A Psychometric Study of the Quality Perception Questionnaire

The present paper reexamines the psychometric properties of the Quality Perception Questionnaire (QPQ), an Italian survey instrument measuring patients’ perceptions of the quality of a recent hospital admission experience, in a sample of 4400 patients (Mage = 56.42 years; SD = 19.71 years, 48.8% females). The 14-item survey measures four factors: satisfaction with medical doctors, nursing staff, auxiliary staff, and hospital structures. First, we tested two models using a confirmatory factor analysis (structural equation modeling): a four orthogonal factor and a four oblique factor model. The SEM fit indices and the χ² difference suggested the acceptance of the second model. We then did a simulation using a bootstrap with 1000 replications. Results confirmed the four oblique factor solution. Third, we tested whether there were significant differences with respect to age or sex. The multivariate general linear model showed no significant differences in the factors with respect to sex or age.

Irrelevant features of a stimulus can either facilitate or disrupt performance in a working memory task: the role of fluid intelligence

It has been shown that fluid intelligence (gf) is fundamental to overcome interference due to information of a previously encoded item along a task-relevant domain. However, the biasing effect of task-irrelevant dimensions is still unclear as well as its relation with gf. The present study aimed at clarifying these issues. Gf was assessed in 60 healthy subjects. In a different session, the same subjects performed two versions (letter-detection and spatial) of a three-back working memory task with a set of physically identical stimuli (letters) presented at different locations on the screen. In the letter-detection task, volunteers were asked to match stimuli on the basis of their identity whereas, in the spatial task, they were required to match items on their locations. Cross-domain bias was manipulated by pseudorandomly inserting a match between the current and the three back items on the irrelevant domain. Our findings showed that a task-irrelevant feature of a salient stimulus can actually bias the ongoing performance. We revealed that, at trials in which the current and the three-back items matched on the irrelevant domain, group accuracy was lower (interference). On the other hand, at trials in which the two items matched on both the relevant and irrelevant domains, the group showed an enhancement of the performance (facilitation). Furthermore, we demonstrated that individual differences in fluid intelligence covaries with the ability to override cross-domain interference in that higher gf subjects showed better performance at interference trials than low gf subjects. Altogether, our findings suggest that stimulus features irrelevant to the task can affect cognitive performance along the relevant domain and that gf plays an important role in protecting relevant memory contents from the hampering effect of such a bias.

The de-differentiation hypothesis in normal elderly persons

Summary.-The factor structure of intelligence was examined, as assessed on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised, in two groups of Italian normal elderly participants ages 65 to 100 years (ns = 267 and 256). Analysis provided further support for the de-differentiation hypothesis in the Italian population: cognitive abilities differentiate from adolescence to adulthood and then the process is reversed in later adulthood.

The Italian version of the Junior Eysenck Personality Questionnaire: a confirmatory factor analysis

An experimental version of the Italian Junior Eysenck Personality Questionnaire with a 5-point scale was administered to a group of 1,000 high school students, 200 within each age group from 11 to 15 years. Following a previous exploratory factor analysis, which yielded a fourth factor in addition to the original three, the aim of the present research was to study the factor structure of the Italian version using confirmatory factor analysis. Three models were tested, a three-factor orthogonal model, a three-factor oblique model, and a four-factor model based on an a priori separation of extraversion items into two sets. None of the considered models converged satisfactorily. An interpretation of the results was proposed.

Differential patterns of cortical activation as a function of fluid reasoning complexity

Fluid intelligence (gf) refers to abstract reasoning and problem solving abilities. It is considered a human higher cognitive factor central to general intelligence (g). The regions of the cortex supporting gf have been revealed by recent bioimaging studies and valuable hypothesis on the neural correlates of individual differences have been proposed. However, little is known about the interaction between individual variability in gf and variation in cortical activity following task complexity increase. To further investigate this, two samples of participants (high-IQ, N = 8; low-IQ, N = 10) with significant differences in gf underwent two reasoning (moderate and complex) tasks and a control task adapted from the Raven progressive matrices. Functional magnetic resonance was used and the recorded signal analyzed between and within the groups. The present study revealed two opposite patterns of neural activity variation which were probably a reflection of the overall differences in cognitive resource modulation: when complexity increased, high-IQ subjects showed a signal enhancement in some frontal and parietal regions, whereas low-IQ subjects revealed a decreased activity in the same areas. Moreover, a direct comparison between the groups' activation patterns revealed a greater neural activity in the low-IQ sample when conducting moderate task, with a strong involvement of medial and lateral frontal regions thus suggesting that the recruitment of executive functioning might be different between the groups. This study provides evidence for neural differences in facing reasoning complexity among subjects with different gf level that are mediated by specific patterns of activation of the underlying fronto-parietal network.

The Italian version of the Junior Eysenck Personality Questionnaire: a confirmatory factor analysis

An experimental version of the Italian Junior Eysenck Personality Questionnaire with a 5-point scale was administered to a group of 1,000 high school students, 200 within each age group from 11 to 15 years. Following a previous exploratory factor analysis, which yielded a fourth factor in addition to the original three, the aim of the present research was to study the factor structure of the Italian version using confirmatory factor analysis. Three models were tested, a three-factor orthogonal model, a three-factor oblique model, and a four-factor model based on an a priori separation of extraversion items into two sets. None of the considered models converged satisfactorily. An interpretation of the results was proposed.

Psychometric characteristics of the Italian Clinical Depression Questionnaire using a 5-point rating scale with undergraduates

The aim was to investigate the psychometric properties of a proposed experimental version of the 1979 Italian adaptation of the Clinical Depression Questionnaire (Krug & Laughlin, 1976). This version is composed of an increased number of choice alternatives (5 instead of 3), tested with 240 Italian undergraduates. An exploratory item-factor analysis yielded one factor, which accounted for 28.2% of the variance. Analysis of the relationship between this version and an experimental one in 2002 of the 1979 Italian edition of the Anxiety Scale Questionnaire showed the corrective factor was not effective in increasing the discriminative power of the questionnaire for anxiety.

Relationship between WAIS-R intelligence and the five-factor model of personality in a normal elderly sample

The present study examined associations between Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R) scores and the five-factor model of personality, as measured by the Revised NEO Personality Inventory. Both tests were administered to a nonclinical sample of 100 Italian subjects 75 years and older. Analysis showed that the NEO-PI-R Openness to Experience domain was a weak but the best predictor of the three WAIS-R intelligence scores (Total, Verbal, and Performance). Were such a relationship confirmed by further investigations, Openness could be interpreted as a factor which might mitigate intellectual impoverishment which accompanies the normal aging process.

Integration among psychotherapies and the future of psychotherapy

As society as a whole and the scientific world have begun to expect that the validity of psychotherapy be verified, a scientific and integrated approach to psychotherapy is the only possible answer. The development of operational definitions and the use of scientific designs represent the most effective way to generate empirical data and the only way to integrate psychotherapy objectively into general psychology.

Item factor analysis of the Italian version of the Death Anxiety Scale

The 15 items of the Italian edition of the Templer's Death Anxiety Scale (DAS) were subjected to a principal components factor analysis with a sample of 257 subjects. Three factors, selected by the scree test, were rotated using the Direct Oblimin procedure. Cronbach alpha-coefficients are reported for the scale and the factors together with their intercorrelations. The results demonstrate that the DAS is a multidimensional scale. Therefore, its utility is questioned. Suggestions are made for future research.