of the present study was to test whether the general transfer effect could emerge in isolation and independently of outcome-specific transfer. Our results showed that general transfer can be elicited without the concurrent presence of outcome-specific transfer, supporting the idea that outcome-specific and general transfer can be studied independently of each other. The second aim of the present study was to clarify whether the affordance-like properties of the outcomes can affect the general transfer. In fact, a critical difference in current studies on general transfer concerns the use of cues associated with outcomes for which an action was previously learned (or not) during the instrumental training. This apparently minor difference affects the affordance-like properties of the outcome and may also be transferred to the cue, in turn impacting general transfer. Results revealed a general transfer of the same magnitude regardless of whether cues were associated with reward earned or not during instrumental conditioning. These findings increase the current knowledge on the incentive motivational mechanism behind general transfer, indicating that it is independent of the motor features of the outcome.

Interaction effect: Are you doing the right thing?

How to correctly interpret interaction effects has been largely discussed in scientific literature. Nevertheless, misinterpretations are still frequently observed, and neuroscience is not exempt from this trend. We reviewed 645 papers published from 2019 to 2020 and found that, in the 93.2% of studies reporting a statistically significant interaction effect (N = 221), post-hoc pairwise comparisons were the designated method adopted to interpret its results. Given the widespread use of this approach, we aim to: (1) highlight its limitations and how it can lead to misinterpretations of the interaction effect; (2) discuss more effective and powerful ways to correctly interpret interaction effects, including both explorative and model selection procedures. The paper provides practical examples and freely accessible online materials to reproduce all analyses.

Unifying Evidence on Delay Discounting: Open Task, Analysis Tutorial, and Normative Data from an Italian Sample.

Despite the widespread use of the delay discounting task in clinical and non-clinical contexts, several task versions are available in the literature, making it hard to compare results across studies. Moreover, normative data are not available to evaluate individual performances. The present study aims to propose a unified version of the delay discounting task based on monetary rewards and it provides normative values built on an Italian sample of 357 healthy participants. The most used parameters in the literature to assess the delay discount rate were compared to find the most valid index to discriminate between normative data and a clinical population who typically present impulsivity issues, i.e., patients with a lesion to the medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC). In line with our hypothesis, mOFC patients showed higher delay discounting scores than the normative sample and the normative group. Based on this evidence, we propose that the task and indexes here provided can be used to identify extremely high (above the 90th percentile for hyperbolic k or below the 10th percentile for AUC) or low (below the 10th percentile for hyperbolic k or above the 90th percentile for AUC) delay discounting performances. The complete dataset, the R code used to perform all analyses, a free and modifiable version of the delay discounting task, as well as the R code that can be used to extract all indexes from such tasks and compare subjective performances with the normative data here presented are available as online materials.

Is justice grounded? How expertise shapes conceptual representation of institutional concepts.

Using abstract concepts is a hallmark of human cognition. While multiple kinds of abstract concepts exist, they so far have been conceived as a unitary kind in opposition to concrete ones. Here, we focus on Institutional concepts, like justice or norm, investigating their fine-grained differences with respect to other kinds of abstract and concrete concepts, and exploring whether their representation varies according to individual proficiency. Specifically, we asked experts and non-experts in the legal field to evaluate four kinds of concepts (i.e., institutional, theoretical, food, artefact) on 16 dimensions: abstractness-concreteness; imageability; contextual availability; familiarity; age of acquisition; modality of acquisition; social valence; social metacognition; arousal; valence; interoception; metacognition; perceptual modality strength; body-object interaction; mouth and hand involvement. Results showed that Institutional concepts rely more than other categories on linguistic/social and inner experiences and are primarily characterized by positive valence. In addition, a more subtle characterization of the institutional domain emerged: Pure-institutional concepts (e.g., parliament) were perceived as more similar to technical tools, while Meta-institutional concepts (e.g., validity) were characterized mainly by abstract components. Importantly, for what concerns individual proficiency, we found that the level of expertise affects conceptual representation. Only law-experts associated Institutional concepts with exteroceptive and emotional experiences, showing also a more grounded and situated representation of the two types of institutional concepts. Overall, our finding highlights the richness and flexibility of abstract concepts and suggests that they differ in the degree of embodiment and grounding. Implications of the results for current theories of conceptual representation and social institutions are discussed.

Articulatory suppression delays processing of abstract words: The role of inner speech.

Compared to concrete concepts, like "book," abstract concepts expressed by words like "justice" are more detached from sensorial experiences, even though they are also grounded in sensorial modalities. Abstract concepts lack a single object as referent and are characterised by higher variability both within and across participants. According to the Word as Social Tool (WAT) proposal, owing to their complexity, abstract concepts need to be processed with the help of inner language. Inner language can namely help participants to re-explain to themselves the meaning of the word, to keep information active in working memory, and to prepare themselves to ask information from more competent people. While previous studies have demonstrated that the mouth is involved during abstract concepts' processing, both the functional role and the mechanisms underlying this involvement still need to be clarified. We report an experiment in which participants were required to evaluate whether 78 words were abstract or concrete by pressing two different pedals. During the judgement task, they were submitted, in different blocks, to a baseline, an articulatory suppression, and a manipulation condition. In the last two conditions, they had to repeat a syllable continually and to manipulate a softball with their dominant hand. Results showed that articulatory suppression slowed down the processing of abstract more than that of concrete words. Overall results confirm the WAT proposal's hypothesis that abstract concepts processing involves the mouth motor system and specifically inner speech. We discuss the implications for current theories of conceptual representation.

Validation of the Italian Version of the Behavioral Inhibition Questionnaire (BIQ) for Preschool Children.

Behavioral Inhibition (BI) is a temperamental trait characterized by fear and wariness in reaction to new and unfamiliar stimuli, both social and non-social. BI has been recognized as possible forerunner of anxiety disorders, especially social anxiety and phobia; therefore, its assessment is clinically relevant. The present study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of the Italian adaptation of the Behavioral Inhibition Questionnaire (BIQ), which measures BI in preschool children. The BIQ was completed by 417 Italian parents (230 mothers, 187 fathers) of 270 preschoolers aged 3-5. Confirmatory factor analysis showed a good internal validity: the factorial structure was corresponding to the original six-factor version. Results showed excellent internal consistency, significant item-total correlations, good inter-rater reliability, convergent validity (by correlating the BIQ with the Italian Questionnaires of Temperament-QUIT, the Anxiety-Shy Conner's Scale and the Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery) and discriminant validity (i.e., no correlation with Conners' ADHD scale). Significant correlations emerged between BI indexes and total BIQ scores of parents and maternal (but not paternal) versions of the questionnaire. Altogether, the results are promising and consistent with previous validation studies, suggesting the BIQ as a reliable and valid measure for evaluating parents' perception of BI in Italian preschoolers.

A Model of the Effects of Parental Illness on Youth Adjustment and Family Functioning: The Moderating Effects of Psychological Flexibility on Youth Caregiving and Stress.

Parental chronic illness may adversely impact youth and family functioning. This study examined a moderated mediation model of the effects of parental illness on youth and family functioning derived from the Family Ecology Framework. Consistent with this model, we predicted that youth caregiving and stress would serially mediate the adverse impacts of parental illness on youth adjustment and family functioning and that psychological flexibility would moderate these mediational mechanisms. A total of 387 youth, with parents affected by chronic illness, completed a questionnaire assessing parental illness severity, youth caregiving and stress, psychological flexibility, youth adjustment (i.e., internalizing and externalizing problems and psychological wellbeing), and family functioning. Path analyses indicated that the adverse effects of parental illness on youth adjustment and family functioning were serially mediated by youth caregiving and stress. Psychological flexibility buffered the adverse effects of these serial mediators on youth internalizing problems and psychological wellbeing. These findings identified three potential intervention targets: youth caregiving, related stress appraisals, and psychological flexibility. Given the large body of evidence showing that acceptance and commitment therapy fosters psychological flexibility, this intervention approach has the potential to address the psychosocial and mental health vulnerabilities of youth in the context of parental illness, which constitutes a serious public health issue.

Assessing the impact of previous experience on lie effects through a transfer paradigm.

Influential lines of research propose dual processes-based explanations to account for both the cognitive cost implied in lying and for that entailed in the resolution of the conflict posited by Simon tasks. The emergence and consistency of the Simon effect has been proved to be modulated by both practice effects and transfer effects. Although several studies provided evidence that the lying cognitive demand may vary as a function of practice, whether and how transfer effects could also play a role remains an open question. We addressed this question with one experiment in which participants completed a Differentiation of Deception Paradigm twice (baseline and test sessions). Crucially, between the baseline and the test sessions, participants performed a training session consisting in a spatial compatibility task with incompatible (condition 1) or compatible (condition 2) mapping, a non-spatial task (condition 3) and a no task one (condition 4). Results speak in favour of a modulation of individual performances by means of an immediate prior experience, and specifically with an incompatible spatial training.

Visuo-motor integration, vision perception and attention in mTBI patients. Preliminary findings.

Patients with mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBI) often report difficulties in motor coordination and visuo-spatial attention. However, the consequences of mTBI on fine motor and visuo-motor coordination are still not well understood. We aimed to evaluate whether mTBI had a concomitant effect on fine motor ability and visuo-motor integration and whether this is related to visual perception and visuo-spatial attention impairments, including patients at different symptoms stage. Eleven mTBI patients (mean age 22.8 years) and ten healthy controls participated in the study. Visuo-motor integration of fine motor abilities and form recognition were measured with the Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration test, motion perception was evaluated with motion coherence test, critical flicker fusion was measured with Pocket CFF tester. Visuo-spatial was assessed with the Ruff 2 & 7 Selection Attention Test. mTBI patients showed reduced visuo-motor integration, form recognition, and motor deficits as well as visuo-spatial attention impairment, while motion perception and critical flicker fusion were not impaired. These preliminary findings suggest that the temporary brain insults deriving from mTBI compromise fine motor skills, visuomotor integration, form recognition, and visuo-spatial attention. The impairment in visuo-motor coordination was associated with speed in visuo-attention and correlated with symptoms severity while motor ability was correlated with time since concussion. Given the strong correlation between visuomotor coordination and symptom severity, further investigation with a larger sample seems warranted. Since there appeared to be differences in motor skills with respect to symptom stage, further research is needed to investigate symptom profiles associated with visuomotor coordination and fine motor deficits in mTBI patients.

Developmental trajectories of global motion and global form perception from 4 years to adulthood.

Literature on the development of global motion and global form perception demonstrated their asynchronous developmental trajectories. However, former studies have failed to clearly establish the critical period of maturation for these specific abilities. This study aimed to analyze the developmental trajectories of global motion and global form discrimination abilities by controlling for basic visual functions and general cognitive ability and to present the global motion and global form normative scores. A sample of 456 children and adolescents (4-17 years of age) and 76 adults recruited from the Italian and Swedish general population participated in the study. Motion and form perception were evaluated by the motion coherence test and form coherence test, respectively. Raven's matrices were used to assess general cognitive ability, the Lea Hyvärinen chart test was used for full- and low-contrast visual acuity, and the TNO test was used for stereopsis. General cognitive ability and basic visual functions were strongly related to motion and form perception development. Global motion perception had an accelerated maturation compared with global form perception. For motion perception, an analysis of the oblique effect's development showed that it is present at 4 years of age. The standardized scores of global motion and form coherence tests can be used for clinical purposes.

The physiological correlates of interpersonal space.

Interpersonal space (IPS) is the area around the body that individuals maintain between themselves and others during social interactions. When others violate our IPS, feeling of discomfort rise up, urging us to move farther away and reinstate an appropriate interpersonal distance. Previous studies showed that when individuals are exposed to closeness of an unknown person (a confederate), the skin conductance response (SCR) increases. However, if the SCR is modulated according to participant's preferred IPS is still an open question. To test this hypothesis, we recorded the SCR in healthy participants when a confederate stood in front of them at various distances simulating either an approach or withdrawal movement (Experiment 1). Then, the comfort-distance task was adopted to measure IPS: participants stop the confederate, who moved either toward or away from them, when they felt comfortable with other's proximity (Experiment 2). We found higher SCR when the confederate stood closer to participants simulating an IPS intrusion, compared to when the confederate moved farther away. Crucially, we provide the first evidence that SCR, acting as a warning signal, contributes to interpersonal distance preference suggesting a functional link between behavioral components of IPS regulation and the underlying physiological processes.

Reciprocal Influence of Depressive Symptoms Between Mothers and Fathers During the First Postpartum Year: A Comparison Among Full-Term, Very Low, and Extremely Low Birth Weight Infants.

Background: Perinatal depression (PND) in mothers and fathers of very low and extremely low birth weight (VLBW and ELBW) infants has not been studied extensively. In particular, no studies investigated the reciprocal influence of depressive symptoms during the first 12 months postpartum. This study aimed at exploring the impact of the severity of prematurity on maternal and paternal PND during the first postpartum year; specifically, we used an Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM) to test the interdependence of both partners on depressive symptoms. Methods: A total of 177 mothers and 177 fathers were recruited, divided into 38 couples with ELBW infants, 56 with VLBW, and 83 of full-term (FT) infants. PND was evaluated by the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) at 3, 9, and 12 months postpartum (corrected age for preterm infants). Results: Maternal depressive symptoms at 3 months were positively related to those at 9 and 12 months in the 3 groups. Conversely, paternal depressive symptoms assessed at 3 months were positively related to those measured at 9 months for the ELBW group, 12 months for the VLBW group, 9 and 12 months for FT condition. Furthermore, a significantly positive partner effect was observed regarding the influence of 3 month maternal depressive symptoms on paternal depressive symptoms at 9 months, but only in the case of the VLBW group. Conclusion: Prematurity represents a very specific scenario in the transition to parenthood, leading to specific reactions in mothers and fathers, especially in high-risk conditions. Results should be deepened given the relevance of their clinical implications.

Preliminary Validation of the CI-FRA Checklist: A Simple Screening Tool for Measuring the Early Signs of Reading and Spelling Disorders in Italian Primary Students.

Although several screening tests for recognizing early signs of reading and spelling difficulties have been developed, brief and methodologically grounded tools for teachers are very limited. The present study aimed to lay the foundation for a new screening tool for teachers: the Checklist for early Indicators of risk Factors in Reading Ability (CI-FRA). The proposed checklist consists of 20 items, based on a 7-point Likert scale, and it investigates five domains: reading, writing, attention, and motor skills. Six hundred sixty-seven children were evaluated by 40 teachers during the first year of primary school and, longitudinally, in the second year. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were applied to verify structural validity. Concurrent validity was assessed by Spearman correlation to analyze the link between CI-FRA and reading and spelling standardized tests and cognitive tests. Reliability was assessed by Cronbach α and interclass correlation coefficient. The CFA reported a three-factor structure as the optimal solution, including language (reading and writing), visuospatial attention, and fine motor skills subscales. Good reliability, good internal consistency, and acceptable test-retest indices were found. Concurrent validity was confirmed by significant correlations between CI-FRA total score and standardized reading and spelling test, as well as by correlations between CI-FRA subscales and neuropsychological standardized test scores. Preliminary evaluation of sensitivity by receiver operating characteristic curves showed that the CI-FRA score has particularly high sensitivity and specificity for word reading speed deficit. In conclusion, the results confirm that CI-FRA is a theoretically grounded and statistically valid tool that could help the teachers to screen for early signs of reading and spelling difficulties.