Negative affective state mimics effects of perceptual load on spatial perception

Recent electrophysiological evidence has shown that perceptual load and negative affective state can produce very similar, early-attention gating effects in early visual areas, modulating the processing of peripheral stimuli. Here we assessed the question of whether or not these modulatory effects of perceptual load and negative affect (NA) lead to comparable changes in spatial perception abilities, which could be captured at the behavioral level. High perceptual load at fixation impaired the precise spatial localization of peripheral textures, relative to a low perceptual load condition. By contrast, the coarse spatial encoding of these peripheral stimuli was not load-dependent, under neutral affective conditions. The transient experience of NA was induced in an independent sample of participants, who showed decreased performance in the localization task, even at a low perceptual-load level. These results were observed in the absence of any systematic eye movement toward the peripheral textures. These findings suggest that spatial location perception is an attention-dependent, as well as state-dependent process, in the sense that NA, very much like load, can dynamically shape early spatial perceptual abilities. Although NA mimics load during spatial localization, we discuss the possibility that these two effects likely depend upon nonoverlapping brain networks

Maurizio Cattelan, Il doppio.

Con questo saggio prendo in esame una linea di ricerca fondata sul rapporto con il doppio all‘interno del lavoro di Maurizio Cattelan (Padova, 1961) che fin dagli esordi della propria carriera incentra parte delle sue opere anche sul tema dell‘identità e della moltiplicazione dell‘io. Attraverso un‘indagine cronologica delle opere - partendo dal primo autoritratto fotografico del 1989 Lessico famigliare - si analizzerà il percorso che lo ha portato all‘ultima opera We del 2010, dove il soggetto del doppio è centrale e dove confluiscono quasi tutte le tematiche trattate dall‘artista quali la morte e il fallimento. L‘opera dichiara anche esplicitamente il riferimento ad Alighiero e Boetti, dalla cui poetica Cattelan fa nascere il suo esercito infinito di pupazzi, pupazzetti e alter ego (Boetti day 2011).With this essay I‘d like to examine a line of research based on the artist's relationship with his double, in particular considering the work of Maurizio Cattelan (Padua, 1961), an artist that since the beginning of his career focused most of his production on the theme of identity and on the multiplication of himself. Through a chronological analysis of the work that begins with the first photographic self-portrait Lessico famigliare, 1989, I will explore the way that brought him to his last work We, in 2010, where the idea of the double is central and it‘s possible to find a confluence of almost all the themes he dealt with during his career, such as death and failure. This work also states explicitly a reference to Alighiero Boetti, an artist from whose poetic Cattelan brings out an infinite army of puppets, figurines and alter-egos (Boetti day 2011

The Dynamics and Persistence of Poverty: Evidence from Italy

This article studies the dynamics and persistence of poverty in Italy during the nineties (1994-2001). Two definitions of poverty are analyzed: income poverty and a multidimensional index of life-style deprivation. For both definitions, poverty exit and re-entry rates are estimated and combined to compute measures of poverty persistence over multiple spells. A picture of high poverty turnover emerges according to either definition. Multi-spell hazard rate models have been estimated to assess the relative importance of several demographic and labor market characteristics in shaping poverty persistence at the individual level. The results highlight the weaknesses of the Italian labor market, the insufficiencies of the existing social security system and the deep territorial dualism in generating persistent poverty for certain groups of the population. We have stressed the ability of the two definitions to provide a generally consistent characterization of the poverty persistence risks faced by various population subgroups, but also the additional insights to be gained by analyzing the two definitions in parallel in a longitudinal context.Income poverty; multidimensional deprivation; poverty persistence; hazard-rate models; multiple spells

Exploring resistance to Aphanomyces cochlioides in sugar beet

Sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) is one of the two main sources of sucrose, second only to sugar cane, accounting for nearly 30% of sugar production worldwide. The viability of the crop is threatened by the attack of pathogens that cause various diseases, resulting in severe yield losses. The oomycete Aphanomyces cochlioides is one of the most important root pathogens in sugar beet due to its worldwide distribution and the ability to induce infection at any stage of the sugar beet lifecycle, causing both seedling damping-off and chronic root rot on mature roots. During the early phase of sugar beet cultivation, the infection can be controlled by chemical seed treatments. However, no major control strategies are available for the disease management in later stages during the growing season. An increased knowledge of the sugar beet responses to pathogen infection is required to find effective solutions to control the disease. The focus of this study was to enhance our understanding of the host-pathogen interactions. We explored A. cochlioides infection rates in different sugar beet genotypes by using molecular tools and confocal microscopy and we identified significant differences in the pathogen biomass between partially resistant and susceptible lines. Potential differences in sugar beet responses to different A. cochlioides isolates were also investigated through a transcriptomics study. Furthermore, the transcriptome analysis revealed a potential significant role for oxygen peroxide (H2O2) and cell wall modification in the defense mechanisms during A. cochlioides invasion. Candidate defense-genes were identified in the set of up-regulated transcripts of partially resistant plants. Lastly, we studied differences in the genetic resistance to damping-off and chronic root rot and we identified the genomic position of regions (quantitative trait loci) associated with damping-off resistance. Overall, the results of our research represent a valuable source for future studies to improve resistance breeding against A. cochlioides

Breakfast for You task (B4Y): Preliminary evidence from the development of an interactive and ecological task for the assessment of social cognition

openIn the field of social cognition, the lack of ecological validity for the assessment procedures used in clinical practice is a recurrent obstacle. The classical static materials commonly used do not seem to accurately reflect the dynamic behavioural interchange occurring between people in the real-world, complex contexts that characterize social cognition. Consequently, researchers are now acknowledging the need for stimuli that are more dynamic, multimodal, context-embedded, and socially interactive. On this basis, the present study aimed to design a novel assessment tool that incorporates real-life scenarios and dynamic interactions between the subject and the researcher: The Breakfast for You (B4U) Task. We particularly sought to obtain preliminary evidence from a group of healthy young participants to initiate the validation process of the task, which framed social cognition in the context of daily life activities. By incorporating innovative variables tapping into components of social cognition (emotional recognition, ToM, and perspective taking), the study successfully demonstrated the convergent validity of B4U when compared to more traditional measures of social cognition. Furthermore, we achieved divergent validity by obtaining a genuine measure of pure social cognition disentangled from broader cognitive functions. Finally, we obtained evidence for ecological validity for a specific subcomponent of the ones assessed. Even if we lacked the appropriate statistical power to generalize our findings, the B4U task holds promise as a valid and ecologically sound assessment tool for social cognition if further implemented and refined with larger samples and extended to diverse clinical populations.In the field of social cognition, the lack of ecological validity for the assessment procedures used in clinical practice is a recurrent obstacle. The classical static materials commonly used do not seem to accurately reflect the dynamic behavioural interchange occurring between people in the real-world, complex contexts that characterize social cognition. Consequently, researchers are now acknowledging the need for stimuli that are more dynamic, multimodal, context-embedded, and socially interactive. On this basis, the present study aimed to design a novel assessment tool that incorporates real-life scenarios and dynamic interactions between the subject and the researcher: The Breakfast for You (B4U) Task. We particularly sought to obtain preliminary evidence from a group of healthy young participants to initiate the validation process of the task, which framed social cognition in the context of daily life activities. By incorporating innovative variables tapping into components of social cognition (emotional recognition, ToM, and perspective taking), the study successfully demonstrated the convergent validity of B4U when compared to more traditional measures of social cognition. Furthermore, we achieved divergent validity by obtaining a genuine measure of pure social cognition disentangled from broader cognitive functions. Finally, we obtained evidence for ecological validity for a specific subcomponent of the ones assessed. Even if we lacked the appropriate statistical power to generalize our findings, the B4U task holds promise as a valid and ecologically sound assessment tool for social cognition if further implemented and refined with larger samples and extended to diverse clinical populations

Positive emotion broadens attention focus through decreased position-specific spatial encoding in early visual cortex: evidence from ERPs

Recent evidence has suggested that not only stimulus-specific attributes or top-down expectations can modulate attention selection processes, but also the actual mood state of the participant. In this study, we tested the prediction that the induction of positive mood can dynamically influence attention allocation and, in turn, modulate early stimulus sensory processing in primary visual cortex (V1). High-density visual event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded while participants performed a demanding task at fixation and were presented with peripheral irrelevant visual textures, whose position was systematically varied in the upper visual field (close, medium, or far relative to fixation). Either a neutral or a positive mood was reliably induced and maintained throughout the experimental session. The ERP results showed that the earliest retinotopic component following stimulus onset (C1) strongly varied in topography as a function of the position of the peripheral distractor, in agreement with a near-far spatial gradient. However, this effect was altered for participants in a positive relative to a neutral mood. On the contrary, positive mood did not modulate attention allocation for the central (task-relevant) stimuli, as reflected by the P300 component. We ran a control behavioral experiment confirming that positive emotion selectively impaired attention allocation to the peripheral distractors. These results suggest a mood-dependent tuning of position-specific encoding in V1 rapidly following stimulus onset. We discuss these results against the dominant broaden-and-build theory

Feeling happy enhances early spatial encoding of peripheral information automatically: electrophysiological time-course and neural sources.

Previous research has shown that positive mood may broaden attention, although it remains unclear whether this effect has a perceptual or a postperceptual locus. In this study, we addressed this question using high-density event-related potential methods. We randomly assigned participants to a positive or a neutral mood condition. Then they performed a demanding oddball task at fixation (primary task ensuring fixation) and a localization task of peripheral stimuli shown at three positions in the upper visual field (secondary task) concurrently. While positive mood did not influence behavioral performance for the primary task, it did facilitate stimulus localization on the secondary task. At the electrophysiological level, we found that the amplitude of the C1 component (reflecting an early retinotopic encoding of the stimulus in V1) was enhanced in the positive, as compared with the neutral, mood group. Importantly, this effect appeared to be largely automatic, because it occurred regardless of the task relevance of the peripheral stimulus and prior to top-down gain control effects seen at the level of the subsequent P1 component. This early effect was also observed irrespective of a change of the target-related P300 component (primary task) by positive mood. These results suggest that positive mood can automatically boost the spatial encoding of peripheral stimuli early on following stimulus onset. This effect can eventually underlie the broadening of spatial attention, which has been associated with this specific mood state

Vorrei ma non posso. L'esperienza del non realizzato nella pratica artistica contemporanea. Un’intervista con Luca Trevisani

Le domande in questa intervista seguono e riprendono l’intervento di Luca Trevisani al convegno tenutosi nel novembre del 2013 presso il Museo del Novecento di Milano. Trevisani era stato invitato per “rappresentare” una nuova generazione di artisti, che, nati tra gli anni Settanta e i primi anni Ottanta si sono trovati ad operare proprio all’inizio del nuovo millennio