Rosalba Morese

Background: Childhood emotional neglect (CEN) may contribute to the emergence of self-critical tendencies, which may be particularly pronounced in individuals living in therapeutic communities and which can have a substantial impact on their overall sense of meaning in life (MiL). Method: This study analyzed the influence of self-criticism (self-criticizing [S-C], self-attacking [S-A], and self-reassuring [S-R]) on the link between CEN and MiL (presence of meaning [PoM] and search for meaning [SfM]) in individuals living in therapeutic communities. The study also aimed to investigate whether this mediating model differed between genders. A total of 1086 participants (18-25 years, 50% women) completed self-report questionnaires. Results: The findings indicated intricate links between the variables. Notably, S-A emerged as a mediator between CEN and both PoM and SfM, whereas S-C solely mediated the path between CEN and SfM, and S-R only mediated the connection between CEN and PoM. Furthermore, the study confirmed the model’s invariance between genders. Conclusions: The results underscore the necessity for targeted interventions tailored to this unique population in order to alleviate CEN's adverse effects, address the multifaceted nature of self-criticism, and foster a resilient sense of MiL.

The aim of this systematic review was to collect and align the research on social cognition impairments in adults with Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In particular, we selected and analyzed papers on emotion recognition and processing, Theory of Mind (TOM), empathy, and other facets of social cognition as decision making. We identified 16 papers published between 2012 and 2022 which meet inclusion criteria. Papers search, selection, and extraction followed the PRISMA guidelines. In order to summarize data from papers, we used a narrative synthesis approach. Results show different evidence of impairment in social cognition domains in adults with ADHD. Our systematic review suggests the importance of promoting more research on this topic because it is essential to keep in mind that social cognition plays a central role in socialization and social relationships.IntroductionSocial CognitionGenerally speaking, for social cognition, we mean any cognitive, interpersonal process, or rather, any process that involves other people, whether at the group level or one-on-one (Frith and Blakemore, 2006). Social cognition includes a set of neural processes responsible for the individual's ability to “make sense of other's behavior,” the essential condition of social interaction (Frith and Frith, 2007). Humans are considered as social animals, and adopt certain behavior based on their interpretations of the action of others; constantly and implicitly, humans analyze, read and decode the multiple social signals from the people around them (Frith and Blakemore, 2006). At the base of these mechanisms, there are cognitive systems specialized in coping with different physical and social aspects of the world that allow us to adapt and survive. In particular, this specific cognitive system includes processes of recognition and interpretation of information from the social environment and any process aimed at understanding.their own and others' behaviors and modulating thought and actions about social demands (Frith, 2008). Social and communication abilities underlying social interactions are manifold It's possible to distinguish a set of abilities, that we share with animals, which appears in the first years of life, such as recognizing emotional expressions, and another set of more sophisticated abilities, that appears later (from 18 months) and that are typically human, such as imitating the intentional actions of others or attributing mental states, desires, and beliefs, to oneself and other people (Frith and Blakemore, 2006). The ability to establish social interactions goes through three main distinct processes:(1) Social Perception: the ability to distinguish between objects and persons is a fundamental skill of social cognition, analysis of information like facial expressions, gestures, posture, body language, and voice, allows us to recognize the others as “living person” (Malle, 2015).(2) Social Understanding: once the perceptual information is integrated, more sophisticated processes take action; those processes allow us to understand other's affective states—empathy (Decety and Jackson, 2004; Shamay-Tsoory and Lamm, 2018)—and the interpretation of other's observable behavior as a disposition or mental states—theory of mind and mentalizing (Premack and Woodruff, 1978; Singer, 2009; Frith and Frith, 2012; Moore et al., 2015). An individual owns theory of mind if he or she is able to impute mental states to himself or herself and to others. Such a system is regarded as a theory because these states are not observable in a direct way and, moreover, can be used to predict the behavior of other people (Premack and Woodruff, 1978).(3) Social Decision-Making: social understanding leads to modulating and adapting the social behavior to social context (Malle, 2004).On the base of these main processes, social cognition is a fundamental aspect of everyday life. In the last edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM-5), it has been considered one of the six principal factors of neurocognitive functioning, impaired in different pathologies (Arioli et al., 2018). Social cognition impairment is a central concern in several neurodegenerative conditions such as behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia (for example, see Palermo et al., 2020; Dodich et al., 2021), neuropsychiatric conditions (for example, bipolar or major depressive disorder), and also in neurodevelopmental conditions; in particular, in Autism (Happé, 1995) and Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD; Kennedy and Adolphs, 2012). This systematic review focuses on the social cognition impairment in adults with ADHD, which is defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM-5) as a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity. Studies indicate that over 5% of children and 2.5% of adults suffer from this disorder. ADHD is more common in males than females—with a ratio of 6:1 in children and 1, 6:1 in adults—(American Psychiatric Association, 2013). First symptoms appear already in childhood, particularly hyperactivity and inattention, which, however, improve with age. Other symptoms, including restlessness, disorganization, inattention, and impulsivity, persist in adults (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Other studies also suggest that in adulthood there are persisting problems in emotion regulation and cognitive difficulties (Alderson et al., 2013; Mowinckel et al., 2015). In fact, ADHD doesn't only affect childhood, but persists into adult age, with a prevalence between 1 and 6% (American Psychiatric Association, 2013; Salvi et al., 2019). The relevance that this disorder is taking, it's also explained by the fact that in the older versions of DSM (for example, DSM IV), ADHD was listed under the category of...

Introduction: This study aims to explore the relationship between cyberbullying involvement either as a perpetrator or a victim and emotional responses to virtual social exclusion and inclusion. Previous research has predominantly focused on the impacts of in-person bullying. Our study shifts this focus to the cyber realm. Methods: A total of 156 adolescents living in northern Italy were recruited ( M_age: 12.26; SD = 0.87; 43% female). After completing measures of empathy and involvement in cyberbullying, adolescents participated in the cyberball tasks. Latent profile analysis was used to identify subgroups. Results: We found three groups: Class 3, reporting negative responses to the social exclusion tasks and positive responses to the social inclusion tasks; Class 1, reporting neutral emotional responses to social inclusion and negative emotional responses to social exclusion; and Class 2, showing neutral responses to ‘social exclusion’ tasks and strongly positive responses to ‘social inclusion’ tasks. Linear regression revealed that cyberbullies report a typical emotional response to exclusion and inclusion tasks (Class 3), whereas cybervictims are more likely to report negative responses to both exclusion and inclusion events (Class 1). High levels of empathy are associated with the manifestation of a typical emotional response (Class 3), in contrast to an impaired emotional response characterized by neutral or positive responses to conditions of ‘social exclusion’ and positive responses to conditions of ‘social inclusion’ (Class 2). Conclusion: Results underscore the complex interplay between cyberbullying roles and emotional responses to virtual social experiences. Theoretical implications and limitations of the research are discussed.

At least 10% of patients experience persistent symptoms after SARS-CoV-2 infection, a condition referred to as post-acute COVID-19, post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC), long COVID, long-haul COVID, long-term effects of COVID, post-COVID-19 and chronic COVID. In this report, we describe a case of persistent cognitive deficits developed after SARS-CoV-2 infection in a 40-year-old woman with a family history of early-onset Alzheimer’s disease (EOAD) since her father was diagnosed with EOAD at the age of 50. We describe the clinical picture and workup, with special emphasis on the alterations of brain glucose metabolism evidenced by 18-fluoro-deoxy-glucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET), which could be considered a useful marker of the presence and persistence of cognitive deficits.

Sensory-processing sensitivity (SPS) defined, as a personality trait, seems to be characterized by emotional sensitivity, and stronger reactivity to both external and internal stimuli. SPS can represent a risk factor for developing clinical conditions during childhood and adolescence. This personality trait is not to be considered a pathological clinical condition, however, can expose to greater environmental vulnerability. In particular, the recent studies about SPS can be contextualized to social situations that evoke traumatic and stressful emotional responses such as social exclusion. We hypothesize that highly sensitive people (HSP) are more vulnerable to social exclusion and social pain. This hypothesis could help structure new educational and intervention models designed to improve coping strategies and promote HSP’s psychophysical and social well-being.

Von Economo neurons (VENs) are rod, stick, or corkscrew cells mostly located in layer V of the frontoinsular and anterior cingulate cortices. VENs are projection neurons related to human-like social cognitive abilities. Post-mortem histological studies found VEN alterations in several neuropsychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia (SZ). This pilot study aimed to evaluate the role of VEN-containing areas in shaping patterns of resting-state brain activation in patients with SZ (n = 20) compared to healthy controls (HCs; n = 20). We performed a functional connectivity analysis seeded in the cortical areas with the highest density of VENs followed by fuzzy clustering. The alterations found in the SZ group were correlated with psychopathological, cognitive, and functioning variables. We found a frontotemporal network that was shared by four clusters overlapping with the salience, superior-frontal, orbitofrontal, and central executive networks. Differences between the HC and SZ groups emerged only in the salience network. The functional connectivity of the right anterior insula and ventral tegmental area within this network were negatively correlated with experiential negative symptoms and positively correlated with functioning. This study provides some evidence to show that in vivo, VEN-enriched cortical areas are associated with an altered resting-state brain activity in people with SZ.

(1) Background: Adolescents may be involved in cyberbullying as victims, perpetrators, or to a lesser extent, victim–perpetrators simultaneously. The present research investigated differences between participants acting in different bullying roles—namely, bully, victim, or bully/victim—and bystander roles—namely, defending, passive bystander, and passive/defending; (2) Methods: We used multivariate analysis of covariance to determine how, in the same individuals, direct involvement in cyberbullying episodes compares to participating in them as by-standers in relation to both psychological distress and empathy; (3) Results: Both victims and bully/victims were found to be at increased risk for suicidal ideation, internalizing and externalizing symptoms, and emotional dysregulation compared with students who were neither victims nor perpetrators of cyberbullying episodes. Additionally, victims showed higher empathy scores when compared with bullies and bully/victims. All bystander roles showed increased emotional dysregulation compared with uninvolved students, but no differences emerged on other psychological distress measures. Finally, defending bystanders showed increased cognitive empathy. (4) Conclusions: During early adolescence, the direct experience of cyberbullying, as a bully or a victim (or both), show a stronger association with psychological distress than the mere participation in cyberbullying as a witness, regardless of the witness acting defensive toward the victim, or passive. However, both cyberbullying and bystanding roles provide a similar (small) explicative power over empathy variables.

Feelings of loneliness and isolation: Social brain and social cognition in the elderly and Alzheimer's disease

The aim of this systematic review was to collect and align the research on social cognition impairments in adults with Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In particular, we selected and analyzed papers on emotion recognition and processing, Theory of Mind (TOM), empathy, and other facets of social cognition as decision making. We identified 16 papers published between 2012 and 2022 which meet inclusion criteria. Papers search, selection, and extraction followed the PRISMA guidelines. In order to summarize data from papers, we used a narrative synthesis approach. Results show different evidence of impairment in social cognition domains in adults with ADHD. Our systematic review suggests the importance of promoting more research on this topic because it is essential to keep in mind that social cognition plays a central role in socialization and social relationships.