Virtual reality technology in neuropsychological testing: A systematic review

Neuropsychological testing aims to measure individuals' cognitive abilities (e.g. memory, attention), analysing their performance on specific behavioural tasks. Most neuropsychological tests are administered in the so-called ‘paper-and-pencil’ modality or via computerised protocols. The adequacy of these procedures has been recently questioned, with more specific concerns about their ecological validity, i.e. the relation between test scores observed in the laboratory setting and the actual everyday cognitive functioning. In developing more ecological tasks, researchers started to implement virtual reality (VR) technology as an administration technique focused on exposing individuals to simulated but realistic stimuli and environments, maintaining at the same time a controlled laboratory setting and collecting advanced measures of cognitive functioning. This systematic review aims to present how VR procedures for neuropsychological testing have been implemented in the last years. We initially explain the rationale for supporting VR as an advanced assessment tool, but we also discuss the challenges and risks that can limit the widespread implementation of this technology. Then, we systematised the large body of studies adopting VR for neuropsychological testing, describing the VR tools' distribution amongst different cognitive functions through a PRISMA-guided systematic review. The systematic review highlighted that only very few instruments are ready for clinical use, reporting psychometric proprieties (e.g. validity) and providing normative data. Most of the tools still need to be standardised on large cohorts of participants, having published only limited data on small samples up to now. Finally, we discussed the possible future directions of the VR neuropsychological test development linked to technological advances.     

Variants of biculturalism in migrant and host adolescents living in Italy and Spain: Testing the importance of life domains through the Relative Acculturation Extended Model

Several variants of biculturalism have recently been proposed (Schwartz, Birman, Benet‐Martínez, & Unger, 2016). Nevertheless, few studies have identified different types of bicultural individuals, and no one has addressed the possibility that these types could depend on acculturation domains. By using the Relative Acculturation Extended Model (RAEM), this study aimed to explore if different variants of biculturalism could be individuated, and if some of these variants were sensitive to life domains. Four samples of migrant and host adolescents living in Italy (n = 173 and n = 186) and Spain (n = 139 and n = 156) answered a questionnaire about acculturation perceptions and preferences in central and peripheral life domains. Together with acculturation options consistent with Berry's (1997) model (full‐assimilation, full‐separation and full‐marginalisation), some variants of biculturalism emerged from the latent class analysis: full‐high and full‐low integration, which were not sensitive to life domains; and “alternate” acculturation options that were sensitive to life domains, with participants switching from their original culture to the host culture according to the peripheral and central domains. Acculturation options varied across the four samples, with Italians switching more from one culture to another, and Spanish adolescents being more full‐high or full‐low integrated.     

Child physical punishment,parenting, and school readiness

This study explored how physical punishment (PP) and other parenting approaches may predict school readiness outcomes. By using the Canada‐wide representative data, 5,513 children were followed over a 2‐year period. Caregivers reported on their use of PP and other parenting approaches (i.e., literacy and learning activities and other disciplinary practices) when children were 2–3 years old, whereas school readiness was measured at 4–5 years using interviewer‐administered tests of number competence and receptive vocabulary skills. Analyses controlled for PP use at 4–5 years, child externalizing behaviours, and various sociodemographics. Results indicated that PP does not directly predict school readiness; however, the effect of PP was moderated by other parenting approaches. Children's receptive vocabulary was weaker if caregivers used PP together with less frequent explaining/teaching regarding problem behaviour, or PP with less frequent engagement in literacy and learning activities. Children had weaker number competence when PP co‐occurred with more frequent psychological aggression (e.g., yelling/scolding). Results suggest that PP hinders children's school readiness when used alongside other parenting approaches, which reflects the reality of parenting (i.e., PP does not occur in isolation). Findings support early education efforts aimed at promoting early learning and literacy opportunities, as well as positive disciplinary strategies that do not involve PP.

Highlights

• We explored how physical punishment and other parenting approaches may predict school readiness outcomes using Canada‐wide data.
• Results provided little evidence of positive effects of physical punishment on school readiness across a range of parenting and disciplinary contexts.
• To promote school readiness, early education efforts should promote early learning opportunities and positive disciplinary strategies that do not involve physical punishment.

     

Experiences in Close Relationships Revised Child version (ECR-RC): Psychometric evidence in support of a Security factor

Attachment refers to the innate tendency to form strong and close interpersonal bonds, from infancy through adulthood. Many different ways to assess attachment have been developed, one of them being the use of self-report questionnaires. The Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised is one of the most commonly used instruments to assess adult and late adolescent attachment. Recently, a new and brief child version of this instrument has been published, the 12-item ECR-RC short form. The purpose of the current study was threefold: (1) to test the factorial structure of this form in a sample of Italian adolescents, (2) to test the loadings overlap between the mother and the father forms, and (3) to investigate factors reliability. Using a sample of 961 adolescents (M_age = 14.25, SD_age = 1.57), a series of Confirmatory Factor Analyses were performed. The Avoidance – Anxiety structure was not supported, whereas a factor structure including Anxiety, Avoidance, and Security, had a very good fit. Item loadings on these factors were largely equal across mother and father, and internal reliability was high. The results of this study show that the ECR-RC short form is a quick and reliable way to assess attachment in early adolescents. This study also initiates the proposal of an ECR-RC Security factor, to be further validated in future studies.     

Post Traumatic Stress,Context, and the Lingering Effects of the Hurricane Katrina Disaster among Ethnic Minority Youth

This study examined the stability of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in a predominantly ethnic minority sample of youth exposed to Hurricane Katrina. Youth (n = 191 grades 4th thru 8th) were screened for exposure to traumatic experiences and PTSD symptoms at 24 months (Time 1) and then again at 30 months (Time 2) post-disaster. PTSD symptoms did not significantly decline over time and were higher than rates reported at earlier time points for more ethnically diverse samples. Younger age, female sex, and continued disrepair to the child’s home predicted stable elevated PTSD symptoms. Findings are consistent with predictions from contextual theories of disaster exposure and with epidemiological data from adult samples suggesting that the incidence of PTSD post Katrina is showing an atypical pattern of remittance. Theoretical, applied, and policy implications are discussed.     

Opicinus de Canistris: some notes from Jung's unpublished Eranos Seminar on the medieval Codex Palatinus Latinus 1993

Abstract: Jung held an informal seminar for a limited number of students after the end of the Eranos Conference in August, 1943. All traces of this seminar were lost until the notes taken on it by one of the students, Alwine von Keller, were found in 2006. Jung's talk consisted of a psychological commentary on a series of images in the medieval Codex Palatinus Latinus 1993, attributed to Opicinus de Canistris (1296‐c.1352), a fourteenth‐century Italian clergyman, mystic, miniaturist, and cartographer. Jung interpreted Opicinus’ images as a series of mandalas in which the Shadow, the dark principle, does not manage to be integrated into a balanced system. Opicinus tried to settle this division into opposites, which constitutes the main problem in modern times, while remaining inside the system of Christian doctrine. However, he did not succeed in his attempt to integrate the principle of the Shadow on the doctrinal level because he was not aware of the very same division in his own unconscious. Our article points out the features in the seminar where Jung seemed to show much more originality in his interpretation than other psychoanalytic studies on Opicinus or other analytical‐psychological readings of medieval Christian art.     

Effects of Socioeconomic Status,Parental Stress,and Family Support on Children’s Physical and Emotional Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Journal of Child and Family Studies - In the current study, we conduct an exploratory study on children’s emotional and physical health in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The direct and...