Climate change anxiety, fear, and intention to act

Climate change anxiety (CCA) is an emerging yet not clearly defined construct. Here, we examine the relationship between CCA and climate change-related fear in response to messages differently framing uncertainty and anticipation concerning climate change, exploring how the former differs from general anxiety measures. To this purpose, young and healthy volunteers were assigned to three different framing conditions. Their emotional responses as well as eco-emotions and beliefs about climate change were collected. By employing a Bayesian approach, we found that framing the consequences of climate change effectively induces heightened fear and that CCA strongly predicted fear levels, while general anxiety measures did not. Overall, these results reflect CCA's unique and specific nature in influencing climate change-related fear. Interestingly, we found fear to predict intention scores only following the framings that did not effectively induce action intentions, consistent with prior findings on fear without efficacy framing. Instead, reading about the negative consequences motivated action the most. Following this framing, we found that eco-anger, instead of fear, consistently predicted intentions to engage in climate action. These results emphasize the complex interplay between CCA, eco-emotions, efficacy, and behavioral engagement.

Giant chess game enhances spatial navigational skills in 6-years-old children: preliminary findings

The game of chess is a valuable extracurricular activity for children, with positive effects on their cognitive skills and academic achievements. We investigated the extent to which the Giant Chess Game (GCG) played on a giant chessboard enhances working memory in "navigational-vista" space and "reaching" space. We also assessed if the GCG enhances mental rotation skills. For 10 weeks, 15 children (GCG group) were involved in a giant chess class, while 15 gender and age-matched children were involved in standard didactics (control group-CG). Children were tested twice, before (T0) and after (T1) the GCG, by tasks aimed at measuring: visuo-spatial working memory (VSWM) in the navigational-vista space (Walking Corsi test); VSWM in the reaching space (Corsi Block-Tapping task); mental rotation (Rotating Flowers test). We found that the GCG group significantly improved its performance more than the CG in VSWM in both navigational-vista space and reaching space, as well as in mental rotation. Our results suggest that the GCG has positive effects on visuo-spatial abilities underlying topographical skills. Therefore, the training using GCG can help enhancing spatial ability and may have a role in contrasting the spreading of navigational deficits such as the Developmental Topographical Disorientation (DTD).

Exploring the relationship between perceived loneliness and subjective cognitive decline in older individuals

OBJECTIVE

Loneliness has been associated to a greater risk of cognitive decline and dementia in older individuals. However, evidence on whether this association also exists for older individuals who complain of cognitive problems is limited. We conducted a survey to examine the association between subjective cognitive decline in the working memory domain, perceived loneliness, depression, anxiety, and stress in older individuals with different profiles.

METHODS

A total of 302 healthy, old individuals completed 3 questionnaires to assess subjective cognitive problems in attention, executive functions, storage, depression, anxiety, stress, and perceived loneliness.

RESULTS

We conducted a cluster analysis and 3 clusters of individuals with different profiles emerged. Individuals with greater subjective cognitive problems (cluster 1) in the attention and storage domains, reported higher perceived loneliness and stress but not depression. In contrast, individuals with the least subjective cognitive problems (cluster 3) in the storage domain, reported lower perceived loneliness.

CONCLUSIONS

Individuals with higher subjective cognitive decline also report higher levels of perceived loneliness but not more depression than their peers. However, this correlation is present only for individuals with mild subjective cognitive decline (cluster 2). The implications for future research and interventions are discussed.

Application of Virtual Reality in Spatial Memory

In recent years, virtual reality (VR) has become a widely used tool with a plethora of applications in neuroscience [...].

The contribution of being physically active to successful aging

Growing old involves changes in physical, psychological, and cognitive functions. Promoting physical and mental health has become one of the priorities for an aging population. Studies have demonstrated the benefits of engaging in regular physical activity. Here, we aimed to understand the relationships between physical activity and working memory complaints in attention, memory storage, and executive functions. We hypothesized that physical activity was negatively associated with complaints in working memory domains after controlling for socio-demographics and distress factors, such as anxiety, stress, and depression. Two hundred and twenty-three individuals aged between 65 and 100 years (74.84; SD = 7.74; 133 males) without self-reported neurological and/or psychiatric disorders completed a questionnaire on socio-demographic, with questions on physical activity and the Italian version of the working memory questionnaire (WMQ) and the DASS-21 measuring anxiety, stress, and depression. Results from three linear regression models showed that low physical activity was associated with complaints in attention (R2 = 0.35) and executive functions (R2 = 0.37) but not in memory storage (R2 = 0.28). Notably, age, gender, and total emotional distress (DASS score) were significant in all regression models. Our results suggested regular physical activity, even just walking, is crucial for maintaining efficient cognitive function. Theoretical and practical implications for engaging in physical activity programs and social aggregation during exercise are considered. Limitations are also presented.

Neural networks underlying visual illusions: An activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis

Visual illusions have long been used to study visual perception and contextual integration. Neuroimaging studies employ illusions to identify the brain regions involved in visual perception and how they interact. We conducted an Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE) meta-analysis and meta-analytic connectivity modeling on fMRI studies using static and motion illusions to reveal the neural signatures of illusory processing and to investigate the degree to which different areas are commonly recruited in perceptual inference. The resulting networks encompass ventral and dorsal regions, including the inferior and middle occipital cortices bilaterally in both types of illusions. The static and motion illusion networks selectively included the right posterior parietal cortex and the ventral premotor cortex respectively. Overall, these results describe a network of areas crucially involved in perceptual inference relying on feed-back and feed-forward interactions between areas of the ventral and dorsal visual pathways. The same network is proposed to be involved in hallucinogenic symptoms characteristic of schizophrenia and other disorders, with crucial implications in the use of illusions as biomarkers.

The Key Role of Empathy in the Relationship between Age and Social Support

Aging involves several changes depending on genetic and behavioral factors, such as lifestyle and the number and quality of social relationships, which in turn can be influenced by empathy. Here, the change in the perceived social support across the lifespan as a function of empathy was investigated, considering the mediating role of empathy after controlling for gender and education. In total, 441 people (18-91 years old) filled in the Italian short version of the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List (ISEL-12), the Social Support Questionnaire (SSQ6), as well as the Empathy Questionnaire (EQ), and the Reading the Mind in the Eyes test (RMET). The mediation analyses with ISEL-12 showed that age and the EQ fully mediated the relationship between age and appraisal, belonging, and tangible scores. Further, the EQ fully mediated only the relationship between age and SSQ6-People. These results showed that empathic skills are key in the relationships between age and social support. This suggests that empathy can trigger social support and, ultimately, well-being if stimulated across the lifespan, especially from a young age; this would help to form the socio-emotional competence across the years as a sort of cushion that can be useful in the older to fulfill active aging.

A cross-sectional study of gender role adherence, moral disengagement mechanisms and online vulnerability in adolescents

The wide availability of electronic devices accessible to teenagers has enabled them to use the internet to communicate, share, and obtain information. However, the use of the internet and social media has also increased the risk of vulnerability, exposing people, particularly adolescents, to several risks. We collected data from a sample of 366 adolescents (186 females and 180 males) aged 14-20 years (mean age = 17 ± 1.33 years) to investigate the mediating role of moral disengagement (MD) mechanisms in the relationship between gender and online vulnerability. Data were collected in both the inner-city and suburban high schools of Rome (Italy) using the Qualtrics Platform Online. The participants completed a demographic questionnaire, the Online Vulnerability Scale, and the Civic Moral Disengagement Scale. All participants declared that they accessed and used the internet frequently. Using SPSS, the data were checked for outliers, common method bias, and normal distribution; then, correlation and mediation analyses were performed. Based on the correlation results, a mediation analysis was performed using only the displacement of responsibility as a mediator of the gender-online vulnerability link. Age was entered in the mediation model as a covariate. The results showed that girls were more vulnerable online than boys, who in turn used more moral disengagement mechanisms. In addition, moral displacement showed a positive indirect effect on the relationship between gender and online vulnerability. This means that when including the moral displacement in the mediation model boys appeared more exposed to online vulnerability as they probably adopted more immoral behaviors. These results could help to develop interventions to sensitize adolescents on both taking responsibilities for their actions on the Internet. Limitations and future research directions are briefly discussed.

Preschoolers’ Perceptual Analogical Reasoning and Map Reading: A Preliminary Study on the Mediating Effect of Spatial Language

Reading and interpreting a map represents an essential part of daily life, enabling appropriate orientation and navigation through space. Based on the idea that perceptual analogical reasoning is critical in aligning the spatial structure of the map with the spatial structure of the space and given the critical role of language, especially spatial language, in encoding and establishing spatial relations among elements in the environment, the present study investigated the joint contribution of perceptual analogical reasoning and spatial language in map reading. The study was conducted with 56 typically developing 4- to 6-year-old children, and the results indicated that perceptual abstract reasoning affected map reading through the mediating effect of spatial language. These findings yielded theoretical and practical implications regarding the role of perceptual abstract reasoning and spatial language in shaping map-reading abilities in the early stages of life, highlighting that domain-specific language competencies are necessary to improve the encoding of spatial relations, to establish object correspondences, and to ensure successful navigation. Limitations and future research directions were discussed.

The Effect of Sadness on Visual Artistic Creativity in Non-Artists

The study of the relationships between mood and creativity is long-standing. In this study, the effects of mood states on artistic creativity were investigated in ninety non-artist participants. Mood states were induced by instructing participants to listen to self-selected happy, sad, or neutral music for ten minutes. Then, all participants were asked to make two artistic drawings. To check for mood manipulation, the Profile of Mood States (POMS) was administered before and after listening to the self-selected music. After the mood induction, the negative group reported higher scores than the other two groups in the 'depression' subscale and lower scores than the other two groups in the 'vigour' subscale of the POMS; the positive mood group showed more vigour than the negative mood group. Yet, three independent judges assigned higher ratings of creativity and emotionality to the drawings produced by participants in the negative mood group than drawings produced by participants in the other two groups. These results confirmed that specific negative mood states (e.g., sadness) positively affect artistic creativity, probably because participants are more likely to engage in mood-repairing. Limitations and future research directions are presented.

Adaptations of the Walking Corsi Test (WalCT) for 2- and 3-year-old preterm and term-born toddlers: A preliminary study

Introduction

Topographical memory is crucial for navigation and environmental representation. The Walking Corsi Test (WalCT) has been used to evaluate topographical memory in children from 4 years upward. The present study aims to determine whether adapted versions of the WalCT- by simplifying instructions and increasing motivation- can be adopted to test topographical memory in 2- and 3-year-old toddlers born at term and preterm. Assessing this skill in such young children is important in light of recent studies that have shown how spatial cognition underlies the development of skills in other cognitive domains as well. Methods: For this purpose, 47 toddlers (27.39 ± 4.34 months, 38.3% females), 20 born at term and 27 preterm, performed two aimed-designed versions of WalCT.

Results

The results showed better performance of the term groups with increasing age and for both versions. On the other hand, performance was better in 2-year-old term toddlers vs. preterm. When rising motivation, 2-year-old preterm toddlers improve their performance but differences between both groups were still significant. The preterm group showed lower performance related to lower levels of attention.

Discussion

This study provides preliminary data on the suitability of the adapted versions of WalCT in early ages and prematurity conditions.

Where Am I? Searching for the Tangle in the Developmental Topographical Disorientation

The Developmental Topographical Disorientation (DTD) is a pathological condition that impairs an individual’s ability to orient in space, even in the most familiar environments. It is a lifelong selective condition in individuals without brain damage or without impaired general cognitive functions. Here, we aimed at characterizing 54 individuals with DTD identified in a previous study, aged between 18 and 35 years and assessed through a 4-year-long online survey. To this purpose, we compared them with 54 matched healthy participants. We described the demographics, sense of direction, town knowledge, navigational strategies, left-right confusion as well as agnosic disorders (for landmarks, faces and objects). This novel study attempts to characterize the phenotype of DTD, providing an important contribution to the worldwide definition of a condition that was first described only 13 years ago, but which, considering the growing number of cases complaining of the disorder, deserves continuous and increasing attention.

The Contribution of Cognitive Factors to Compulsive Buying Behaviour: Insights from Shopping Habit Changes during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The last decade has seen an increase in compulsive behaviours among young adults worldwide, particularly in 2020, during restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Importantly, even if shopping is an ordinary activity in everyday life, it can become a compulsive behaviour for certain individuals. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of working memory and decision-making style in compulsive behaviour. A total of 105 participants (65 F, 40 M) were recruited online from May 2020 to December 2020. They completed a series of questionnaires to measure shopping compulsive behaviour, decision-making styles, deficits in working memory and online shopping habits. The results show that during the COVID-19 pandemic, people spent much more time shopping online, made more purchases and spent more money than prior to the pandemic. Moreover, both higher working memory deficits and spontaneous decision-making style predicted a greater tendency to engage in compulsive buying. These results suggest the need to develop specific training programs to improve cognitive aspects related to compulsive shopping behaviour.

The Relationships between Cognitive Styles and Creativity: The Role of Field Dependence-Independence on Visual Creative Production

Previous studies explored the relationships between field dependent-independent cognitive style (FDI) and creativity, providing misleading and unclear results. The present research explored this problematic interplay through the lens of the Geneplore model, employing a product-oriented task: the Visual Creative Synthesis Task (VCST). The latter requires creating objects belonging to pre-established categories, starting from triads of visual components and consists of two steps: the preinventive phase and the inventive phase. Following the Amabile’s consensual assessment technique, three independent judges evaluated preinventive structures in terms of originality and synthesis whereas inventions were evaluated in terms of originality and appropriateness. The Embedded Figure Test (EFT) was employed in order to measure the individual’s predisposition toward the field dependence or the field independence. Sixty undergraduate college students (31 females) took part in the experiment. Results revealed that field independent individuals outperformed field dependent ones in each of the four VCST scores, showing higher levels of creativity. Results were discussed in light of the better predisposition of field independent individuals in mental imagery, mental manipulation of abstract objects, as well as in using their knowledge during complex tasks that require creativity. Future research directions were also discussed.

Congenital lack and extraordinary ability in object and spatial imagery: An investigation on sub-types of aphantasia and hyperphantasia

Studies that have shown a distinction between object and spatial imagery suggest more than one type of aphantasia and hyperphantasia, yet this has not been systematically investigated in studies on imagery ability extremes. Also, if the involuntary imagery is preserved in aphantasia and how this condition affects other skills is not fully clear. We collected data on spatial and object imagery, retrospective, and prospective memory, face recognition, and sense of direction (SOD), suggesting a distinction between two subtypes of aphantasia/hyperphantasia. Spatial aphantasia is associated with difficulties in visuo-spatial mental imagery and SOD. Instead, in object aphantasia there are difficulties in imaging single items and events - with no mental visualization of objects, out-of-focus, and black-and-white mental images more frequent than expected - in SOD and face recognition. Furthermore, associative involuntary imagery can be spared in aphantasia. The opposite pattern of performance was found in spatial and object hyperphantasia.

DiaNe: A New First Level Computerized Tool Assessing Memory, Attention, and Visuospatial Processing to Detect Early Pathological Cognitive Decline

BACKGROUND

Detecting the beginning of cognitive decay is crucial to guarantee good management and the possible prevention of dementia progression. The present study arises from observations collected during an educational event to promote mental and physical health in which incidental neuropsychological data gathered on 290 citizens showed the importance of routine neuropsychological examination in detecting early signs of cognitive decay, since many individuals were unaware of the decrease in their cognitive efficiency. Accordingly, the availability of a screening tool that is computerized, portable, self-administrable, and sensitive to the main neurocognitive changes testifying the progression towards pathological aging is critical.

OBJECTIVE

To this aim, we developed a computerized battery for the early, preclinical Diagnosis of Neurocognitive disease (DiaNe), that can be self-administered and performed autonomously by using a tablet.

METHODS

DiaNe includes tests expected to evaluate the main cognitive domains involved in neurodegenerative diseases (memory, attention, executive functions) with a detailed assessment of visuospatial memory in particular.

RESULTS

DiaNe is not just the translation of standard tests into telematics, rather it is a new tool that provides both accuracy and response time measurements, aimed to screen cognitive profile and monitor it over time, being able to detect changes in still normal performances that may be suggestive of an ongoing onset of neurocognitive disorders.

CONCLUSION

Here we present an investigation of DiaNe concurrent validity showing that its results are comparable to those obtained by existing paper-and-pencil neuropsychological tests, and propose that DiaNe could be a useful, quick, and economical instrument for the monitoring of cognitive aging.

A Controversial Assessment of Fitness to Fly After a Traumatic Brain Injury

INTRODUCTION: After traumatic brain injury (TBI), cognitive, behavioral alterations and seizures frequently occur. Beside instrumental examinations, neuropsychological testing is the common clinical practice for detecting cognitive deficits. However, in highly skilled individuals, subtle changes with a large impact on fitness to fly may be neglected.CASE REPORT: A 28-yr-old Italian Air Force pilot with almost 700 flying hours suffered a TBI. After 2 yr of cognitive retraining programs, as the neuropsychological evaluation executed in a public hospital was within the standards and repeated EEGs had all been normal, the pilot was allowed to resume flying duties. During the refresh flight training, he was not considered proficient for solo flight and was again referred to the Institute of Aerospace Medicine (IMAS), where, due to the absence of a neuropsychologist, the pilot was referred to a public hospital. Again, he was within the normal range and received a fitness to fly with limitations. Nevertheless, the flight instructors noticed the presence of cyclic errors. Consequently, he was sent for a third time to the IMAS, where the cooperation between a neuropsychologist and a flight surgeon allowed a tailored testing.DISCUSSION: With a proper evaluation, the subject showed deficits in topographic visuospatial learning and in prospective memory. After 5 yr, he was finally declared permanently unfit to fly. Specific neuropsychological batteries, simulated flight tests, and aeromedical evaluations are described here.Verde P, Guadagno AG, D'Angelo A, Vitalone R, Di Vita A, Piccardi L. A controversial assessment of fitness to fly after a traumatic brain injury. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2022; 93(2):116-122.

Do Advanced Spatial Strategies Depend on the Number of Flight Hours? The Case of Military Pilots

BACKGROUND

Military pilots show advanced visuospatial skills. Previous studies demonstrate that they are better at mentally rotating a target, taking different perspectives, estimating distances and planning travel and have a topographic memory. Here, we compared navigational cognitive styles between military pilots and people without flight experience. Pilots were expected to be more survey-style users than nonpilots, showing more advanced navigational strategies.

METHOD

A total of 106 military jet pilots from the Italian Air Force and 92 nonpilots from the general population matched for education with the pilots were enrolled to investigate group differences in navigational styles. The participants were asked to perform a reduced version of the Spatial Cognitive Style Test (SCST), consisting of six tasks that allow us to distinguish individuals in terms of landmark (people orient themselves by using a figurative memory for environmental objects), route (people use an egocentric representation of the space) and survey (people have a map-like representation of the space) user styles.

RESULTS

In line with our hypothesis, military pilots mainly adopt the survey style, whereas nonpilots mainly adopt the route style. In addition, pilots outperformed nonpilots in both the 3D Rotation Task and Map Description Task.

CONCLUSIONS

Military flight expertise influences some aspects of spatial ability, leading to enhanced human navigation. However, it must be considered that they are a population whose navigational skills were already high at the time of selection at the academy before formal training began.

The Fear to Move in a Crowded Environment. Poor Spatial Memory Related to Agoraphobic Disorder

Individuals with agoraphobia exhibit impaired exploratory activity when navigating unfamiliar environments. However, no studies have investigated the contribution of visuospatial working memory (VSWM) in these individuals' ability to acquire and process spatial information while considering the use of egocentric and allocentric coordinates or environments with or without people. A total of 106 individuals (53 with agoraphobia and 53 controls) navigated in a virtual square to acquire spatial information that included the recognition of landmarks and the relationship between landmarks and themselves (egocentric coordinates) and independent of themselves (allocentric coordinates). Half of the participants in both groups navigated in a square without people, and half navigated in a crowded square. They completed a VSWM test in addition to tasks measuring landmark recognition and egocentric and allocentric judgements concerning the explored square. The results showed that individuals with agoraphobia had reduced working memory only when active processing of spatial elements was required, suggesting that they exhibit spatial difficulties particularly in complex spatial tasks requiring them to process information simultaneously. Specifically, VSWM deficits mediated the relationship between agoraphobia and performance in the allocentric judgements. The results are discussed considering the theoretical background of agoraphobia in order to provide useful elements for the early diagnosis of this disorder.

Sex Differences in Spatial Memory: Comparison of Three Tasks Using the Same Virtual Context

Spatial memory has been studied through different instruments and tools with different modalities of administration. The cognitive load varies depending on the measure used and it should be taken into account to correctly interpret results. The aim of this research was to analyze how men and women perform three different spatial memory tasks with the same spatial context but with different cognitive demands. A total of 287 undergraduate students from the University of Almeria (Spain) and the University of L'Aquila (Italy) participated in the study. They were divided into three groups balanced by sex according to the spatial memory test they performed: the Walking Space Boxes Room Task (WSBRT), the Almeria Spatial Memory Recognition Test (ASMRT) and the Non-Walking Space Boxes Room Task (NWSBRT). Time spent and number of errors/correct answers were registered for analysis. In relation to the WSBRT and the ASMRT, men were faster and reached the optimal level of performance before women. In the three tests, familiarity with the spatial context helped to reduce the number of errors, regardless of the level of difficulty. In conclusion, sex differences were determined by the familiarity with the spatial context, the difficulty level of the task, the active or passive role of the participant and the amount of visual information provided in each screen shot.

The Role of Gender and Familiarity in a Modified Version of the Almeria Boxes Room Spatial Task

Individual factors like gender and familiarity can affect the kind of environmental representation that a person acquires during spatial navigation. Men seem to prefer relying on map-like survey representations, while women prefer using sequential route representations. Moreover, a good familiarity with the environment allows more complete environmental representations. This study was aimed at investigating gender differences in two different object-position learning tasks (i.e., Almeria Boxes Tasks) assuming a route or a survey perspective also considering the role of environmental familiarity. Two groups of participants had to learn the position of boxes placed in a virtual room. Participants had several trials, so that familiarity with the environment could increase. In both tasks, the effects of gender and familiarity were found, and only in the route perspective did an interaction effect emerge. This suggests that gender differences can be found regardless of the perspective taken, with men outperforming women in navigational tasks. However, in the route task, gender differences appeared only at the initial phase of learning, when the environment was unexplored, and disappeared when familiarity with the environment increased. This is consistent with studies showing that familiarity can mitigate gender differences in spatial tasks, especially in more complex ones.

The contribution of field independence in virtual spatial updating

Field independence (FI) is the extent to which a person perceives part of a field as discrete from the surrounding field rather than embedded in the field. Several studies proposed that it represents a cognitive style that is a relatively stable individuals’ predisposition towards information processing. This study investigated the effects of Field Independence/Field Dependence (FI/FD) cognitive style on topographic memory in a virtual environment. Seventy-nine college students completed the Embedded Figure Test as a measure of FI/FD cognitive style and learned two paths in the VR-Walking Corsi Test apparatus. After the learning phase, participants had to reproduce the paths from a familiar perspective or unfamiliar perspectives. Data showed that FI cognitive style predicted the ability to reproduce a path from unfamiliar perspectives, suggesting a different impact of the angle degree. Results are discussed considering the facilitation of body axes references and the increasing difficulty due to maintaining online perspectives with higher angle degrees that increase the visuo-spatial working memory cognitive load. These results support the idea that FI predicts human navigation.

Travel planning in men and women. Who is better?

Gender differences are often reported in spatial abilities, most of the times favouring men. Even during wayfinding, which requires planning and decision-making, such as choosing roads to take or shortcuts, men are in general better and faster than women. Although different interpretations have been proposed to explain men’s advantage in navigation, no study has explored the possibility that it could be due to men’s better travel planning ability. This latter has been recently identified as a distinct kind of planning that allows implementing an efficient navigational strategy in accordance with the environmental features. Therefore, the present study was aimed at investigating gender differences in travel planning ability. We compared men and women in performing the Key Search Task that requires to implement a strategy to search for a lost object in a wide imagined space. Results showed that men outperform women in both the overall performance and in some specific indexes of the total score. Men had a better travel planning ability with respect to women, outperforming women in configuring the planned strategy and choosing the best point to enter the imagined field. Therefore, men seem to plan the best navigational strategy and appear more cognitively flexible than women in adapting the strategy at the environmental features. The two genders did not differ in the time spent to solve the task. This finding suggests that differences in travel planning skills can contribute in explaining gender differences in wayfinding and spatial orientation.

Spatial Abilities at High Altitude: Exploring the Role of Cultural Strategies and Hypoxia

Bondi, Danilo, Vittore Verratti, Raffaella Nori, Laura Piccardi, Giulia Prete, Tiziana Pietrangelo, and Luca Tommasi. Spatial abilities at high altitude: Exploring the role of cultural strategies and hypoxia. High Alt Med Biol. 22: 157-165, 2021. Background: Over the past couple of decades, the number of people of different cultures traveling to places of high altitude (HA) increased. At HA, a decline in cognitive abilities has been described, including spatial skills. However, it is still unknown whether people accustomed to hypobaric hypoxia are less susceptible to cognitive decline. Method: We aimed to determine if three ethnic groups would show any difference in the performance of spatial abilities. Italian trekkers (46.20 ± 15.83 years), Nepalese porters (30.33 ± 8.55 years), and lowlander and highlander Sherpas (30.33 ± 8.55 and 37.00 ± 16.51 years) were tested with a building photograph recognition, a map orienting, and a mental rotation task during a Himalayan expedition. Accuracy and response times were collected at low altitude (LA) and HA. Results: Nepalese performed the worst (photograph task: p = 0.015, η²_p = 0.36; map task: p = 0.016, η²_p = 0.36), but the difference was mitigated after correcting for length of schooling. Participants took more time to respond at LA than in HA condition (photograph task: 24.0 ± 15.3 seconds vs. 12.7 ± 6.3 seconds, p = 0.008, η²_p = 0.57; map task: 12.5 ± 1.8 seconds vs. 7.8 ± 0.6 seconds, p = 0.038, η²_p = 0.40). In the map task, participants performed with greater accuracy at LA (5.1 ± 0.4 vs. 4.4 ± 0.4 number of correct responses, p = 0.006, η²_p = 0.59). Conclusions: Altitude hypoxia elicited impairments in cognitive spatial tasks. This may be due to the inability to acquire new unfamiliar patterns, and to the difficulty in managing a high cognitive workload. The ethnic differences were ascribed to schooling, even we consider the different system of reference usually exploited in each culture (egocentric: dependent, or allocentric: independent from the personal viewpoint), and that Westerners are more likely to focus on specific details of the scene. Further studies should investigate the diverse strategies to complete spatial tasks.

Link Between Topographic Memory and the Combined Presentation of ADHD (ADHD-C): A Pilot Study

Background: Topographic memory is the ability to reach various places by recognizing spatial layouts and getting oriented in familiar environments. It involves several different cognitive abilities, in particular executive functions (EF), such as attention, working memory, and planning. Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) show impairments in inhibitory control, regulation of attention, planning, and working memory. Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the topographic memory in children with ADHD-combined subtype (ADHD-C). Method: Fifteen children (8-10 years) with a diagnosis of ADHD-C (DSM-5) (ADHD-C group) were compared to 15 children with typical development (TD group) of the same age. All children performed Raven's colored progressive matrices (CPM) test to obtain a measure related with cognitive functioning. The walking Corsi test (WalCT), a large-scale version of the Corsi block-tapping test, was used to assess topographic memory in experimental environment. Results: A higher impairment was observed in ADHD-C than TD with significant differences in the WalCT, in particular on the topographic short-term memory (TSTM) task, on the topographic learning (TL) task, and on the repetition number (RN) task during the TL task. Perseverative errors were reported in performing the square-sequence in the WalCT. Zero-order correlations showed a positive correlation between TSTM and auditory attention, and memory of design of NEPSY-II and digit span of WISC-IV. No statistically significant differences were found between the ADHD-C group and TD group in the TL task in the WalCT condition. Conclusion: In ADHD-C, initial topographic learning was compromised whereas the long-term retention of learned topographical material seemed to not be impaired. In particular, these impairments seem to be linked with difficulties in sustained attention, in spatial memory for novel visual materials, in a poor working memory, and in perseverative behaviors.

Locomotion and Topographical Working Memory in Children With Myelomeningocele and Arthrogryposis Multiplex Congenita

Background: In children with myelomeningocele (MMC) and arthrogryposis multiplex congenital (AMC), adequate rehabilitation measures are accessible with the goal of attaining the utmost motor development. However, there is a lack of knowledge as to how children develop navigation utilizing their locomotion abilities. The aim of the present study was to explore topographic working memory in children with MMC and AMC. Methods: For this purpose, we assessed 41 children with MMC and AMC, assigned an ambulation group, and 120 typical developing (TD) children, with mean ages of 11.9, 10.6, and 9.9 years, respectively. All groups performed a topographic working memory test while moving in a walking space and a visuospatial working memory test in a reaching space. Children with MMC and AMC also performed a test to measure their ability to reason on visuospatial material, Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices. Results: The topographic working memory span was shorter in the MMC group than in the TD group. In general, all ambulation groups had a shorter topographic working memory span than the TD group. The visuospatial working memory span was shorter in the non-ambulation group than in the TD group. Scores from the visuospatial reasoning test were lower in the non-ambulation group than in the community ambulation group. Conclusions: Even though a higher cognitive score was found in the community ambulation group than in the non-ambulation group, topographic working memory was affected similarly in both groups. Including children who develop community ambulation in therapy programs containing aspects of navigation may gain even children with low levels of MMC and AMC. These results evidenced the importance of motor development and navigational experience gained through direct exploration of the environment on topographic memory.

Chatting While Walking Does Not Interfere with Topographical Working Memory

In the present study, we employed the dual task technique to explore the role of language in topographical working memory when landmarks are present along the path. We performed three experiments to mainly test the effects of language but also motor, spatial motor and spatial environment interferences on topographical working memory. We aimed to clarify both the role of language in navigational working memory per se and the extent to which spatial language interferes with the main task more than the other types of interference. Specifically, in the three experiments we investigated the differences due to different verbal interference sources (i.e., articulatory suppression of nonsense syllables; right and left, up and bottom; and north, south, east and west). The main hypothesis was that the use of spatial language affected more landmark-based topographical working memory than both the verbalization of nonsense syllables and other types of interference. Results show no effect of spatial language, only spatial environmental interference affected the navigational working memory performance. In general, this might depend on the scarce role of spatial language in online navigational working memory tasks. Specifically, language is more important for learning and retrieval of the cognitive map. Implications and future research directions are discussed.

Is Losing One's Way a Sign of Cognitive Decay? Topographical Memory Deficit as an Early Marker of Pathological Aging

Spatial navigation tasks reveal small differences between normal and pathological aging and may thus disclose potential neuropsychological predictors of neurodegenerative diseases. The aim of our study was to investigate which navigational skills are compromised in the early phase of pathological aging as well as the extent to which they are compromised. We performed an extensive neuropsychological evaluation based on working memory and learning tasks (i.e., Corsi Block-Tapping Test and Walking Corsi Test) involving both reaching and navigational vista spaces. We also assessed spatial navigation skills in the real world by asking participants to perform route-learning and landmark-recognition tasks. We conducted a cross-sectional study on nineteen patients with a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) who displayed either an isolated memory deficit (single-domain amnestic MCI, MCIsd; N = 3) or a memory deficit associated with deficits in other cognitive functions (multi-domain MCI, MCImd; N = 16) as well as on nineteen healthy control participants. The groups' performances were compared by means of mixed factorial ANOVA and two-sample t-tests. We found that patients with MCI performed worse than controls, especially when they were required to learn spatial positions within the navigational vista space. Route-learning within the real environment was also impaired whereas landmark-recognition was spared. The same pattern of results emerged in the MCImd subgroup. Moreover, single case analyses on MCIsd patients revealed a dissociation between learning of spatial positions within navigational vista space and within reaching space. These results suggest that topographical learning is compromised in the early phase of MCIsd and MCImd and that spatial navigation tasks may be used to better characterize topographical disorientation in MCI patients as well as for the early diagnosis of pathological aging.

The Verbal Judgement Task: Normative data of verbal abstract reasoning in a sample of 18- to 40-years old

In this study, normative data for the age-range 18-40 years have been provided for the Verbal Judgment Test (VJT), which underpins abstract reasoning on the basis of four subtests: "Differences", "Proverbs", "Absurdities" and "Classifications". 554 participants (280 males and 274 females) were recruited and the following data were provided: means and standard deviations divided by gender, educational level (8, 13 and 18 years) and age group (18-20 years, 21-25 years, 26-30 years, 31-35 years and 36-40 years) for each subtest and the total score; percentiles for each subtest, divided by age group, and, when appropriate, educational level and/or gender; Rho correlations between age group, gender, educational level, intelligence and VJT scores. Age-, education- and gender differences were also assessed carrying out non parametric tests. Results showed that age and education positively affected performance in the subtests of Differences, Proverbs and Classifications, which are mostly based on previous knowledge, experience, and crystallized intelligence, but did not affect performance in the Absurdities subtest, which encompasses to some extent fluid intelligence. In addition, males showed higher scores than females in the subtests of Differences and Proverbs and in the total VJT, probably reflecting higher knowledge acquisition. Implications for future research are briefly discussed.

Normative data and validation of the Italian translation of the Working Memory Questionnaire (WMQ)

Reliable and valid measures are necessary to assess subjective working memory complaints that can be distinct from objective memory performance. The Working Memory Questionnaire (WMQ) is a self-administered scale proposed by Vallat-Azouvi. It assesses the three different working memory domains (memory storage, attention, and executive functions) in accordance with Baddeley's working memory model. Our aim was to propose an Italian translation of the WMQ and provide normative data. We collected normative data from 697 healthy Italian participants aged between 18 and 88 years. Percentiles and cutoff scores, taking into consideration age, gender, and education, were provided for the WMQ total scores and the three separate domains. The performance on the WMQ was influenced by age and education. In particular, age and education affected self-perceived working memory efficacy. Our data demonstrate a significant correlation between the WMQ and paper-and-pencil tests assessing working memory, attention, and executive functions. This study provides normative data that have been adjusted for relevant demographics and percentile grids in an Italian population. The results are in line with a previous French study that also supported the use of the WMQ as a valid prescreening instrument for working memory deficits in clinical practice.

Brain Network Underlying Executive Functions in Gambling and Alcohol Use Disorders: An Activation Likelihood Estimation Meta-Analysis of fMRI Studies

Background: Neuroimaging and neuropsychological studies have suggested that common features characterize both Gambling Disorder (GD) and Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD), but these conditions have rarely been compared. Methods: We provide evidence for the similarities and differences between GD and AUD in neural correlates of executive functions by performing an activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis of 34 functional magnetic resonance imaging studies involving executive function processes in individuals diagnosed with GD and AUD and healthy controls (HC). Results: GD showed greater bilateral clusters of activation compared with HC, mainly located in the head and body of the caudate, right middle frontal gyrus, right putamen, and hypothalamus. Differently, AUD showed enhanced activation compared with HC in the right lentiform nucleus, right middle frontal gyrus, and the precuneus; it also showed clusters of deactivation in the bilateral middle frontal gyrus, left middle cingulate cortex, and inferior portion of the left putamen. Conclusions: Going beyond the limitations of a single study approach, these findings provide evidence, for the first time, that both disorders are associated with specific neural alterations in the neural network for executive functions.

Topographical Working Memory in Children with Cerebral Palsy

Forty children with cerebral palsy (CP) and 120 typical developing children (TD) performed a topographic working memory (WalCT) test requiring to move their body in a walked vista-space and a visuo-spatial test (CBT) requiring just reaching movements. WalCT score was significantly higher in GMFCS II/III than in TD. CBT score was significantly lower in GMFCS I than in III/IV but lower than TD in all CP groups. Similar results in WalCT between GMFCS I and TD and GMFCS II and III/IV respectively indicate that mobility is associated with topographic working memory. Differently in CBT, the absence of bodily movement allows using different cognitive strategies. Children should be provided with opportunities and active participation to enhancing spatial awareness and navigational skills.

Travel Planning Ability in Right Brain-Damaged Patients: Two Case Reports

Planning ability is fundamental for goal-directed spatial navigation. Preliminary findings from patients and healthy individuals suggest that travel planning (TP)-namely, navigational planning-can be considered a distinct process from visuospatial planning (VP) ability. To shed light on this distinction, two right brain-damaged patients without hemineglect were compared with a control group on two tasks aimed at testing VP (i.e., Tower of London-16, ToL-16) and TP (i.e., Minefield Task, MFT). The former requires planning the moves to reach the right configuration of three colored beads on three pegs, whereas the latter was opportunely developed to assess TP in the navigational environment when obstacles are present. Specifically, the MFT requires participants to plan a route on a large carpet avoiding some hidden obstacles previously observed. Patient 1 showed lesions encompassing the temporoparietal region and the insula; she performed poorer than the control group on the ToL-16 but showed no deficit on the MFT. Conversely, Patient 2 showed lesions mainly located in the occipitoparietal network of spatial navigation; she performed worse than the control group on the MFT but not on the ToL-16. In both cases performances satisfied the criteria for a classical dissociation, meeting criteria for a double dissociation. These results support the idea that TP is a distinct ability and that it is dissociated from VP skills.

Effect of ageing on verbal and visuo-spatial working memory: Evidence from 880 individuals

It is well-known that ageing is associated with a decrease in working memory abilities. It is not so clear at what age the decline begins and if there are differences in the decline of verbal and visuo-spatial working memory. This study investigates the effect of ageing on verbal and visuo-spatial working memory by comparing the performance of 880 subjects aged between 15- and 80-year old who were subdivided into five groups. The results show that age is negatively correlated with performance on both verbal and visuo-spatial working memory tasks. Specifically, we observed a gradual deterioration in performance with increasing age starting at 36-year old. Comparing the performance of the five groups, it is possible to observe a clear decline in both verbal and visuo-spatial working memory domains in subjects over 66-year old. However, in the next youngest age group, it is possible to notice differences in performance depending on the type of material being processed and the cognitive load required. This variability is discussed by analyzing the factors that may have influenced test performance.

The relationships between musical expertise and divergent thinking

Musical expertise has positive effects on cognition, especially on verbal and linguistic processing. In this study the relationships between musical expertise, not involving improvisation training, and divergent thinking were explored. Expert and self-taught musicians were tested in musical, verbal and visual divergent thinking, and were compared with a group of non-musicians in verbal and visual divergent thinking. The musical task required to generate many different pieces of music using the incipit of 'Happy Birthday' as a starting point; the verbal task required to list unusual uses for a cardboard box; the visual task asked to complete drawings adding details to basic stimuli. For each task fluency flexibility and originality scores were measured. Based on these scores, musical, verbal and visual creative indices were computed. In general, expert musicians showed higher creative indices in musical and verbal domains than self-taught musicians and in verbal creative index than non-musicians. No group difference was found in terms of visual creative index. These findings confirm that musical expertise enhances not only musical divergent thinking but also verbal divergent thinking, probably supporting the semantic associative modes of processing and improving verbal working memory, which facilitates the online recombination of information in new ways. This effect seems to be specifically supported by formal musical training. The lack of the association between musical expertise and visual divergent thinking, as well as future research directions, are discussed.

The Role of Emotional Landmarks in Embodied and Not-Embodied Tasks

The role of emotional landmarks in navigation has been scarcely studied. Previous findings showed that valence and arousal of landmarks increase landmark’s salience and improve performance in navigational memory tasks. However, no study has directly explored the interplay between valence and arousal of emotionally laden landmarks in embodied and not-embodied navigational tasks. At the aim, 115 college students have been subdivided in five groups according to the landmarks they were exposed (High Positive Landmarks HPL; Low Positive Landmarks LPL; High Negative Landmarks HNL; Low Negative Landmarks LNL and Neutral Landmarks NeuL). In the embodied tasks participants were asked to learn a path in a first-person perspective and to recall it after five minutes, whereas in the not-embodied tasks participants were asked to track the learned path on a silent map and to recognize landmarks among distractors. Results highlighted firstly the key role of valence in the embodied task related to the immediate learning, but not to the delayed recall of the path, probably because of the short retention interval used. Secondly, results showed the importance of the interplay between valence and arousal in the non-embodied tasks, specifically, neutral and high negative emotional landmarks yielded the lowest performance probably because of the avoidance learning effect. Implications for future research directions are discussed.

Spatial skills

Spatial skills represent an important part of our cognitive processes and have been widely studied in the last decades. The term "spatial skills" includes several abilities, some of them clearly sexually dimorphic. Thus men usually perform better than women in mental rotation and spatial orientation tasks, whereas women outperform men in object location memory tests. Skills like visualization and perception could account for these differences, but they could also be modulated by the cognitive style. Obviously, disease can interfere in certain brain structures underlying learning and memory, thus altering spatial abilities in both genders. In this chapter, spatial skills and sexual dimorphism are briefly reviewed, focusing on processes underlying performance as well as models used to explain how we perceive information from the environment. The chapter also includes references to the brain, providing some cues regarding the anatomic regions underlying some of these behaviors.

Does spatial cognitive style affect how navigational strategy is planned?

People orient themselves in the environment using three different, hierarchically organized, spatial cognitive styles: landmark, route, and survey. Landmark style is based on a representation encompassing only visual information (terrain features); route style is based on a representation that connects landmarks and routes using an egocentric (body-centred) frame of reference; survey style is based on a global map-like representation that mainly involves an allocentric (world-centred) frame of reference. This study was aimed at investigating whether individual spatial cognitive style affected the way to plan a path when searching for a lost object. Participants with landmark, route, and survey style were assessed with an ecological navigational planning task (the Key Search Task), which required planning a strategy to search for the lost key in a hypothetical wide squared field. Results showed that spatial cognitive styles were associated to different navigational planning strategies, although the time to complete the Key Search Task was comparable across the styles. As revealed by the Key Search Task score, survey style individuals were the best navigational planners, route style individuals were less efficient and landmark style individuals were the least efficient. These results suggest that spatial cognitive style has effects on navigational planning. Implications for clinical settings, such as for developmental topographical disorientation, are discussed.

Corrigendum: The Dancers' Visuospatial Body Map Explains Their Enhanced Divergence in the Production of Motor Forms: Evidence in the Early Development

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00768.].