Associations between facial emotion recognition and young adolescents\u2019 behaviors in bullying

This study investigated whether different behaviors young adolescents can act during bullying episodes were associated with their ability to recognize morphed facial expressions of the six basic emotions, expressed at high and low intensity. The sample included 117 middle-school students (45.3% girls; mean age = 12.4 years) who filled in a peer nomination questionnaire and individually performed a computerized emotion recognition task. Bayesian generalized mixed-effects models showed a complex picture, in which type and intensity of emotions, students\u2019 behavior and gender interacted in explaining recognition accuracy. Results were discussed with a particular focus on negative emotions and suggesting a \u201cneutral\u201d nature of emotion recognition ability, which does not necessarily lead to moral behavior but can also be used for pursuing immoral goals

Early numerical abilities and cognitive skills in kindergarten children

In this study, a unitary path analysis model was developed to investigate the relationship between cognitive variables (derived from published studies) and early numerical abilities in children attending the last year of kindergarten. We tested 100 children starting their last year of kindergarten on the following cognitive abilities: intelligence, phonological abilities, counting, verbal and visuospatial short-term memory and working memory, processing speed, and early numerical abilities. The same children were tested again on early numerical abilities at the end of the same year. The children\u2019s early numerical abilities at the beginning of the final year of kindergarten were found to be directly related to their verbal intelligence, phonological abilities, processing speed, and working memory and to be indirectly related to their nonverbal intelligence. Early numerical abilities at the end of the same year are directly related not only to early numerical abilities assessed at the beginning of the year but also to working memory and phonological abilities as well as have an indirect relationship with verbal and nonverbal intelligence. Overall, our results showed that both general and specific abilities are related to early mathematic learning in kindergarten-age children

TDCS over the right inferior frontal gyrus disrupts control of interference in memory: A retrieval-induced forgetting study

Retrieving information from episodic memory may result in later inaccessibility of related but taskirrelevant information. This phenomenon, known as retrieval-induced forgetting, is thought to represent a specific instance of broader cognitive control mechanisms, that would come into play during memory retrieval, whenever non-target competing memories interfere with recall of target items. Recent neuroimaging studies have shown an association between these mechanisms and the activity of the right Prefrontal Cortex. However, so far, few studies have attempted at establishing a causal relationship between this brain region and behavioural measures of cognitive control over memory. To address this missing link, we delivered transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) over the right Inferior Frontal Gyrus (rIFG) during a standard retrieval-practice paradigm with category-exemplar word pairs. Across two experiments, tDCS abolished retrieval-induced forgetting to different degrees, compared to the sham control group whereas no effects of stimulation emerged in an ancillary measure of motor stopping ability. Moreover, influence analyses on specific subsets of the experimental material revealed diverging patterns of results, which depended upon the different categories employed in the retrieval-practice paradigm. Overall, the results support the view that rIFG has a causal role in the control of interference in memory retrieval and highlight the often underestimated role of stimulus material in affecting the effects. The present findings are therefore relevant in enriching our knowledge about memory functions from both a theoretical and methodological perspective

Attachment and problematic Facebook use in adolescents: the mediating role of metacognitions

Background and aims: Recent research used attachment theory and the metacognitive tenet as frameworks to explain problematic Facebook use (PFU). This study aims to test, in a single model, the role of different attachment styles and metacognitions in PFU among adolescents. Methods: Two separate studies were conducted in order to establish the link between security (Study 1) and insecurity (Study 2), metacognitions, and PFU. A total of 369 and 442 Italian adolescents (age: 14–20 years old) participated in Study 1 and Study 2, respectively. Results: Path analyses revealed the relative importance of different attachment dimensions with mother and father in predicting PFU and the mediating role of metacognitions between attachment styles and PFU. Discussion and conclusion: In conclusion, since attachment styles and PFU may significantly affect adolescents’ development and well-being, the results of this study may provide some practical indications for researchers and practitioners

Proprioceptive accuracy in Immersive Virtual Reality: A developmental perspective

Proprioceptive development relies on a variety of sensory inputs, among which vision is hugely dominant. Focusing on the developmental trajectory underpinning the integration of vision and proprioception, the present research explores how this integration is involved in interactions with Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR) by examining how proprioceptive accuracy is affected by Age, Perception, and Environment. Individuals from 4 to 43 years old completed a self-turning task which asked them to manually return to a previous location with different sensory modalities available in both IVR and reality. Results were interpreted from an exploratory perspective using Bayesian model comparison analysis, which allows the phenomena to be described using probabilistic statements rather than simplified reject/not-reject decisions. The most plausible model showed that 4\u20138-year-old children can generally be expected to make more proprioceptive errors than older children and adults. Across age groups, proprioceptive accuracy is higher when vision is available, and is disrupted in the visual environment provided by the IVR headset. We can conclude that proprioceptive accuracy mostly develops during the first eight years of life and that it relies largely on vision. Moreover, our findings indicate that this proprioceptive accuracy can be disrupted by the use of an IVR headset

Impulse Control Moderates the Link Between Parent\u2013Child Cultural Orientation Gaps and Externalizing Problems in Chinese Immigrant Early Adolescents

The current study aimed to investigate whether the expected association between parent\u2013child cultural orientation gaps and externalizing problems was moderated by impulse control (IC) among Chinese early adolescents in immigrant families. Ninety-one first- and second-generation Chinese immigrant youths (58% girls) aged between 11 and 13 years and their parents completed independent measures of mainstream and heritage cultural orientations. IC was evaluated via a computerized version of the Iowa Gambling Task, while externalizing problems were assessed via parental report. Regression analyses indicated that low levels of IC represented a risk factor for externalizing adjustment among early adolescents who were less oriented toward the mainstream culture than their parents. In addition, high levels of IC were protective for early adolescents who were less oriented toward their heritage culture than their parents. The findings suggest that IC plays an important role in Chinese early adolescents\u2019 behavioral adjustment. Implications of the results are discussed

The brief Experiences in Close Relationships Scale - Revised Child version (ECR-RC). Factor structure and invariance across middle childhood and early adolescence

The recently developed short form of the Experiences in Close Relationships Scale-Revised Child version (ECR-RC) is a promising tool to assess anxious and avoidant attachment in children and adolescents. Yet, evidence concerning its validity in middle childhood is limited. This study aimed to test the psychometric properties of the 12-item ECR-RC for both mother and father forms in a sample of 448 Italian children (50.2% girls) aged between 8 and 13 years. The scale was adapted by changing the response format to make it more understandable for young children. Psychometric proprieties of the brief ECR-RC were investigated by testing its factor structure and internal consistency, invariance across middle childhood and early adolescence, and concurrent and convergent validity. A series of confirmatory factor analyses provided support for the two-factor structure (i.e., anxiety and avoidance) of the ECR-RC, and multi-group confirmatory factor analyses supported its invariance across middle childhood and early adolescence. Older children reported significantly higher latent mean values in avoidant attachment to both parents compared to their younger counterparts. Furthermore, the questionnaire showed evidence of concurrent and convergent validity. Our results indicate that the 12-item version of the ECR-RC is a psychometrically robust instrument to assess avoidance and anxiety toward mother and father among Italian children and early adolescents

Inferential false memories for emotional events in older adults

Emotional events have been shown to protect individuals against false memory when remembering scripted material. Whether the same is true also for older adults, however, is unclear, and it has been investigated in the present study. Seventy\u2010six older adults (age range 65\u201389 years) were presented with a series of photographs depicting scripted events. Each event included the consequence of an action whose corresponding cause was not presented; the consequence was either neutral, negative, or positive. False recognitions of unseen causes of the consequences (i.e., \u2018causal errors\u2019) were calculated. A Bayesian inferential approach was adopted in order to include evidence from previous studies and to use it as a benchmark for newly collected information. Older adults showed enhanced false memories and lower accuracy than previously reported in studies on young adults. Compared to neutral ones, both negative and positive events were associated with fewer false memories in older adults. The emotional false memory \u2018profile\u2019 of older adults was very similar, in terms of the effect size, to the one previously found in young adults, although the overall chances of older adults incurring errors were higher. Results are discussed considering both cognitive and socioemotional hypotheses on emotional memory in late adulthood