1,721,057 research outputs found
I BIAS COGNITIVI E LA LORO INFLUENZA SULL’ESITO PROCESSUALE
No full textCognitive biases (or logical fallacies) are unconscious distortions of the way of thinking and are present in every human reasoning, including the juridical one. Despite cognitive biases are well known and well described in the literature, their impact on juridical decision-making is still unknown. In this article, we will rely on the well-known Human Expert Performance (HEP) model to explore the impact of cognitive biases on the clinical and juridical reasoning in cases where insanity evaluation was requested. Indeed, as the technical report on insanity evaluation is considered to be a scientific proof, it is supposed to comply with the Daubert criteria for admissibility of scientific evidence in court to support the judge in reaching a conclusion «beyond any reasonable doubt». However, recent evidence demonstrate that insanity evaluation suffers from a high error rate and low inter-rater reliability. This paper provides an in -depth analysis of the reason of such a low inter-rater reliability, focuses on the influence of cognitive biases and analyses their impact on juridical outcomes. We conclude our analysis by proposing to adopt a multidisciplinary approach that relies on converging evidence to minimize the impact of cognitive bias on the conclusion of insanity evaluation and, as a consequence, on the juridical error. Thanks to this approach it is possible to increase the inter-rater reliability of diagnosis, strengthening the conclusion about insanity with converging data from different methodologies. In this way, it will become very difficult to support the opposite conclusion without falling into logical fallacies
Emotional modulation of touch in alexithymia
No full textAlexithymia refers to difficulties in recognizing one's own emotions, but difficulties have also been found in the recognition of others' emotions, particularly when the task is not easy. Previous research has demonstrated that, in order to understand other peoples' feelings, observers remap the observed emotion onto their own sensory systems. The aim of the present study was to investigate the ability of high and low alexithymic subjects to remap the emotional expressions of others onto their own somatosensory systems using an indirect task. We used the emotional Visual Remapping of Touch (eVRT) paradigm, in which seeing a face being touched improves detection of near-threshold tactile stimulation concurrently delivered to one's own face. In eVRT, subjects performance is influenced by the emotional content of the stimuli, while they were required to distinguish between unilateral or bilateral tactile stimulation on their own cheeks. The results show that tactile perception was enhanced when viewing touch on a fearful face compared with viewing touch on other expressions in low but not in high alexithymic participants. A negative correlation between TAS-20 alexithymia subscale ("difficulty in identify feelings") and the magnitude of the eVRT effect was also found. Conversely, arousal and valence ratings of emotional faces did not vary as a function of the degree of alexithymia. The results provide evidence that alexithymia is associated with difficulties in remapping seen emotions, particularly fear, onto one's own sensory system. This impairment could be due to an inability to modulate somatosensory system activity according to the observed emotional expression. © 2014 American Psychological Association
Frozen in (e)motion: How reactive motor inhibition is influenced by the emotional content of stimuli in healthy and psychiatric populations
Full text linkEfficient inhibitory control is vital. However, environmental cues can influence motor control especially in an emotional context. One common task to measure inhibitory control is the stop-signal task (SST), which asks participants to respond to go stimuli knowing that on some trials a stop signal will be presented, requiring them to inhibit their response. This paradigm estimates the ability to inhibit already-initiated responses by calculating participants' stop-signal reaction times (SSRT), an index of inhibitory control. Here, we aim to review the existing, often contradictory, evidence on the influence of emotional stimuli on the inhibitory process. We aim to discuss which factors may reveal an interference as well as an advantage of emotional stimuli on action inhibition performance. Finally, we review the existing evidence that has investigated the effect of such stimuli on action inhibition in the psychiatric population. Important factors are the relevance, the intensity and the valence of the emotional stimulus, as well as the affected component of the motor control. From all this evidence, it is clear that understand precisely how emotion is integrated into core executive functions, such as inhibitory control, is essential not only for cognitive neuroscience, but also for refining neurocognitive models of psychopathology
Expression of emotions: kinematic characterization of genuine and posed facial expressions
No full textPersistence of the effects of attention and executive functions intensive rehabilitation in relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis
No full textBackground: Neuropsychological rehabilitation efficacy in multiple sclerosis (MS) is a currently investigated issue. We reported, in a single blind controlled study, that an intensive short duration cognitive training of attention and executive functions significantly improves the treated functions and reduces depression in MS. The persistence of these effects over time are unknown. Objective: To evaluate the persistence over time of neuropsychological improvement due to cognitive training nine months after rehabilitation onset. Methods: This is a single blind randomized controlled study. 24 MS patients were randomly assigned to experimental group (n=13) and received PC assisted neuropsychological treatment for three months, or to control group (n=11), receiving no treatment. Patients were submitted to neuropsychological evaluation, depression and quality of life questionnaires at baseline, three months and nine months later. Results: Nine months follow up compared to baseline evaluation shows a statistically significant improvement (p<0.05) in attention, information processing and executive functions tests (PASAT 3′′, COWA/S, WCSTpe), in depression and quality of life questionnaires in rehabilitated patients only. reliable change index (RCI) and modified RCI confirmed the clinical significance of this improvement in rehabilitated patients. Conclusions: Three months intensive neuropsychological rehabilitation of attention, information processing and executive functions induces a long lasting and clinically relevant neuropsychological improvement over time and a persistent depression and quality of life amelioration in patients with RR MS. © 2012 Elsevier B.V
Profiling acquired pedophilic behavior: Retrospective analysis of 66 Italian forensic cases of pedophilia
Full text linkNeurological disorders can be mis-diagnosed as psychiatric ones. This might happen to pedophilia emerging as a symptom of brain insult (i.e. acquired pedophilic behavior). This paper aims to delineate a behavioral profile that might help to identify defendants whose pedophilic behavior is likely to be the consequence of a neurological disorder. Through a systematic review of the literature, seventeen clinical and behavioral variables of the modus operandi and victimology that can distinguish between acquired and developmental pedophilic behavior have been collected. Seven of these were found to be consistent behavioral indicators (i.e. red flags) for acquired pedophilia. Cluster hierarchical analysis on the seventeen variables collected through the systematic review of the literature on cases of acquired pedophilic behavior was applied to a new dataset including 66 Italian closed cases of pedophilia. Stepwise regression and correlation analyses were carried out to further examine the differences between the clusters identified in the cluster analysis. Results revealed that the new sample was partitioned into two clusters. Individuals with ascertained acquired pedophilia were grouped together. The clusters widely differed for the prevalence of red flags (mean number of red flags in each cluster: 2.14 ± 0.79 vs 4.96 ± 0.93, p < 0.001), while no between cluster difference emerged for the other clinical and behavioral variables. Regression analysis provided a robust model that included the three most significant red flags that explain over 64.5% of the variance (absence of masking, spontaneous confession and offenders older age). An organic origin of pedophilic behavior should be suspected if red flags are present in a defendant charged with pedophilia. In those cases, an in depth trans-disciplinary neuroscientific investigation is advocated. The behavioral profile identified might help to provide a proper assessment of defendants
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