Encephalon Mri in 4-12 Years Old Children: How Pain, Fear and Sadness Regulation Affect MRI Image Quality.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging is often difficult to conduct, especially in children, because of restricted space, forced immobility, and loud noises. Providing children with adequate and age-appropriate information about the procedurecould reduce the use of anesthesia, the time and cost necessary . This research investigated the emotional regulation skills of children when provided with an information and orientation task before the examination. Analogical scales were used to measure the levels of fear, pleasure, and pain felt by 60 children who were waiting for a brain magnetic Resonance in two hospitals in Milan . Data collection took place at three different junctures; upon children's arrival at the hospital, following their preparation for this experience, and after the examination. Results showed that preparing children for the procedure helped to reduce anxiety and provided a space for them to externalize and self-regulate their emotional experiences. To combine the information strategy with the lived experiences allows the patient to anticipate the examination and to experience it in a simulation context, thus coming to the real examination more prepared and less emotionally activated. Preparation has a positive effect on children of all ages, particularly 4- to 7-year-old's. Moreover, fear regulation is associated with improved Magnetic resonance quality.

The Editing Density of Moving Images Influences Viewers' Time Perception: The Mediating Role of Eye Movements.

The present study examined whether cinematographic editing density affects viewers' perception of time. As a second aim, based on embodied models that conceive time perception as strictly connected to the movement, we tested the hypothesis that the editing density of moving images also affects viewers' eye movements and that these later mediate the effect of editing density on viewers' temporal judgments. Seventy participants watched nine video clips edited by manipulating the number of cuts (slow- and fast-paced editing against a master shot, unedited condition). For each editing density, multiple video clips were created, representing three different kinds of routine actions. The participants' eye movements were recorded while watching the video, and the participants were asked to report duration judgments and subjective passage of time judgments after watching each clip. The results showed that participants subjectively perceived that time flew more while watching fast-paced edited videos than slow-paced or unedited videos; by contrast, concerning duration judgments, participants overestimated the duration of fast-paced videos compared to the master-shot videos. Both the slow- and the fast-paced editing generated shorter fixations than the master shot, and the fast-paced editing led to shorter fixations than the slow-paced editing. Finally, compared to the unedited condition, editing led to an overestimation of durations through increased eye mobility. These findings suggest that the editing density of moving images by increasing the number of cuts effectively altered viewers' experience of time and add further evidence to prior research showing that performed eye movement is associated with temporal judgments.

Cognitive Reserve and Driving-Related Cognitive Abilities in a Sample of Oldest Old Drivers Undergoing Assessment of Fitness to Drive.

This study examines the relationship between age, cognitive reserve (CR), and driving-related cognitive abilities in a sample of oldest old drivers undergoing evaluation of fitness to drive. Structural equation modeling was used to investigate the associations between age, CR, and performances to a standardized set of cognitive tests assessing fitness to drive. Education and work complexity were used as proxy measures of CR. The results showed both measures of CR, but not age, were significantly associated with higher general intelligence. Education also predicted higher decision speed, and decision speed partly mediated the effect of education on general intelligence. These findings suggest that over age of 80 years old, CR was a better predictor of driving-related cognitive abilities than age. Education was associated with better performance across different cognitive domains including processing speed.

The role of the dorsal striatum in the recognition of emotions expressed by voice in Parkinson's disease.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Non-motor impairment such as emotion recognition deficit in both facial and vocal expressions has been previously reported in Parkinson's disease (PD). We investigated whether the decoding of emotional prosody is impaired in PD and whether this deficit is related to striatal damage. METHODS: Fifteen PD patients and 15 healthy controls (HCs) were requested to listen to six audio tracks and to recognize the emotions expressed by a professional actor while reading a meaning-neutral sentence. All subjects also received a structural MRI examination. Volumetric measurements were extracted for the striatum, a key region involved in emotional processing and typically impaired in PD. RESULTS: Decoding sadness conveyed by voice was impaired in PD compared with HC and was related to the volume of the dorsal striatum bilaterally. CONCLUSIONS: The dorsal striatum is involved in the decoding of vocal negative emotions in PD.

The coconstruction of interpersonal recognition in the clinical dialogue of the diagnostic process: A multilevel analysis of the verbal content and vocal nonverbal dimension.

The present study is an empirical evaluation of a clinical setting from a particular point of view, able to integrate the vocal dimension-used in different fields of psychology as an indicator of rational phenomena-with the linguistic dimension of contents. Starting from the "interpersonal recognition" extracted from the contents of the verbatim transcripts of some diagnostic processes using the Strumento di Valutazione del Riconoscimento Interpersonale (Evaluation Tool for Interpersonal Recognition), the variation of vocal parameters both in the clinician and in the patient were analyzed. The goal consists in identifying possible nonverbal vocal micro indicators used in the dyadic process of interpersonal recognition. Specific and bidimensional nonverbal vocal patterns and strategies are hypothetically matched with different efficacy levels of recognition, both for the clinician and the patient.

More Than Defense in Daily Experience of Privacy: The Functions of Privacy in Digital and Physical Environments.

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the experience of privacy, focusing on its functional role in personal well-being. A sample (N = 180) comprised subjects between 18 and 50 years of age were asked to spontaneously provide accounts of their experiences with privacy and answer close-ended questions to acquire a description of a daily experience of privacy. The results showed the importance attributed to the function of privacy related to the "defense from social threats", and the twofold function of privacy related to an "achieved state of privacy", in the terms of both "system maintenance" and "system development". The results also shed light on the role of the environment in shaping one's experience of privacy. Specifically, the participants recognized more easily the function of defense from threats related to seeking privacy while interacting in digital environments, whereas they seemed to benefit from positive functions related to an achieved state of privacy in physical environments. The findings sustain the notion of privacy as a supportive condition for some psychological processes involved in the positive human functioning and confirm previous studies conducted on the role of privacy in human well-being.

How does a collision warning system shape driver's brake response time? The influence of expectancy and automation complacency on real-life emergency braking.

Brake Reaction Time (BRT) is an important parameter for road safety. Previous research has shown that drivers' expectations can impact RT when facing hazardous situations, but driving with advanced driver assistance systems, can change the way BRT are considered. The interaction with a collision warning system can help faster more efficient responses, but at the same time can require a monitoring task and evaluation process that may lead to automation complacency. The aims of the present study are to test in a real-life setting whether automation compliancy can be generated by a collision warning system and what component of expectancy can impact the different tasks involved in an assisted BRT process. More specifically four component of expectancy were investigated: presence/absence of anticipatory information, previous direct experience, reliability of the device, and predictability of the hazard determined by repeated use of the warning system. Results supply indication on perception time and mental elaboration of the collision warning system alerts. In particular reliable warning quickened the decision making process, misleading warnings generated automation complacency slowing visual search for hazard detection, lack of directed experienced slowed the overall response while unexpected failure of the device lead to inattentional blindness and potential pseudo-accidents with surprise obstacle intrusion.