Feeling like a group after a natural disaster: Common ingroup identity and relations with outgroup victims among majority and minority young children

We conducted a field study to test whether the common ingroup identity model (Gaertner & Dovidio, 2000, reducing intergroup bias: The common ingroup identity model. Philadelphia, PA: Psychology Press) could be a useful tool to improve intergroup relations in the aftermath of a natural disaster. Participants were majority (Italian) and minority (immigrant) elementary school children (N = 517) living in the area struck by powerful earthquakes in May 2012. Results revealed that, among majority children, the perceived external threat represented by the earthquake was associated with greater perceptions of belonging to a common ingroup including both ingroup and outgroup. In turn, heightened one-group perceptions were associated with greater willingness to meet and help outgroup victims, both directly and indirectly via more positive outgroup attitudes. Among immigrant children, perceived disaster threat was not associated with any of the dependent variables; one-group perceptions were positively associated with outgroup attitudes, helping and contact intentions towards outgroup victims. Thus, onegroup perceptions after a natural disaster may promote more positive and supporting relations between the majority and the minority group. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the findings

Making the School Smart: The Interactive Whiteboard Against Disparities in Children Stemming From Low Metacognitive Skills

The demand for an increasingly differentiated education, which takes into account the individual differences of children to stimulate effective learning, accompanies the introduction of new technologies at school. Amongst these, the Interactive Whiteboard (IWB), which allows multimodality and sharing of contents, is one of the most widespread tools in schools. The aim of the study was to test with a sample of primary school children the impact of a teaching session with the use of the IWB (vs. traditional lessons) on knowledge performance. In addition, we were interested in investigating the role of metacognition as a potential moderator on learning effects. Our results revealed an advantage of IWB use in learning achievement. Notably, the increase in learning outcomes only occurred among children with low metacognitive skills. This shows that new technologies can play an important role both per se and in supporting learning processes, especially of less metacognitive students, therefore contributing to reduce the gap between children with differential metacognitive skills. The results are analyzed in light of the important role in the nowadays world of Information and Communication Technologies, which can become an extremely relevant and appealing educational and cultural compensation tool

Response-Adapted Postinduction Strategy in Patients With Advanced-Stage Follicular Lymphoma: The FOLL12 Study

Purpose: We compared 2 years of rituximab maintenance (RM) with a response-adapted postinduction approach in patients with follicular lymphoma who responded to induction immunochemotherapy. Methods: We randomly assigned treatment-naïve, advanced-stage, high-tumor burden follicular lymphoma patients to receive standard RM or a response-adapted postinduction approach on the basis of metabolic response and molecular assessment of minimal residual disease (MRD). The experimental arm used three types of postinduction therapies: for complete metabolic response (CMR) and MRD-negative patients, observation; for CMR and MRD-positive (end of induction or follow-up) patients, four doses of rituximab (one per week, maximum three courses) until MRD-negative; and for non-CMR patients, one dose of ibritumomab tiuxetan followed by standard RM. The study was designed as noninferiority trial with progression-free survival (PFS) as the primary end point. Results: Overall, 807 patients were randomly assigned. After a median follow-up of 53 months (range 1-92 months), patients in the standard arm had a significantly better PFS than those in the experimental arm (3-year PFS 86% v 72%; P < .001). The better PFS of the standard vs experimental arm was confirmed in all the study subgroups except non-CMR patients (n = 65; P = .274). The 3-year overall survival was 98% (95% CI, 96 to 99) and 97% (95% CI, 95 to 99) in the reference and experimental arms, respectively (P = .238). Conclusion: A metabolic and molecular response-adapted therapy as assessed in the FOLL12 study was associated with significantly inferior PFS compared with 2-year RM. The better efficacy of standard RM was confirmed in the subgroup analysis and particularly for patients achieving both CMR and MRD-negative

Freezing of gait in Parkinson’s disease patients treated with bilateral subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation: A long-term overview

Bilateral subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation (STN-DBS) is an effective treatment in advanced Parkinson’s Disease (PD). However, the effects of STN-DBS on freezing of gait (FOG) are still debated, particularly in the long-term follow-up (>/=5-years). The main aim of the current study is to evaluate the long-term effects of STN-DBS on FOG. Twenty STN-DBS treated PD patients were included. Each patient was assessed before surgery through a detailed neurological evaluation, including FOG score, and reevaluated in the long-term (median follow-up: 5-years) in different stimulation and drug conditions. In the long term follow-up, FOG score significantly worsened in the off-stimulation/off-medication condition compared with the preoperative off-medication assessment (z = -1.930; p = 0.05) but not in the on-stimulation/off-medication (z = -0.357; p = 0.721). There was also a significant improvement of FOG at long-term assessment by comparing on-stimulation/off-medication and off-stimulation/off-medication conditions (z = -2.944; p = 0.003). These results highlight the possible beneficial long-term effects of STN-DBS on FOG

Freezing of Gait in Parkinson's Disease Patients Treated with Bilateral Subthalamic Nucleus Deep Brain Stimulation: A Long-Term Overview

Bilateral subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation (STN-DBS) is an effective treatment in advanced Parkinson's Disease (PD). However, the effects of STN-DBS on freezing of gait (FOG) are still debated, particularly in the long-term follow-up (≥5-years). The main aim of the current study is to evaluate the long-term effects of STN-DBS on FOG. Twenty STN-DBS treated PD patients were included. Each patient was assessed before surgery through a detailed neurological evaluation, including FOG score, and revaluated in the long-term (median follow-up: 5-years) in different stimulation and drug conditions. In the long term follow-up, FOG score significantly worsened in the off-stimulation/off-medication condition compared with the pre-operative off-medication assessment (z = -1.930; p = 0.05) but not in the on-stimulation/off-medication (z = -0.357; p = 0.721). There was also a significant improvement of FOG at long-term assessment by comparing on-stimulation/off-medication and off-stimulation/off-medication conditions (z = -2.944; p = 0.003). These results highlight the possible beneficial long-term effects of STN-DBS on FOG

L'autovalutazione in età evolutiva: metacognizione e stili attributivi

The aim of the research is to study the capacity for self-evaluation of 271 primary school student undergoing tests involving mathematics and formal reasoning. Subjects were asked to estimate the number of correct answers and subsequently to compare their performance with that of their peers. The results demonstrate that all the subjects in all tests showed a significant negative relationship among real score and self - evaluation indices. Analyzing comparative assessments, the results reported in literature by Kruger and Dunning were confirmed: poor performers tend to significantly overestimate their own performance whilst top performers tend to underestimate it. This can be interpreted as a demonstration that the accuracy of comparative self-evaluations depends on a number of variables: cognitive and metacognitive factors and aspects associated with self-representation. To verify these aspects we examined bias in self evaluation from an attributional perspective too. Our conclusion is that cognitive and metacognitive processes work as “submerged” in highly subjective representations, allowing dynamics related to safeguarding the image one has of oneself to play a role

Presentazione ricerca terremoto presso le scuole di Novi di Modena e Rovereto sulla Secchia

Si sono presentati e discussi con le insegnanti i risultati delle ricerche condotte nelle scuole in relazione agli effetti psicologici del terremoto. L'incontro si è tenuto lunedì 9 settembre presso le scuole di Novi di Modena e Rovereto sulla Secchia

Nuove tecnologie, atteggiamento verso lo studio e creatività: una ricerca con studenti di scuola secondaria di primo grado

Nuove tecnologie, atteggiamento verso lo studio e creatività: una ricerca con studenti di scuola secondaria di primo grado Versari1 A., Cadamuro1 A., Farneti2 A. 1 Dipartimento di Educazione e Scienze Umane, Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia 2 Facoltà di Scienze della Formazione, Libera Università degli Studi di Bolzano Introduzione. L’introduzione di nuove tecnologie (ICT) a scuola è un’occasione per riflettere ed innovare i processi di insegnamento-apprendimento. Se adeguatamente introdotti ed utilizzati, gli strumenti tecnologici possono sostenere la riflessione metacognitiva e l’autoregolazione e possono contribuire allo sviluppo del pensiero creativo, grazie alla multimedialità e flessibilità dei supporti. Infine, rappresentano un’opportunità per migliorare l’atteggiamento emotivo-motivazionale degli studenti verso la scuola, aumentando partecipazione e socialità. Metodo. Allo scopo di indagare la relazione tra le ICT, in particolare la Lavagna Interattiva Multimediale (LIM), i processi metacognitivi e la creatività, abbiamo condotto una ricerca su un campione di 343 studenti di scuola secondaria di primo grado, di età compresa tra 11 e 15 anni. A ciascun studente sono stati somministrati alcuni questionari che intendevano indagare: l'approccio allo studio (QAS-AMOS 8-15); l’utilizzo della LIM in classe (IWBs), il tempo trascorso in internet e la frequenza di utilizzo dei videogiochi. Agli studenti è stata infine proposta una prova di creatività (Alternative Uses Task, Guilford,1967). Gli insegnanti hanno invece risposto ad un questionario sul loro utilizzo delle ICT in classe. 105 Risultati. Le analisi hanno evidenziato una relazione positiva tra l’utilizzo della LIM in classe e le variabili “concentrazione”, “atteggiamento verso la scuola” e “organizzazione” del QAS e una correlazione negativa tra utilizzo delle ICT e la dimensione “originalità di pensiero” misurata dall’Alternative Uses Task. Sono emerse correlazioni positive tra il “tempo di navigazione in internet” e la variabile “flessibilità” del QAS e le variabili “apprendimento e motivazione” e “percezione dell’efficacia della LIM” misurate dall’IWBs. È stata rilevata invece una correlazione negativa tra la variabile “utilizzo dei videogiochi” e le variabili del QAS “atteggiamento verso la scuola”, “motivazione” e “concentrazione”. Infine, è emersa una correlazione negativa tra la variabile “percezione di effetti negativi nell’utilizzo della LIM” dell’IWBs e le variabili “originalità” e “fluency”, misurate dalla prova di creatività e la variabile “concentrazione” del QAS. Conclusione. La ricerca ha messo in luce una relazione articolata e complessa tra l’utilizzo delle nuove tecnologie, l’atteggiamento verso lo studio e la creatività. In generale, sembra legittimo concludere che le ICT possano rappresentare uno strumento di promozione per le abilità metacognitive. La relazione con la creatività appare invece più problematica e necessita di ulteriori approfondimenti

I bambini e il terremoto: strategie per fronteggiare lo stress

Il capitolo tratta di un programma di ricerca da noi condotto all'indomani del terremoto che ha colpito l'Emilia-Romagna nel 2012 volto a comprendere le conseguenze dell'evento sui bambini unitamente alle modalit\ue0 per preservare al meglio le proprie funzioni cognitive e reagire all'evento in maniera efficace