Factorial and Construct Validity of FACES IV Among Italian Adolescents

The aims of this study were to evaluate the reliability, validity and factorial structure of Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scale, Version IV (FACES IV), investigate the relevance of sex and age on family functioning and study the relationship between family functioning and adolescents’ perception of parent and peer attachment. The sample consisted of 1,416 participants (672 women, 744 men, M_age = 17.38 years; age range = 13–22 years) divided into three age groups: 13–15, 16–18, and 19–22 years. Factor analysis confirmed the dimensions formulated to define the construct of family functioning: all the items of each dimension were loaded in the same factor with a correlation of at least 0.30. Groups differed with regard to the age on Cohesion, Enmeshed and Rigid scales: Younger adolescents (age 13–15 years) showed significantly higher scores than adolescents (age 16–18 and 19–22). Sex differences revealed that females had a higher mean score on Cohesion and Flexibility, whereas males had a higher mean score on Disengaged, Enmeshed and Chaotic. Correlations between FACES IV and Parent and Peer Attachment Scale demonstrated the convergent validity of the FACES IV. Data confirmed the validity of FACES IV’s Italian version and suggested that the Circumplex Model has a cross-cultural applicability and it could be a useful instrument in the Italian context.     

Limits in controlling the focus of attention

Abstract

In a series of five experiments, we attempted to answer three questions concerning the flexibility of visuospatial attention: Is it possible to exert control on the shape of the attentional focus? Can attention be distributed not uniformly but in a gradient fashion within the focus? Does the way in which attentional resources are distributed within the focus affect the way in which they are distributed outside its borders? We provide evidence indicating that observers successfully allocated attention to the cued region. When the cued region was demarcated by a polygon, target detection was speeded up within the polygon. The results also show that the observers were unable to suppress information arising from an irrelevant location falling between two relevant locations (Experiments 1, 2, 3A and 3B). In accord with the zoom lens model, we interpret these results as suggesting that attention forms a unitary zone that may expand to encompass multiple relevant locations but must also include the area between them. In addition, we found that some sort of lateral masking effect occurred when the borders were close to the target location. In Experiment 4, we obtained a gradient inside     

Tools for the body (schema)

What happens in our brain when we use a tool to reach for a distant object? Recent neurophysiological, psychological and neuropsychological research suggests that this extended motor capability is followed by changes in specific neural networks that hold an updated map of body shape and posture (the putative "Body Schema" of classical neurology). These changes are compatible with the notion of the inclusion of tools in the "Body Schema", as if our own effector (e.g. the hand) were elongated to the tip of the tool. In this review we present empirical support for this intriguing idea from both single-neuron recordings in the monkey brain and behavioural performance of normal and brain-damaged humans. These relatively simple neural and behavioural aspects of tool-use shed light on more complex evolutionary and cognitive aspects of body representation and multisensory space coding for action.     

Attending to objects: costs or benefits?

The single-object advantage is said to occur when performance is faster and/or more accurate when the two targets to be compared appear on one object than when they appear on two different objects. The single-object advantage has been interpreted to suggest that attention can select objects rather than unparsed regions of visual space. In five experiments we explored whether directing attention to one object rather than two objects produces a benefit or a minor cost. Participants were required to compare two target features that belonged to one object, to two objects, or did not belong to any object. In addition, we varied the relevance to the task of object-related global information, such as symmetry of the object and perceptual cluttering of the background. Results showed that attending to one object in comparison to attending to no object produced a benefit only when object-related global information was relevant to the task. In contrast, when object-related global information was irrelevant to the task, attending to one object produced a cost. Thus, it can be concluded that attending to an object does not produce an absolute benefit, but rather produces a smaller cost than attending to two objects.     

The neural correlates of happiness: A review of PET and fMRI studies using autobiographical recall methods

Although very difficult to define, happiness is becoming a core concept within contemporary psychology and affective neuroscience. In the last two decades, the increased use of neuroimaging techniques has facilitated empirical study of the neural correlates of happiness. This area of research utilizes procedures that induce positive emotion and mood, and autobiographical recall is one of the most widely used and effective approaches. In this article, we review eight positron emission tomography and seven functional magnetic resonance imaging studies that have investigated happiness by using autobiographical recall to induce emotion. Regardless of the neuroimaging technique used, the studies conducted so far have shown that remembering happy events is primarily associated with the activation of many areas, including anterior cingulate cortex, prefrontal cortex, and insula. Importantly, these areas are also found to be connected with other basic emotions, such as sadness and anger. In the conclusion, we integrate these findings, discussing important limitations of the extant literature and suggesting new research directions.