Papers by Daniela Mapelli
Decision and dopaminergic system: an ERPs study of Iowa
High-definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD-tDCS) seems to overcome a drawback of... more High-definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD-tDCS) seems to overcome a drawback of Conventional tDCS: the wide-spread diffusion of the electric field. Nevertheless, most of the differences that characterise the two techniques are based on mathematical simulations and not on real, behavioural and neurophysiological, data. The study aims to compare Conventional and HD-tDCS, investigating differences both at a behavioural level, in terms of dexterity performance, and a neurophysiological level, as modifications of alpha and beta power as measured with EEG. Thirty participants took part in three sessions, one for each montage: Conventional tDCS, HD-tDCS, and sham. In all the conditions, the anode was placed over C4, while the cathode/s placed according to the montage. At baseline, during, and after each stimulation condition, dexterity was assessed with a Finger Tapping Task. In addition, resting-state EEG was recorded at baseline and after the stimulation. Power spectrum...
Aging Clinical and Experimental Research, 2021
Backgrounds Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEI) and cognitive stimulation (CS) are the standa... more Backgrounds Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEI) and cognitive stimulation (CS) are the standard pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Aims The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of these treatments, alone or combined, on the neuropsychological profiles of patients with AD. Methods Forty participants were assigned to three groups receiving either only AChEI (n = 14), AChEI + CS (n = 15), or only CS (n = 11). Cognition was evaluated at baseline and after three months. Linear mixed-effects models were used to investigate differences among the treatments in terms of changes in the patients’ neuropsychological profiles. Results Results, although preliminary because of the small sample size, suggest that a general improvement was found in patients who received AChEI + CS and those who received only CS compared with those who received only AChEI. Interestingly, individuals who received only CS showed a significant improvement in ...
Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 2021
AIM Many studies have been carried out with the aim of understanding the manifold effects of the ... more AIM Many studies have been carried out with the aim of understanding the manifold effects of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) on individuals' clinical and psychological states. This paper deals with perceived stress (PS) and cognitive efficiency (CE) in older adults with dementia during the first wave of the pandemic. The study also investigated the potential effects of PS and CE on participants' cognitive functioning. The modulating effect of cognitive reserve (CR) on these variables was also considered, given its well-known role in the onset and evolution of neurodegenerative diseases. METHOD Thirty-eight older adults with mild/moderate dementia (mean age: 81.47 ± 5.05; mean MMSE pre-lockdown: 24.03 ± 3.14) were recruited for this study from March to May [4]. Two questionnaires, the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and the FLEI Mental Ability Questionnaire (FLEI), were administered to all participants by telephone every two weeks during lockdown (T1: early April, T2: mid-April, T3: early May). After lockdown, their neuropsychological and psychological profiles were assessed. Linear mixed-effects models were used to investigate changes over time. RESULTS The level of PS increased at both Time 2 and Time 3 (f2 = 0.10). Cognitive functioning worsened during lockdown, resulting in lower scores at the post-lockdown evaluation (f2s = 0.09 and 0.06 for MMSE and ENB-2, respectively). The decrease in these scores was not associated with either PS or CE. Although the size of these effects was rather small, their clinical relevance is not negligible. CONCLUSION Individuals with dementia seem to have experienced stress (S) during the first-wave of lockdown related to Covid-19. Cognition worsened during the pandemic, in accordance with the neurodegenerative nature of the disease, but it was unrelated to PS and CE.
Frontiers in Psychiatry, 2021
Aging is associated with several changes in cognitive functions, as well as in motivational and a... more Aging is associated with several changes in cognitive functions, as well as in motivational and affective processes, which in turn interact with cognitive functions. The present study aimed to investigate error awareness (EA), which declines with aging, in relation to motivation and anxiety. Adopting an experimental task, we firstly tested the hypothesis that EA could be enhanced through reward motivation. Secondly, we explored the relation between state and trait anxiety and EA, investigating the hypothesis of an association between EA and anxiety, and between anxiety and the potential benefit of motivation on EA. Thirty healthy younger (age range: 19–35 years; mean age 25.4 ± 5.1; 10 M) and 30 healthy older adults (age range: 61–83 years; mean age 69.7 ± 5.5; 12 M) took part in the study and performed both the classic Error Awareness Task (EAT) and one experimental task, called the Motivational EAT. In this new task, motivational incentives were delivered after aware correct respo...
Frontiers in Psychology, 2018
Background: Error awareness (EA) and post-error slowing (PES) are two crucial components of an ad... more Background: Error awareness (EA) and post-error slowing (PES) are two crucial components of an adequate performance monitoring because, respectively, they allow being aware of an error and triggering performance adjustments following unexpected events. Objective: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the ontogenetic trajectories of EA and PES, as well as to examine how EA and PES interact with each other. Methods: The performance of three groups of participants (children, younger, and older adults) in a modified version of the Error Awareness task (EAT; Hester et al., 2005) was compared. In particular, in this study not only variations of the average performance were examined, but also intra-individual variability (IIV), considered in terms of variations of SD and ex-Gaussian parameters (mu, sigma, and tau). Results: Two distinct ontogenetic trajectories of EA and PES were observed. Regarding EA, we observe a U-shaped curve that describes an increase of the process from childhood to early adulthood and a progressive reduction advancing age in late adulthood. Furthermore, a greater IIV in older adults indicated a susceptibility of EA to the aging process. The ontogenetic trajectory of PES seems substantially different from the trajectory that describes EA since in PES we do not observe age-related differences. Conclusion: These results suggest that EA and PES are two independent processes. Furthermore, it appears that EA and PES are differently prone to short-term fluctuations in performance across the lifespan. While EA presents an increase in IIV in aging, PES seems to be immune to these changes.
BACKGROUND Voice assistants allow users to control appliances and functions of a domotic house by... more BACKGROUND Voice assistants allow users to control appliances and functions of a domotic house by simply uttering a few words. Such systems hold the potential to significantly help users with motor and cognitive disabilities who currently depend on their caregiver even for basic needs, e.g., opening a door. The research on voice assistants is mainly dedicated to abled-bodied users, and studies evaluating the accessibility of such systems are still sparse and fail to account for the participants’ actual cognitive and linguistic abilities. OBJECTIVE In the present work, we aimed to investigate whether cognitive and/or linguistic functions could predict the user’s performance in operating an off-the-shelf voice assistant, namely Google Home. METHODS A group of users with disabilities (N=16) was involved in a living laboratory and was asked to interact with the system. Besides collecting data regarding their performance and their experience with the system, we assessed their cognitive a...
Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 2020
Aim: The role of cognitive reserve (CR) in modulating dementia has been broadly investigated. We ... more Aim: The role of cognitive reserve (CR) in modulating dementia has been broadly investigated. We aimed to evaluate the long-term effects of CR on cognitive functions in outpatients newly treated with acetylcholinesterase inhibitors. Method: Fifty older adults with dementia (age 80 ± 6.4 years) were followed up over 27 months. CR was assessed with the Cognitive Reserve Index questionnaire (CRIq), which provides a Total CR index and three proxy measures: Education, Working Activity and Leisure Time. The association between CR and cognition, evaluated by the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), was tested through linear mixed models. Results: The cognitive profile of High CR individuals (n = 16) was more fluctuating than that of patients with Low CR (n = 34) up to 15 months of treatment, showingan alternation of improvements and worsening. At linear mixed models, CRIq Total score was significantly associated with MMSE over the follow-up either when considered as continuous (β = 0.13 [95%CI:0.07-0.19], p < .001, per each 1-unit increase) orcategorical variable (β = 3.62 [95%CI:1.77-5.47], p = .002, High vs Low CR). Among the CR domains, higher CRIq Leisure-time scores were significantly associated with higher MMSE during the follow-up (β = 0.05 [95%CI:0.02-0.09], p = .009, per each 1-unit increase). Conclusion: The study indicates that higher CR, and especially Leisure Time-related CR, was associated with better cognitive performance in older outpatients with dementia treated with AChEI for 27 months. These findings suggest that Leisure Time-related CR could influence the evolution of dementia, and support the need of further investigations to verify the potential usefulness of interventions enhancing such domain even in advanced age.
Biological Psychology, 2019
correlates of cognitive control and food-related processing in normal weight and severely obese c... more correlates of cognitive control and food-related processing in normal weight and severely obese candidates for bariatric surgery: Data gathered using a newly designed Simon task, Biological Psychology (2019),
Frontiers in neuroscience, 2018
Error awareness is essential to maintain an adaptive and goal-directed behavior and is supposed t... more Error awareness is essential to maintain an adaptive and goal-directed behavior and is supposed to rely on the activity of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). However, studies employing electrophysiological methods and functional resonance imaging (fMRI) do not allow to establish a causal relationship between error awareness and implicated brain structures. The study examined the causal relationship between DLPFC activity and error awareness in order to confirm the involvement of the right DLPFC in error awareness and to obtain temporal information about this process, namely when the activity of the right DLPFC is involved in error awareness. Three experiments with three different samples were conducted employing on-line Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS). A paired-pulse and a single-pulse on-line TMS paradigm were employed respectively in Experiments 1 and 3, whereas in Experiment 2 a control test was conducted without TMS. In TMS experiments, the right DLPFC was...
Metabolic Brain Disease, 2017
Cognitive Reserve (CR) modulates symptoms of brain disease. The aim of this study was: to evaluat... more Cognitive Reserve (CR) modulates symptoms of brain disease. The aim of this study was: to evaluate the effect of CR on cognition in cirrhosis and on the mismatch between cognitive and neurophysiologic assessment of hepatic encephalopathy (HE). Eighty-two outpatient patients with cirrhosis without overt HE were studied [73% males; age: 62 (54-68) (median, interq. range) yrs.; education: 8 (6-13) yrs.]. The Psychometric Hepatic Encephalopathy Score (PHES) was used as cognitive measure of HE. The spectral analysis of the electroencephalogram (EEG) was used as neurophysiologic measure of HE. The CR was assessed by the CR Index (CRI), which was measured by the CRI questionnaire (CRIq) (http://cri.psy.unipd.it). The PHES was altered in 28% of patients and the EEG in 41%. Altered PHES was related to the severity of cirrhosis as assessed by Child-Pugh classification (R = 0. 31, p < 0.005). Patients with maintained PHES had higher CRI than those with altered PHES (CRI = 100 ± 20 vs. 88 ± 12 vs., p < 0.01), but not the ones with normal EEG compared to those with abnormal EEG (CRI = 96 ± 17 vs. 98 ± 17 vs. p: n.s.).The PHES, but not the EEG, was found to be related to the CRI (r = 0.35, p < 0.01). The mismatch between cognitive and neurophysiologic evaluation of nonovert HE (the ratio between PHES and the mean dominant frequency-MDF-of the EEG i.e., cognitive performance normalized by EEG speed) was found to be correlated to the CRI (r = 0.36, p < 0.005). CR is a resilience factor for cognitive dysfunction in cirrhosis, and is easily measurable by CRIq.
Neurological Sciences, 2017
Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is common in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and should be... more Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is common in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and should be recognized early because it represents a predictor of PD-related dementia and worse disease course. Diagnostic criteria for PD-related MCI (PD-MCI) have recently been defined by a Movement Disorders Society (MDS) task force. The present study explored which neuropsychological tests perform best for a level II (i.e., comprehensive neuropsychological assessment) diagnosis of PD-MCI according to the MDS task force criteria in Italian-speaking PD patients. To this aim, we assessed a comprehensive 23-item neuropsychological battery, derived the best-performing 10-test battery (i.e., two tests per domain for each of the five cognitive domains), and explored its accuracy for diagnosing PD-MCI in comparison to the full battery in a group of PD patients. A secondary aim was to explore the role of this battery for subtyping PD-MCI according to single-domain vs. multiple-domain involvement. The 10-test battery showed 73% sensitivity and 100% specificity for diagnosing PD-MCI, and 69% sensitivity and 100% specificity for PD-MCI subtyping. In patients older than 70 years, we derived a slightly different 10-test battery with 84% sensitivity and 100% specificity for PD-MCI diagnosis, and 86% sensitivity and 100% specificity for PD-MCI subtyping. These 10-item neuropsychological batteries might represent a good trade-off between diagnostic accuracy and time of application, and their role in PD-MCI diagnosis and subtyping should be further explored in future prospective studies.
Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior, Aug 25, 2017
The concept of stimulus response compatibility (SRC) refers to the existence of a privileged asso... more The concept of stimulus response compatibility (SRC) refers to the existence of a privileged association between a specific stimulus feature and a specific response feature. Two examples of SRC are the Spatial Numerical Association of Response Codes (SNARC) and the Markedness Association of Response Codes (MARC) effects. According to the polarity correspondence principle, these two SRC effects occur because of a match between the most salient dimensions of stimulus and response. Specifically, the SNARC effect would be caused by a match between right-sided responses and large numbers, while a match between right-sided responses and even numbers would give rise to the MARC effect. The aim of the present study was to test the validity of the polarity correspondence principle in explaining these two SRC effects. To this end, we applied transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over left and right posterior parietal cortex (PPC), which is thought to be the neural basis of salience p...
Neuroscience letters, Jan 15, 2017
Several pieces of evidence have highlighted the presence of an age-related decline in risky decis... more Several pieces of evidence have highlighted the presence of an age-related decline in risky decision-making (DM), but the reason of this decline is still unclear. The aim of the present study was to investigate the neural correlates of feedback processing in risky DM. Twenty-one younger (age <50 years) and 15 older (age >50 years) adults were tested with the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) during Event Related Potentials (ERP) recording. The analysis was focused on the feedback-related negativity (FRN) and P3, two ERP components that represent different stages of feedback processing. Behavioral results revealed that older adults, despite showing a significant learning trend, completed the IGT with a gain of a smaller amount of money compared to the younger ones. ERP results revealed that while the FRN response was comparable in the two groups, the P3 amplitude was significantly reduced after negative feedback in older adults, compared with the younger ones. Furthermore, the differenc...
Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 2016
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Studies in health technology and informatics, 2015
Over the past 20 years, research has led to the development of new technologies to improve the qu... more Over the past 20 years, research has led to the development of new technologies to improve the quality of life of brain-damaged user. Introduction of new neuropsychological rehabilitation tools based both on the new knowledge on brain plasticity and on the latest developments in computer sciences is both necessary and scientifically challenging for health professionals, particularly neuropsychologists. Here we present a pilot study in which the use of a new Apple<sup>
Parkinson's Disease, 2015
Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is frequent in Parkinson’s disease (PD). Recently proposed criter... more Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is frequent in Parkinson’s disease (PD). Recently proposed criteria for MCI in PD (PD-MCI) indicate level I diagnosis based on abbreviated assessment and level II based on comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation. The study explored the sensitivity and specificity of the Italian versions of three neuropsychological tests for level I diagnosis of PD-MCI. We recruited 100 consecutive PD patients. After screening for inclusion criteria, 43 patients were included. The sensitivity and specificity of the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), and the Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination Revised (ACE-R) in comparison to level II diagnosis of PD-MCI were examined. PD-MCI was diagnosed (level II) in 51% of patients. Disease duration was significantly longer and PD motor scales were more severely impaired in MCI group. The receiver-operator characteristics curve documented nonsignificant difference in the performance o...
Aging Clinical and Experimental Research, 2015
Several studies have investigated the interaction between motivation and cognition in both young ... more Several studies have investigated the interaction between motivation and cognition in both young and older adults, but with inconsistent results. A recent hypothesis suggests exploring the role of dopamine to study this interaction. To explore how different motivational states can modulate cognitive control, as well as investigate the hypothesis of a dopaminergic role in this phenomenon. 27 young subjects, 15 healthy old subjects, and 15 Parkinson&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;s disease (PD) patients took part in this study. The motivational Simon task-a new paradigm in which rewards and punishments are delivered to promote fast and accurate responses-was employed. The participants&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39; performance was evaluated by analysing their reaction times and accuracy, while employing a diffusion model analysis. The employment of positive and negative feedback significantly modulated performance in a conflict task. In both, the young and older participants, the speed-accuracy trade-off significantly changed in response to different motivational incentives (p &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt; .005), although in opposite ways. On the contrary, PD patients showed an absence of performance modulation in response to positive and negative feedback. In normal conditions, motivation interacts with cognitive control to modulate decisional aspects of a response in a conflict task. The elderly modulate their performance in response to positive and negative feedback differently from young adults, showing a classical positivity effect. The impairment manifested by PD patients, which is compatible with the literature about feedback processing deficits in this clinical condition, can support the hypothesis that the interaction between motivation and cognitive control is mediated by dopaminergic functionality.
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Papers by Daniela Mapelli