What makes delusions pathological?

Bortolotti argues that we cannot distinguish delusions from other irrational beliefs in virtue of their epistemic features alone. Although her arguments are convincing, her analysis leaves an important question unanswered: What makes delusions pathological? In this paper I set out to answer this question by arguing that the pathological character of delusions arises from an executive dysfunction in a subject’s ability to detect relevance in the environment. I further suggest that this dysfunction derives from an underlying emotional imbalance—one that leads delusional subjects to regard some contextual elements as deeply puzzling or highly significant.     

A Pilot Study Implementing Coping Power in Italian Community Hospitals: Effect of Therapist Attachment Style on Outcomes in Children

The study presented the initial report of a project regarding the implementation of the Coping Power Program in Italian community hospitals, and the program’s ability to reduce externalizing behavioral problems in children with a Disruptive Behavior Disorder diagnosis. Usually, interventions for children are implemented by a number of therapists with different personal characteristics, which therefore influence the implementation quality of an intervention. That said, the present study aimed to establish whether the insecure attachment styles of therapists predict unfavorable outcomes for children treated with the Coping Power Program. The sample included 80 children with a Disruptive Behavior Disorder diagnosis and 16 therapists. The results showed that the change in children’s aggressive behavioral problems was significantly related to the levels of the therapist’s preoccupation with relationships. Higher levels of change in aggression (where a higher value means that the aggression at the end of the treatment is higher than aggression at the baseline evaluation) are associated with higher levels of therapist’s preoccupied attachment style (anxious attachment style). This study provided some preliminary evidence that therapists need to be sensitive to their own attachment experiences when delivering therapy for children.     

Time takes space: selective effects of multitasking on concurrent spatial processing

Many everyday activities require coordination and monitoring of complex relations of future goals and deadlines. Cognitive offloading may provide an efficient strategy for reducing control demands by representing future goals and deadlines as a pattern of spatial relations. We tested the hypothesis that multiple-task monitoring involves time-to-space transformational processes, and that these spatial effects are selective with greater demands on coordinate (metric) than categorical (nonmetric) spatial relation processing. Participants completed a multitasking session in which they monitored four series of deadlines, running on different time scales, while making concurrent coordinate or categorical spatial judgments. We expected and found that multitasking taxes concurrent coordinate, but not categorical, spatial processing. Furthermore, males showed a better multitasking performance than females. These findings provide novel experimental evidence for the hypothesis that efficient multitasking involves metric relational processing.     

The ecological rationality of delay tolerance: insights from capuchin monkeys

Both human and non-human animals often face decisions between options available at different times, and the capacity of delaying gratification has usually been considered one of the features distinguishing humans from other animals. However, this characteristic can widely vary across individuals, species, and types of task and it is still unclear whether it is accounted for by phylogenetic relatedness, feeding ecology, social structure, or metabolic rate. To disentangle these hypotheses, we evaluated temporal preferences in capuchin monkeys, South-American primates that, despite splitting off from human lineage approximately 35 million years ago, show striking behavioural analogies with the great apes. Then, we compared capuchins’ performance with that of the other primate species tested so far with the same procedure. Overall, capuchins showed a delay tolerance significantly higher than closely related species, such as marmosets and tamarins, and comparable to that shown by great apes. Capuchins’ tool use abilities might explain their comparatively high preference for delayed options in inter-temporal choices. Moreover, as in humans, capuchin females showed a greater delay tolerance than males, possibly because of their less opportunistic foraging style. Thus, our results shed light on the evolutionary origins of self-control supporting explanations of delay tolerance in terms of feeding ecology.     

Dyadic coping and marital adjustment during pregnancy: A cross‐sectional study of Italian couples expecting their first child

Although the transition to parenthood is currently defined as a normative event, it can be potentially stressful for the couple relationship as it may contribute to psychological distress and reduced marital satisfaction. Using the systemic‐transactional conceptualisation of stress and coping as a theoretical framework, we claimed that the ability of the parents‐to‐be to adjust to their new roles and identity is influenced by dyadic coping strategies. This study examined the effects of dyadic coping on marital adjustment in a sample of 78 primiparous couples. Women and partners completed the Dyadic Adjustment Scale and the Dyadic Coping Questionnaire during late pregnancy. Data were analysed using the Actor‐Partner Interdependence Model. Results revealed that both women and partners' scores on positive dyadic coping behaviours contributed to higher marital adjustment, suggesting that risks for marital dissatisfaction may exist for couples not able to implement adaptive dyadic coping strategies, or for those unsatisfied with the implemented coping behaviours.     

Categorization of above and below spatial relations by tufted capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella)

Using a matching-to-sample procedure, the researchers investigated tufted capuchins' (Cebus apella) ability to form categorical representations of above and below spatial relations. In Experiment 1, 5 capuchins correctly matched bar-dot stimuli on the basis of the relative above and below location of their constituent elements. The monkeys showed a positive transfer of performance both when the bar-dot distance in the two comparison stimuli differed from that of the sample and when the actual location of the matching stimulus and the nonmatching stimulus on the apparatus was modified. In Experiment 2, the researchers systematically changed the shapes of the located object (the dot) or the reference object (the horizontal bar). These manipulations did not affect the monkeys' performance. Overall, the data suggest that capuchins can form abstract, conceptual-like representations for above and below spatial relations.     

Attentional biases for threat after fear-related autobiographical recall

Background : Previous studies suggested that affective state could enhance stimulus salience and modulate attention allocation for mood-congruent information, but contrasting data have been reported on the effects of mood induction on attentional biases for threat (ABTs) in non-clinical individuals.

Objective : We aimed to assess whether laboratory-induced negative mood can increase individuals’ tendency to allocate attention on threatening stimuli, thus determining a difficulty in attentional disengagement from threat. We also aimed at assessing whether level of trait anxiety could modulate the effect of mood induction on attentional biases.

Methods : We used an autobiographical episode recall procedure for mood induction (fear, happiness and neutral episode recall), and an exogenous cueing task with threatening and non-threatening images to assess attentional biases in 120 undergraduate students.

Results: Participants showed a significant difficulty in disengaging attention from threat after recalling fear-related episodes, independently from their trait anxiety level.

Conclusions: These findings clarify that the ABTs are not exclusive to anxiety disorders or high trait anxiety individuals, and could also arise in non-clinical individuals in a fearful context.     

Newborns’ attention is driven by the translational movement

The present study investigated whether 2-day-old newborns are able to discriminate two translating meaningless Point-Light Displays (PLD) videos, in which the shape of one of them changes compared to that of the other along the trajectory, independently from movement kinematics, and if this ability is present both when stimuli differed at the end or at the beginning of the movement. To manipulate the instant in which along the movement the difference between stimuli was evident, and to maintain every unspecific dissimilarity possibly determining the preference, videos were played in a loop either forward or backwards. In Experiment 1, PLD stimuli moved with natural accelerated-decelerated kinematics; in Experiment 2 they moved at constant velocity. Four groups of newborns were submitted to the preferential looking technique experiments. Results showed that newborns looked longer at natural kinematics and that, irrespective of the type of kinematics, they discriminated the two stimuli only when videos were played forward, that is, only when stimuli differed at the end of the movement. These data suggest that, independently from kinematics, movement translational components induce newborns to allocate attention at the end of the observed movement. Given the strict link between attention and eye movements, we suggest that this effect may bootstrap the system and give rise to proactive gaze, the typical gaze behaviour present during executed and observed goal-directed actions.     

Do Coping Strategies Discriminate Eating Disordered Individuals Better Than Eating Disorder Features? An Explorative Study on Female Inpatients with Anorexia and Bulimia Nervosa

The purpose of this explorative research was to examine how the COPE (Coping Orientation to Problem Experienced Inventory), an established instrument for measuring coping styles, and EDI-2 (Eating Disorder Inventory-2), a widely used questionnaire for assessing psychological and behavioural features of eating disorders (ED), discriminate among healthy individuals, inpatients with anorexia nervosa (AN) and inpatients with bulimia nervosa (BN). A discriminant analysis approach was used. Results showed that coping styles such as positive attitude, planning and social support are even more discriminative variables than eating disorder features. Implications for further studies are discussed.     

Can the medical resonance therapy music affect autonomous innervation of cerebral arteries?

The purpose of this investigation was to study the effects of Medical Resonance Therapy Music (MRT-Music) upon autonomous innervation of cerebral arteries by examining slow spontaneous oscillations of cerebral blood flow (SSO) using transcranial Doppler ultrasound (TCD). TCD detects SSO with 3–9 cycles per minute (M-waves) and 0.5–2 cycles per minute (B-waves). The SSO are caused by rhythmic diameter changes of the medium and small cerebral arteries. Six patients aged 24–65 years suffering from tension headache were treated with MRT-Music. Twelve additional patients were examined with TCD only to register SSO for further spectral analysis. After fast Fourier transformation four groups of peaks were registered on the SSO spectra, divided into four rhythms: A. 0.0–0.02 Hz, B. 0.02–0.033 Hz, C. 0.06–0.09 Hz, D. 0.09–0.15 Hz and an intermediate diapason of 0.034–0.059 Hz. Spectral analysis of the SSO showed changes between initial and final amplitude peaks in all patients. In contrast to A-, B-and D-rhythms, the reduction of peaks in the C-diapason was statistically significant (31–60%, P 3D0.04, CI 3D95%) for patients treated with MRT-Music. All patients treated with the MRT-Music reported a relief of headache while and after treatment.