Building up Hypotheses in Clinical Psychology and Neuroscience: Similarities and Differences

Abstract: Hypotheses are the first step in scientific and clinical enquiry. They guide all of the subsequent steps in an investigation, and influence data collection, analysis, and interpretation. But how do we build scientific and clinical hypotheses? In both research and clinical contexts, a professional’s idiosyncratic way of perceiving reality, her prejudices and biases will influence the process of hypothesis formulation. We compare the process of formulating a scientific hypothesis in the field of neuroscience with the process of building a clinical hypothesis in the systemic therapeutic approach. This comparison is intended to highlight the biases that influence researchers and clinicians when formulating hypotheses. Our aim is to raise awareness of the most common biases, and to point out how the tools developed by clinicians could be useful to researchers, and vice versa.Keywords: Hypotheses; Clinical Psychology; Neuroscience; Bias; Interdisciplinary Approach La costruzione di ipotesi nella psicologia clinica e nella neuroscienza: similitudini e differenzeRiassunto: Le ipotesi sono il primo passo della ricerca scientifica e clinica. Sono la guida di tutti i passi successivi e influenzano la racconta dei dati, la loro analisi e l’interpretazione. Come si costruiscono le ipotesi scientifiche e quelle cliniche? Sia nell’ambito della ricerca che nei contesti clinici le idiosincrasie con cui un professionista percepisce la realtà, i suoi bias e pregiudizi influenzeranno il processo di formulazione dell’ipotesi. In questa sede intendiamo confrontare il processo di formulazione di un’ipotesi scientifica nel campo della neuroscienza e il processo di costruzione dell’ipotesi clinica nell’approccio della terapia sistemica. Questo confronto vuole mettere in luce i bias che influenzano ricercatori e terapeuti nella formulazione delle ipotesi. Il nostro scopo è mettere in luce gli errori sistematici più comuni, mostrando come gli strumenti sviluppati dai terapeuti possano essere utili per i ricercatori e viceversa.Parole chiave: Ipotesi; Psicologia clinica; Neuroscienza; Bias; Approccio interdisciplinar

The role of associative learning in healthy and sustainable food evaluations : An event-related potential study

Individuals in industrialized societies frequently include processed foods in their diet. However, overconsumption of heavily processed foods leads to imbalanced calorie intakes as well as negative health consequences and environmental impacts. In the present study, normal-weight healthy individuals were recruited in order to test whether associative learning (Evaluative Conditioning, EC) could strengthen the association between food-types (minimally processed and heavily processed foods) and concepts (e.g., healthiness), and whether these changes would be reflected at the implicit associations, at the explicit ratings and in behavioral choices. A Semantic Congruency task (SC) during electroencephalography recordings was used to examine the neural signature of newly acquired associations between foods and concepts. The accuracy after EC towards minimally processed food (MP-food) in the SC task significantly increased, indicating strengthened associations between MP-food and the concept of healthiness through EC. At the neural level, a more negative amplitude of the N400 waveform, which reflects semantic incongruency, was shown in response to MP-foods paired with the concept of unhealthiness in proximity of the dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). This implied the possible role of the left DLPFC in changing food representations by integrating stimuli’s features with existing food-relevant information. Finally, the N400 effect was modulated by individuals’ attentional impulsivity as well as restrained eating behavior

Effects of TMS on Different Stages of Motor and Non-Motor Verb Processing in the Primary Motor Cortex

The embodied cognition hypothesis suggests that motor and premotor areas are automatically and necessarily involved in understanding action language, as word conceptual representations are embodied. This transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) study explores the role of the left primary motor cortex in action-verb processing. TMS-induced motor-evoked potentials from right-hand muscles were recorded as a measure of M1 activity, while participants were asked either to judge explicitly whether a verb was action-related (semantic task) or to decide on the number of syllables in a verb (syllabic task). TMS was applied in three different experiments at 170, 350 and 500 ms post-stimulus during both tasks to identify when the enhancement of M1 activity occurred during word processing. The delays between stimulus onset and magnetic stimulation were consistent with electrophysiological studies, suggesting that word recognition can be differentiated into early (within 200 ms) and late (within 400 ms) lexical-semantic stages, and post-conceptual stages. Reaction times and accuracy were recorded to measure the extent to which the participants' linguistic performance was affected by the interference of TMS with M1 activity. No enhancement of M1 activity specific for action verbs was found at 170 and 350 ms post-stimulus, when lexical-semantic processes are presumed to occur (Experiments 1–2). When TMS was applied at 500 ms post-stimulus (Experiment 3), processing action verbs, compared with non-action verbs, increased the M1-activity in the semantic task and decreased it in the syllabic task. This effect was specific for hand-action verbs and was not observed for action-verbs related to other body parts. Neither accuracy nor RTs were affected by TMS. These findings suggest that the lexical-semantic processing of action verbs does not automatically activate the M1. This area seems to be rather involved in post-conceptual processing that follows the retrieval of motor representations, its activity being modulated (facilitated or inhibited), in a top-down manner, by the specific demand of the task

Conoscenza semantica e pragmatica degli oggetti

Dottorato di ricerca in psicologia. 6. ciclo. A.a. 1994-95. Tutore E. Ladavas. Coordinatore G. MucciarelliConsiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - Biblioteca Centrale - P.le Aldo Moro, 7, Rome; Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale - P.za Cavalleggeri, 1, Florence / CNR - Consiglio Nazionale delle RichercheSIGLEITItal

Route switching in imitation: should I stay or should I go?

none3The dual-route models of action imitation predict that, normally, known actions are imitated by using a semantic route - i.e. by activating a representation of the action from memory - whereas unknown, new actions are reproduced by using a direct route - i.e. by performing a visuo-motor transformation of the input into an output. Here we aimed at establishing the nature of the dominant process used by healthy adult individuals in imitation. Participants performed an imitation task with both predictable switches and pseudorandom, unpredictable switches The predictable switches are less cognitively demanding, and allow the voluntary selection of the most suitable process for performing the task; whereas the unpredictable switches are more demanding and lead to a more intense use of strategies. We observed significant switch costs only in the predictable switch condition, when subjects had to rely on working memory to keep track of the underlying sequence, but not in the pseudorandom sequences, where participants could select the direct route to decrease the cognitive effort. These findings suggest that the semantic route is the dominant, more automatic and less-demanding process for action imitation. The strategic selection of route in action imitation and in monitoring behaviour seems to be an adaptive acquisition.noneTessari A.; Cretella L.; Rumiati R.I.Tessari A.; Cretella L.; Rumiati R.I

Promoting cross-culture research on moral decision-making with standardized, culturally-equivalent dilemmas: The 4CONFiDe set

Introduction: Moral dilemmas are a common tool in moral decision-making research. However, they are often hardly comparable across languages and cultures. Here, we propose a methodology to adapt, convert and test moral dilemmas in languages different from English, by outlining the process followed for the creation of the comprehensive 4CONFiDe set. Methods: To evaluate cultural effects, English and Italian versions of the 4CONFiDe were evaluated by English-native speakers profi cient in Italian, and Italian-native speakers proficient in English (Study 1). To assess the contribution of the four conceptual factors used by Christensen et al. to the levels of arousal, valence and familiarity experienced with each dilemma, an independent group of Italian native speakers (n = 112) completed the 4CONFiDe set (Study 2). Results: Both linear mixed models and Bayesian statistics confi rmed that moral choices were made irrespective of participants’ native language and dilemmas’ version, suggesting that the translation was culturally-representative. Moreover, they showed that the proposed dilemmas were perceived by participants with diff erent degrees of arousal, pleasantness and familiarity based on some of the conceptual factors and that three of the four conceptual factors (Personal force, Intentionality and Evitability) determined participants’ moral choices. Conclusions:Standardized, culturally-equivalent moral dilemmas provide researchers with a tool that allows further developments of the field

Protective factors for Subjective Cognitive Decline Individuals: Trajectories and changes in a longitudinal study with Italian elderly

Background: Many different factors have been hypothesized to modulate cognition in an aging population according to their functioning at baseline. Methods: This retrospective study quantifies the relative contribution of age and sex as demographic factors, comorbidity, education, and occupation (classified with the International Standard Classification of Occupation, ISCO-08) as cognitive reserve (CR) proxies in accounting for cognitive aging. All participants (3,081) were evaluated at baseline with a complete neuropsychological test battery (T1) and those with unimpaired profiles were classified as Subjective Cognitive Decline, those mildly impaired as Mild Neurocognitive Decline, and those severely impaired as Major Neurocognitive Decline. From the first assessment 543 individuals were assessed a second time (T2), and 125 a third time (T3). Depending on whether they maintained or worsened their profile, based on their initial performance, participants were then classified as resistant or declining. Results: At baseline, all individuals showed education and occupation as the best predictors of performance, in addition to age. Furthermore, across assessments, the resistant had higher levels of education and occupation than the declining. In particular, the Subjective Cognitive Decline, and all other groups included the most severely impaired one, education, and occupation predicted cognitive performance. Conclusions: This study highlights the role of working activity in protecting from cognitive decline across all fragile elderly groups and even more so the individuals who are at very high risk of decline