Editorial. Creativity and mental imagery

Considering the pivotal role that creative ideas play in human societies, and creativity's contribution to multiple aspects of human life, understanding the cognitive components underlying creativity has become increasingly fundamental. Since the Five-Stages Model of the creative process proposed by Wallas (1926), creativity has become associated with topics as wide-ranging as from problem-solving (Plucker et al., 2004) to art (van Leeuwen et al., 1999; Batt et al., 2010). Furthermore, creativity has been identified as a predictor for educational success and wellbeing (Plucker et al., 2004), and has been proposed as a way to improve the quality of life in healthy and pathological agin

Navigational style influences eye movement pattern during exploration and learning of an environmental map

During navigation people may adopt three different spatial styles (i.e., Landmark, Route, and Survey). Landmark style (LS) people are able to recall familiar landmarks but cannot combine them with directional information; Route style (RS) people connect landmarks to each other using egocentric information about direction; Survey style (SS) people use a map-like representation of the environment. SS individuals generally navigate better than LS and RS people. Fifty-one college students (20 LS; 17 RS, and 14 SS) took part in the experiment. The spatial cognitive style (SCS) was assessed by means of the SCS test; participants then had to learn a schematic map of a city, and after 5 min had to recall the path depicted on it. During the learning and delayed recall phases, eye-movements were recorded. Our intent was to investigate whether there is a peculiar way to explore an environmental map related to the individual's spatial style. Results support the presence of differences in the strategy used by the three spatial styles for learning the path and its delayed recall. Specifically, LS individuals produced a greater number of fixations of short duration, while the opposite eye movement pattern characterized SS individuals. Moreover, SS individuals showed a more spread and comprehensive explorative pattern of the map, while LS individuals focused their exploration on the path and related targets. RS individuals showed a pattern of exploration at a level of proficiency between LS and SS individuals. We discuss the clinical and anatomical implications of our data

Where do bright ideas occur in our brain? Meta-analytic evidence from neuroimaging studies of domain-specific creativity

Many studies have assessed the neural underpinnings of creativity, failing to find a clear anatomical localization. We aimed to provide evidence for a multi-componential neural system for creativity. We applied a general activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis to 45 fMRI studies. Three individual ALE analyses were performed to assess creativity in different cognitive domains (Musical, Verbal, and Visuo-spatial). The general ALE revealed that creativity relies on clusters of activations in the bilateral occipital, parietal, frontal, and temporal lobes. The individual ALE revealed different maximal activation in different domains. Musical creativity yields activations in the bilateral medial frontal gyrus, in the left cingulate gyrus, middle frontal gyrus, and inferior parietal lobule and in the right postcentral and fusiform gyri. Verbal creativity yields activations mainly located in the left hemisphere, in the prefrontal cortex, middle and superior temporal gyri, inferior parietal lobule, postcentral and supramarginal gyri, middle occipital gyrus, and insula. The right inferior frontal gyrus and the lingual gyrus were also activated. Visuo-spatial creativity activates the right middle and inferior frontal gyri, the bilateral thalamus and the left precentral gyrus. This evidence suggests that creativity relies on multi-componential neural networks and that different creativity domains depend on different brain regions

No gender differences in egocentric and allocentric environmental transformation after compensating for male advantage by manipulating familiarity

The present study has two-fold aims: to investigate whether gender differences persist even when more time is given to acquire spatial information; to assess the gender effect when the retrieval phase requires recalling the pathway from the same or a different reference perspective (egocentric or allocentric). Specifically, we analyse the performance of men and women while learning a path from a map or by observing an experimenter in a real environment. We then asked them to reproduce the learned path using the same reference system (map learning vs. map retrieval or real environment learning vs. real environment retrieval) or using a different reference system (map learning vs. real environment retrieval or vice versa). The results showed that gender differences were not present in the retrieval phase when women have the necessary time to acquire spatial information. Moreover, using the egocentric coordinates (both in the learning and retrieval phase) proved easier than the other conditions, whereas learning through allocentric coordinates and then retrieving the environmental information using egocentric coordinates proved to be the most difficult. Results showed that by manipulating familiarity, gender differences disappear, or are attenuated in all conditions

Engineers’ abilities influence spatial perspective changing

In this paper we studied the effect of engineering expertise in providing directional judgments. We asked two groups of people, engineers and non-engineers, to observe and memorize five maps, each including a four-point path, for 30 sec. The path was then removed and the participants had to provide two directional judgments: aligned (the imagined perspective on the task was the same as the one just learned), and counter-aligned (the imagined perspective on the task was rotated by 180°). Our results showed that engineers are equally able to perform aligned and counter-aligned directional judgments. The alignment effect due to the distance from the learning perspective was, in fact, shown only by non-engineers. Results are discussed considering engineering both learning expertise and specific predisposition

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

Ragionamento e giustizia: Analisi di un procedimento penale

ItIntroduzione. Uno degli ambiti di interesse della psicologia giuridica è lo studio dei processi che guidano il ragionamento del giudice e che lo portano a prendere una decisione su di un caso in esame. L’obiettivo del nostro lavoro è quello di analizzare le argomentazioni di tre esperti,operatori di giustizia, che ragionano su di un medesimo evento attraverso l’utilizzo di uno strumento di analisi del testo. Metodi. Abbiamo considerato le diverse fasi processuali relative ad uno stesso caso: la sentenza del GUP, l’Appello della difesa e la sentenza di II Grado della Corte d’assise d’Appello. L’analisi che è stata condotta ha riguardato i tre testi separatamente ma anche, successivamente, il confronto fra di essi. Risultati. Le analisi hanno rilevato che la sentenza di I Grado è caratterizzata dall’utilizzo delle prove fattuali e dalle argomentazioni logiche su di esse, tese a dimostrare i reati. L’Appello della difesa presenta delle obiezioni di diritto e mette in luce alcune discordanze sui fatti ricostruiti dal GUP. Infine, la Corte d’assise d’Appello tratta e valuta in egual misura sia le argomentazioni del GUP che quelle della difesa, collocandosi in una posizione intermedia rispetto alle posizioni assunte dai due precedenti ragionatori.Conclusioni.Il GUP crea una propria ricostruzione dei fatti, sulla base delle prove fornite dalle parti, l’avvocato della difesa ed il giudice di II Grado non propongono una storia alternativa, bensì si focalizzano solo su alcuni argomenti. Il ragionamento dell’avvocato della difesa e del Giudice di II Grado fanno dunque pensare ad un processo di verificazione piuttosto che di falsificazione.EnBackground. One of the most interesting areas about forensic psychology is the study of the judges’ reasoning which lead them to make a decision on a legal case. The aim of our work is to analyze the reasoning of two judges and a layer who argument on a same event using an instrument of text analysis.Methods.We considered the different trial stages about the same legal case: the GUP sentence, the Appeal defence and the sentence of the Court of Appeal. A Analysis regarded the three texts separately and the comparison among them. Results. Results showed that: the GUP sentence was characterized by the use of factual evidences and logical argumentation about them; the Appeal defence introduced some law objections and points out some discordances about the facts explained by the GUP sentence; the Court of Appeal reconstructed facts using in the same manner the GUP and defence arguments. Conclusions. The GUP reconstructed the crime on the base of the evidences suggested by the parties to the case. The defence lawyer and the Court of Appeal judge did not propose an alternative story, but they focused only on some topics. Therefore, the reasoning of the defence lawyer and the Court of Appeal judge suggests the involvement of a verification rather than falsification process.EsAntecedentes. Una de las áreas más interesantes sobre la psicología forense es el estudio del razonamiento de los jueces que conducen a tomar una decisión en un caso legal. La meta de nuestro trabajo es analizar el razonamiento de dos jueces y de un abocado que se ponen en discusión en un mismo acontecimiento usando un instrumento de análisis del texto. Métodos.Considerábamos las diversas etapas de ensayo caso legal casi igual: la oración de GUP, la defensa de la súplica y la oración del tribunal de apelación. Un análisis miró los tres textos por separado y la comparación entre ellos. Resultados. Los resultados demostraron eso: la oración de GUP fue caracterizada por el uso de evidencias efectivas y de la argumentación lógica sobre ellas; la defensa introdujo algunas objeciones de la ley y precisa algunos discordances sobre los hechos explicados por la oración de GUP; el tribunal de apelación reconstruyó hechos usando de manera semejante las discusiones de GUP y de la defen El GUP reconstruyó el crimen en la base de las evidencias sugeridas por las partes. El abogado defensor y el tribunal de apelación y el juez no propusieron una historia alternativa, sino que se centraron solamente en algunos asuntos. Por lo tanto, el razonamiento del abogado defensor y del tribunal de apelación sugiere la implicación de un proceso de la verificación más bien que de la falsificación

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

ndividual 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