Cognition, body, and mind: A three-in-one coordinate-based fMRI meta-analysis on cognitive, physical, and meditative trainings

While mounting evidence shows promising effects of brain training on cognitive functioning in healthy and pathological conditions, the spread of variable training approaches highlights the need to compare their efficacy and identify their neural correlates, representing possible targets for neuromodulation treatments. We performed coordinate-based functional magnetic resonance imaging meta-analyses to compare the neural correlates and the cognitive outcomes of cognitive (n = 22), physical (n = 22), and meditative (n = 20) training in healthy non-expert individuals. Pre/post-training cognitive metrics improved after cognitive and physical training, but their heterogeneity, or even the lack of these measurements in some studies, highlights the need of more structured protocols. Cognitive, physical, and meditative interventions increased brain activity in distinct fronto-medial areas likely mediating training effects on cognitive, action, and attentional control, respectively. The modular, training-specific, engagement of a region that is known to mediate feedback-based learning provides cues for boosting brain training via combined interventions that might jointly outperform their individual effects.

High-definition transcranial direct current stimulation of the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex modulates decision-making and executive control

Previous neuroimaging evidence highlights the translational implications of targeting the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), i.e. a key node of the networks underlying conflict monitoring and decision-making, in brain stimulation treatments with clinical or rehabilitative purposes. While the optimized modelling of "high-definition" current flows between multiple anode-cathode pairs might, in principle, allow to stimulate an otherwise challenging target, sensitive benchmark metrics of dACC neuromodulation are required to assess the effectiveness of this approach. On this basis, we aimed to assess the modulatory effect of anodal and cathodal high-definition tDCS (HD-tDCS) of the dACC on different facets of executive control and decision-making in healthy young individuals. A combined modelling/targeting procedure provided the optimal montage for the maximum intensity of dACC stimulation with six small "high-definition" electrodes delivering anodal, cathodal or sham HD-tDCS for 20 min in a within-subject design with three separate sessions. Following stimulation, participants performed Flanker and gambling tasks unveiling individual differences in executive control and both loss- and risk-aversion in decision-making, respectively. Compared to both anodal and sham conditions, cathodal dACC stimulation significantly affected task performance by increasing control over the Flanker conflict effect, and both loss and risk-aversion in decision-making. By confirming the feasibility and effectiveness of dACC stimulation with HD-tDCS, these findings highlight the implications of modelling and targeting procedures for neuromodulation in clinical research, whereby innovative protocols might serve as treatment addressing dysfunctional dACC activity, or combined with cognitive training, to enhance higher-order executive functioning in different neuropsychiatric conditions.

Risk perception and behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic: Predicting variables of compliance with lockdown measures

The COVID-19 pandemic and the measures to counteract it have highlighted the role of individual differences in evaluating and reacting to emergencies, and the challenges inherent in promoting precautionary behaviours. We aimed to explore the psychological and cognitive factors modulating behaviour and intentions during the national lockdown in Italy. We administered an online questionnaire (N = 244) that included tests for assessing personality traits (Temperament and Character Inventory; Locus of Control of Behaviour) and moral judgment (Moral Foundations Questionnaire), alongside behavioural economics tasks addressing different facets of risk attitude (loss aversion, risk aversion and delay discounting). We then assessed the extent to which individual variations in these dimensions modulated participants' compliance with the lockdown norms. When assessing their joint contribution via multiple regressions, lockdown adherence was mostly predicted by internal locus of control, psycho-economic dimensions suggestive of long-sighted and loss-averse attitudes, as well as personality traits related to cautionary behaviour, such as harm avoidance, and the authority moral concern. These findings show that a multi-domain assessment of the factors underlying personal intentions, and thus driving compliance with government measures, can help predict individuals' actions during health emergencies. This evidence points to factors that should be considered when developing interventions and communication strategies to promote precautionary behaviours.

Action processing in the motor system: Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) evidence of shared mechanisms in the visual and linguistic modalities

In two experiments, we compared the dynamics of corticospinal excitability when processing visually or linguistically presented tool-oriented hand actions in native speakers and sequential bilinguals. In a third experiment we used the same procedure to test non-motor, low-level stimuli, i.e. scrambled images and pseudo-words. Stimuli were presented in sequence: pictures (tool + tool-oriented hand action or their scrambled counterpart) and words (tool noun + tool-action verb or pseudo-words). Experiment 1 presented German linguistic stimuli to native speakers, while Experiment 2 presented English stimuli to non-natives. Experiment 3 tested Italian native speakers. Single-pulse trascranial magnetic stimulation (spTMS) was applied to the left motor cortex at five different timings: baseline, 200 ms after tool/noun onset, 150, 350 and 500 ms after hand/verb onset with motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) recorded from the first dorsal interosseous (FDI) and abductor digiti minimi (ADM) muscles. We report strong similarities in the dynamics of corticospinal excitability across the visual and linguistic modalities. MEPs' suppression started as early as 150 ms and lasted for the duration of stimulus presentation (500 ms). Moreover, we show that this modulation is absent for stimuli with no motor content. Overall, our study supports the notion of a core, overarching system of action semantics shared by different modalities.