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Publications (35)
Divergent thinking (DT) is considered as an indicator of creative potential and a predictor of creative achievement. Furthermore, it is also conceptualized as an indicator of cognitive reserve (CR) in healthy elderly. CR refers to a functional benefit that can potentially offer protection against brain pathologies and is thereby considered a protec...
Objective
Divergent thinking (DT) has attracted research interest because of its potential role in early diagnosis and rehabilitation programs for patients affected by neurodegenerative diseases. Recently, DT has received even more attention because of its proven relationship with cognitive reserve (CR) and the possibility of a standardized assessm...
Spatial navigation is considered a multi-componential function that allows individuals to navigate in complex environments. Moving from the description of the human navigational system to the formation of cognitive maps, the different types of reference frame (i.e., egocentric or allocentric) have proved to be of particular interest. Older people a...
Creativity relies on the ability to make new associations between concepts stored in our semantic memory in order to create new and effective ideas in a specific context. Recent studies showed that creative people are characterized by more flexible semantic memory structures, which facilitate novel associations between concepts. On the other hand,...
Background: Many protective factors promote psychological well-being (PWB) in the elderly and contribute to healthy aging, such as engagement, positive emotions, and cognitive reserve (CR), which includes education, leisure, and work activities. CR sustains cognitive functioning and positively correlates with creativity, particularly divergent thin...
Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) reflect a huge and diversified condition that influences patient quality of life (QoL) both in the physical and mental aspects, especially in older adults who often present comorbidities and may be affected by cognitive decline. The concept of cognitive reserve (CR), which is built through life course experiences, has...
Alongside the concept of risk-taking (RT), the construct of creativity often appears in scientific lit-erature. However, the study of their relationship has been conducted unsystematically, with both theoret-ical (definition of the constructs) and methodological (different assessment methods) difficulties. Some studies consider risk as a predictor...
The maintenance of psychological well-being (PWB) in the older adult population is a pivotal goal for our rapidly aging society. PWB is a multicomponent construct that can be influenced by several factors in the lifespan. The beneficial role of divergent thinking (DT) and cognitive reserve (CR) in sustaining older subjects’ PWB has been scarcely in...
The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the vulnerability of adults to mental health effects, and the study of protective factors has become crucial. Cognitive reserve (CR) is a well-known protective factor against cognitive decline and several health factors; however, its protective effect on mental health during the pandemic has been rarely addressed...
Promoting active and successful aging has become crucial to improve quality of life in later adulthood and reduce the impact of cognitive decline. Increasing evidence suggested that the ability to think creatively (e.g., via divergent thinking), similar to cognitive reserve, could represent a beneficial factor against the negative effects of aging....
A greater ability to think divergently seems to bring benefits both in the psychological and in the cognitive domain throughout the lifespan. In particular, studies on older adults confirm the role of creativity as a valid support in active aging. The aim of the study is to investigate the possible role of creativity in promoting active aging throu...
Durante il processo di invecchiamento, il soggetto anziano si trova a vivere in un contesto sempre più sfidante, dovendo affrontare una serie di cambiamenti che influiscono sul suo benessere psicologico e cognitivo. Il pensiero creativo e la flessibilità mentale possono avere un impatto positivo nella vita dell'anziano a sostegno di un invecchiamen...
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major health and socio-economic problem since it is one of the major sources of death and disability worldwide. TBI patients usually show high heterogeneity in their clinical features, including both cognitive and emotional/behavioral alterations. As it specifically concerns cognitive functioning, these patients us...
Interpersonal trust relies on positive expectations about other people. Social psychology distinguishes ingroup (individuals share social identity, e.g., family) from outgroup trust (individuals do not share social identity, e.g., strangers). We conducted an experimental study to test if divergent thinking, which relies on an inclusive processing m...
Il presente studio ha indagato i pensieri futuri episodici durante il primo lockdown della pandemia da Covid-19. Hanno partecipato alla ricerca due gruppi di studenti universitari: il primo (n = 29) era formato da persone che avevano vissuto una o più esperienze traumatiche associate alla pandemia; il secondo (n = 56) includeva invece persone senza...
L'abilità di pensare in maniera divergente risulta preservata in qualsiasi fascia d'età. Tuttavia, nella fase di invecchiamento, l'individuo si trova a vivere in un contesto sempre più sfidante, dovendo affrontare una serie di cambiamenti legati soprattutto al suo funzionamento cognitivo. Il pensiero creativo e la flessibilità mentale, favorendo la...
(1) Background: Psychological well-being (PWB) is a multidimensional construct which is a key protective factor against chronic diseases in older adults. Numerous psychological and cognitive factors can influence older people’s PWB. However, while most studies have explored the effect of general cognition, only a few investigated the role of specif...
Background
The lockdown linked with COVID-19 restrictions has been reported to have severe consequences at an emotional and cognitive level, this was especially true for vulnerable populations, such as the older adults. This study aims at exploring the effect of a blog-based intervention implemented during COVID lockdown to increase the perceived w...
The study of the relationships between divergent thinking and the core executive functions is long standing. However, the literature on this topic is not conclusive. The present review was aimed to clarify the extent to which divergent thinking is related to the core executive functions, namely inhibition, working memory and cognitive flexibility....
Background
The current COVID-19 pandemic has abruptly catalysed a shift towards remote assessment in neuropsychological practice (tele-neuropsychology, t-NPs). Although the validity of t-NPs diagnostics is gaining recognition worldwide, little is known about its implementation in Italy. The present review by the Italian working group on tele-neurop...
Developmental topographical disorientation (DTD) has been defined as a developmental deficit in human navigational skills in the absence of congenital or acquired brain damage. We report the case of Lost In Space Again (LISA), a 22-year-old woman with a normal development and no clinical history of neurological or psychiatric diseases, evaluated tw...
A large number of studies, including single case and case series studies, have shown that patients with different types of frontotemporal dementia (FTD) are characterized by the emergence of artistic abilities. This led to the hypothesis of enhanced creative thinking skills as a function of these pathological conditions. However, in the last years,...
The study of divergent thinking (DT) ability in the elderly population has experienced a renewed interest because of its proven relationship with cognitive reserve (CR). However, experimental research on DT skills in this population has often been inconsistent. One of the reasons why this may have happened is that the possible negative influence of...
Negli ultimi anni, osservazioni provenienti da studi in crescente aumento, mostrano quanto la creatività, nella forma di pensiero divergente e convergente, possa favorire il benessere psicologico e cognitivo grazie alle abilità di trovare strategie diverse di problem solving, di sviluppare al meglio le proprie potenzialità e di permettere ai sogget...
Divergent thinking (DT) has attracted
neuroscientists’ attention for its potential role
in terms of diagnosis and rehabilitation for
patients affected by neurodegenerative
diseases. Indeed, some recent studies have
demonstrated the relationships between DT
and cognitive reserve (CR). This pilot study
aimed to preliminary evaluates the feasibility
a...
