Right hemisphere involvement in non-fluent primary progressive aphasia

We described a 56-years-old man with a diagnosis of "non-fluent primary progressive aphasia" (NfPPA). An accurate neuropsychological, neurological and neuroimaging evaluation was performed in order to assess clinical and behavioural features of the patient. From a neuropsychological point of view, the patient showed a typical cognitive profile of subjects affected by NfPPA: a prominent language deficit, associated with impairments in several cognitive domains after three years from the onset of the symptomatology. The most intriguing feature is that SPECT revealed hypoperfusion in the right frontal cortex, albeit the patient is right-handed. This unexpected finding shows that NfPPA may arise not only from cortical abnormalities in the language-dominant left hemisphere, but also from right hemisphere involvement in a right hander (crossed aphasia).     

Referral to group psychotherapy: a retrospective study on patients' personality features associated with clinicians' judgments

This study was designed to explore selected personality features of patients that are associated with clinicians' judgments about whom to refer to dynamic group psychotherapy versus individual therapy. Results suggested that an aspect of patients' adult attachment style, namely level of confidence and level of hostility, may have influenced the clinicians' judgments and decision making about treatment referrals.     

What can make the difference? Premature birth and maternal sensitivity at 3 months of age: the role of attachment organization, traumatic reaction and baby's medical risk

The influence of prematurity and maternal attachment organization on sensitivity was investigated in 40 mother–infant dyads. Results show a main effect of attachment and an interaction between attachment and prematurity. Sensitivity was differently associated with medical risk and mothers’ traumatic reaction, depending on the quality of attachment.     

Technology and Intimacy in the Philosophy of Georges Bataille

The goal of this article is to examine the nature of technology in view of Georges Bataille’s notion of intimacy. After providing a summary of Bataille’s critique of technology, I offer my response and show that a technological device can reach such a degree of familiarity that it becomes indistinguishable from our psychophysical personality. In this sense, we experience technology not as instrumentation, but in intimacy. The old theory of technology as organ-projection is, therefore, reinterpreted to produce a theory of technology that includes the technological process in its entirety, from the moment of invention and innovation, involving a movement of transcendence and objectification, to the moment of intimacy.

The Italian version of the Empathy Questionnaire for 18- to 36-months-old children: psychometric properties and measurement invariance across gender of the EmQue-I13

Empathy is the basic ability to respond affectively to the emotions of others and is observed early in human development. This study (N = 304) tested the Italian version of the Empathy Questionnaire (EmQue), which is a parent scale assessing empathy-related behaviors in toddlers. For this study, it was completed by participants’ mothers only. The EmQue measurement model and its factorial invariance across children’s gender were tested via confirmatory factor analysis. Highly satisfactory goodness-of-fit indexes were found for a three factor-structure (contagion, attention to the feelings of others and prosocial actions) with 13 loading items. Furthermore, the data supported invariance of measurement across gender groups. These results suggest that the EmQue-I13 is a reliable instrument for investigating empathy and prosocial behavior in 18- to 36-month-old children in the Italian context.     

Olfaction in autism spectrum disorders: A systematic review

Olfactory function is a well-known early biomarker for neurodegeneration and neural functioning in the adult population, being supported by a number of brain structures that could be dysfunctioning in neurodegenerative processes. Evidence has suggested that atypical sensory and, particularly, olfactory processing is present in several neurodevelopmental conditions, including autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). In this paper, we present data obtained by a systematic literature review, conducted according to PRISMA guidelines, regarding the possible association between olfaction and ASDs, and analyze them critically in order to evaluate the occurrence of olfactory impairment in ASDs, as well as the possible usefulness of olfactory evaluation in such conditions. The results obtained in this analysis suggested a possible involvement of olfactory impairment in ASDs, underlining the importance of olfactory evaluation in the clinical assessment of ASDs. This assessment could be potentially included as a complementary evaluation in the diagnostic protocol of the condition. Methods for study selection and inclusion criteria were specified in advance and documented in PROSPERO protocol #CRD42014013939.     

Clinical Mutual Attunement and the Development of Therapeutic Process: A Preliminary Study

Despite the identification of many factors that play a central role in the development of the psychotherapy process, there is still a lack of evidence about the basic relational mechanisms that pave the way to its working. In this pilot study, we focus on nonverbal microprocessual attunement as the basic mechanism grounding the displacing of discrete factors in shaping the clinical process. Two single sessions of two short-term psychodynamic treatments, selected respectively from a good- and a poor-outcome treatment, have been coded in terms of patient and therapist speech rate, coordination in ruptures, resolution of the therapeutic alliance, and patient's displayed thinking processes. Two dynamic structural equation models focusing on clinical attunement as a factor able to activate the interplay of the assessed clinical dimensions have been theoretically designed and tested in both cases. The driven theoretical structural equation models fit the data, suggesting a different role of nonverbal attunement as a moderating factor. The obtained results are consistent with the hypothesis claiming that a good-outcome psychotherapy session is characterized by a mechanism of clinical attunement that enforces the therapist–patient relationship and promotes the integration of formal thinking processes that affect emotional and cognitive domains.     

Neuromodulation can reduce aggressive behavior elicited by violent video games

Research has shown that exposure to violent media increases aggression. However, the neural underpinnings of violent-media-related aggression are poorly understood. Additionally, few experiments have tested hypotheses concerning how to reduce violent-media-related aggression. In this experiment, we focused on a brain area involved in the regulation of aggressive impulses—the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (rVLPFC). We tested the hypothesis that brain polarization through anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over rVLPFC reduces aggression related to violent video games. Participants (N = 79) were randomly assigned to play a violent or a nonviolent video game while receiving anodal or sham stimulation. Afterward, participants aggressed against an ostensible partner using the Taylor aggression paradigm (Taylor Journal of Personality, 35, 297–310, 1967), which measures both unprovoked and provoked aggression. Among those who received sham stimulation, unprovoked aggression was significantly higher for violent-game players than for nonviolent-game players. Among those who received anodal stimulation, unprovoked aggression did not differ for violent- and nonviolent-game players. Thus, anodal stimulation reduced unprovoked aggression in violent-game players. No significant effects were found for provoked aggression, suggesting tit-for-tat responding. This experiment sheds light on one possible neural underpinning of violent-media-related aggression—the rVLPFC, a brain area involved in regulating negative feelings and aggressive impulses.