The Centrencephalic Space of Functional Integration: a Model for Complex Intelligent Systems

If we have recently begun to understand how DNA gives life to embryos and then to individuals, only very little is understood of the intricate interactions between the biological bases of life, the environment and the human brain. The exponential acceleration of technological change could change many, perhaps all, the rules that have guided our civilization so far. It is very likely that these intelligent artificial entities will take much less time to understand the codes that constitute them, gaining forms of (self) awareness, decision-making skills, introspective capacities, mind reading and even free will. If all this is achieved, in the coming decades humanity will be destined to a profound cultural, epistemological and even physiological transformation. In this paper, we aim to show how the success or failure of a balanced man-machine co-evolution will also depend on some answers to fundamental scientific questions that have remained unexplored, such as consciousness and decision-making, creativity, but above all to the adaptive factor that more radically sustained and pushed the evolution beyond the constraints of our genetic code: improvisation. This entanglement of neuronal matrices could be at the origin of an intermodal communication — consists of a stream of semantic phenomena, mental images and more, tuned thanks to “pattern recognition” in centrencephalic space of functional integration — thus explaining “remote spectrum actions” at the base of primary adaptive unconscious and experiences life

Revision on psychometric properties of the temperament and character inventory in a clinical sample

Cloninger’s Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) although elaborated on the general population, is frequently used in clinical samples. The study evaluates the psychometric characteristics of TCI in clinical populations with the aim of creating a reduced version of the test suitable for these subjects. This research was conducted on two groups of mental health outpatients. In the first study, 44 items, correlated with the psychiatric disorders, was selected. These items, divided in four dimensions utilizing both statistic and psychopathological criteria, show good internal consistency and external validity and constitute a Reduced Version (TR-TCI) of the test. In the second study, the predictive validity of the TR-TCI was evaluated through the ROC curves and a logistic regression model. The results show a good predictive validity of TR-TCI, that allows us to use this instrument in order to identify the personality structures that make people sensitive to psychiatric pathologies

Computational Methods in Psychotherapy: A Scoping Review

The study of complex systems, such as the psychotherapeutic encounter, transcends the mechanistic and reductionist methods for describing linear processes and needs suitable approaches to describe probabilistic and scarcely predictable phenomena

A new tool to assess the occurrence of personality traits: the Phenomenological Personality Factor questionnaire

Personality traits are patterns of thoughts, feelings and actions that are usually assessed by means of psychometric questionnaires. In the present study we described the Phenomenological Personality Factor (PPF), a short questionnaire assessing the personality traits, taking into account the different interpretative models of personality

Envy, Social Comparison, and Depression on Social Networking Sites: A Systematic Review

This study aims to review the evidence for the reciprocal relationship between envy and social comparison (SC) on social networking sites (SNSs) and depression. We searched PsychINFO, PubMed, and Web of Science from January 2012 to November 2022, adhering to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. A total of 9 articles met our inclusion criteria. In all articles reviewed, a simple correlation was found between SC on SNSs, envy, and depression. Three cross-sectional studies successfully tested a model with envy as a mediator between SNSs and depression. The moderating role of additional variables such as self-efficacy, neuroticism, SC orientation, marital quality, and friendship type was also evident. The only two studies that were suitable to determine direction found that depression acted as a predictor rather than an outcome of SC and envy, and therefore depression might be a relevant risk factor for the negative emotional consequences of SNSs use

Exploring the Question: “Does Empathy Work in the Same Way in Online and In-Person Therapeutic Settings?”

Providing remote psychotherapy using technology is a growing practice, especially since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even if in numerous studies video conferencing psychotherapy (VCP) was found to be clinically effective, some doubts continue to exist about how the psychotherapeutic alliance works in the online setting, and the characteristics of the empathic process are still poorly understood. This is an exploratory study aimed at analyzing the degree of empathy between the psychotherapist and client pair, and the degree of support perceived by the client who shall be referred to as the patient interchangeably in this study, comparing the sessions in person with those online, during the current pandemic, in order to discriminate the impact of empathy in the digital setting. The sample analyzed was composed of 23 patients with different severity of pathology engaged in online and in-person therapeutic sessions with five psychotherapists of different theoretical leanings. The scores of the support and empathy scale, obtained by both members of the psychotherapeutic couple in the two settings, were analyzed and compared. The test used belongs to an Italian adaptation of the Empathic Understanding (EU) of the Relationship Inventory. What emerged from comparing the scores was interesting: Unlike the psychotherapists, the patients perceived their therapists as significantly more empathic and supportive in the remote setting. These are rather important data, because the literature documents that client empathic perception measures represent a more accurate measure of the empathic relationship and, in general, can predict a good treatment outcome. Although these results need further investigation, they represent an important contribution in filling the scientific gap in the understanding of digital empathy. Also, this study provides new insights for future research on the characteristics and impact empathy has on the practice of remote psychotherapy

Unitas Multiplex. Biological architectures of consciousness

The so-called Posthuman question - the birth of organisms generated by the encounter of biological and artificial entities (humanoid robots, cyborgs and so on) – is now on the agenda of science and, more generally, of contemporary society. This is an issue of enormous importance, which not only poses ethical questions but also, and above all, methodological questions about how it will be achieved on a scientific plane. How such entities will be born and what their functions will be? For example, what kind of consciousness will they be equipped with, in view of the function of consciousness for distinguishing the Self from others, which is the foundation of the interactive life of relationships? Many scholars believe that rapid technological progress will lead to the emergence of organisms that will simulate the functions of the mind, learn from their experiences, decode real-world information, and plan their actions and choices based on their own values elaborated from vast amounts of data and metadata. In the not-too-distant future, it is believed that these entities will acquire awareness and, consequently, decisional freedom, and perhaps even their own unique morals. In this paper, we try to show that the path towards this goal cannot avoid clarification of the problems that neuroscience has ahead of it. These problems concern: a) the way in which consciousness comes about on the basis of well-defined brain processes; b) how it represents its own organization and not a simple brain function; c) how simultaneously contains multiple distinct contents, each with its own intentionality; d) how it expresses dynamic evolutionary relations and not a set of phenomena that may be isolated; e) finally, how its order is not rigidly hierarchical, but is supported by a multiplicity of horizontal levels, each of which is in structural and functional continuum with different phenomenal events. The empirical and theoretical research effort on this topic provides an intensive contribution to the development of IC Technologies

un abordaje dimensional de los trastornos de personalidad en una muestra de delincuentes juveniles

In a sample of 60 male Italian subjects imprisoned at a juvenile detention institute (JDI), psychopathological aspects of the AXIS II were described and the validity of a psychopathological dimensional approach for describing criminological issues was examined. The data show that the sample has psychopathological characteristics which revolve around ego weakness and poor management of relations and aggression. Statistically these psychopathological characteristics explain 85% of criminal behavior

Analyzing correlations between personality disorders and frontal functions: A pilot study

This paper reports the results of an open cross-sectional study in which socio-demographic, clinical, psychopathological and neuropsychological features of outpatients—who consecutively enter for treatments in a private service of psychiatry and psychotherapy—are examined. The involved participants (63 subjects, 24 males and 39 females aged from 18 to 66, mean age 34 years) were assessed for personality disorders (PDs) by administering the Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnosis of axis II disorders (SCID-II) and for frontal lobe hypo-functioning activities by administering the Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB). 21 subjects reached a FAB total score less than 13.5, indicating the presence of frontal function deficits. 21 subjects had a diagnosis of Personality Disorder (PD). The remaining 42 subjects did not meet sufficient criteria for any diagnosis of PD even though they showed one or more typical PD symptoms. It was found that the PD syndromic diagnosis did not significantly correlate with frontal functions deficits, while some PD symptoms (such as abnormal behavior, emotional experiences and pathological cognitive processes) correlated negatively with the FAB total scores and therefore with a frontal lobe hypo-functioning. These significant negative correlations suggest that PD symptoms have more ecological value than the DSM V diagnostic categories confirming their artificial nature and uselessness for clinical practices