Patrizio Paoletti’s research while affiliated with Rowe Neuroscience Institute and other places

This chapter discusses the protective role of specific resilience-related psychological variables for healthy adolescent development in terms of increasing well-being and positive resources. The topics of self-development, emotional inter-regulation, self-compassion (sense of common humanity, self-compassion, and hyper-individuation), and resilience will be addressed by discussing the results of a pre-post study conducted in a school setting with N = 400 students (mean age = 15.47; SD = 1.79) who participated in the neuropsychopedagogical training “Envisioning the Future” based on the Sphere Model of Consciousness. Among other things, a mediation model is presented, showing that self-efficacy in managing negative emotions predicts resilience through the effect of a sense of common humanity. Thus, resilience is no longer just about not being overwhelmed by negative emotions but also about connecting with self and others. This perspective emphasizes the goal of strengthening positive relational and behavioral resources to improve well-being in the school environment.

Resilience is the ability to emerge strengthened from adversity. Recently, as the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted adolescents' growth processes, investigating which psychosocial variables make adolescents resilient has become essential. The aim of the study is to investigate which are the significant predictors of resilience in a sample of Italian adolescent students (N = 1266, 47% male, mean age = 14.96 years) one year after the end of the pandemic. Participants responded to a battery of tests, administered online, that included measures of: resilience, ad hoc items on meditation frequency, self-compassion, self-efficacy in managing positive and negative emotions, and coping. The results of a linear regression model revealed that the predictors of resilience in adolescents in the post-pandemic period were: frequency of meditation (ß =.61, p <.01), self-efficacy in regulating positive and negative emotions (ß =. 41, p <.001; ß = .19, p < .001), self-reliance (ß = .11, p < .001), mindfulness (ß = .11, p < 01), low over-identification (ß = -.06, p < 05), future perspective (ß = .11, p <.001) and problem orientation (ß = .17, p < 001). These findings emphasize the importance of cultivating these psychosocial variables to promote adolescents resilience in the face of adversity. The implications of the present study are discussed.

Empathy is a fundamental social ability that allows humans to infer others’ emotions and intentions. Empathy is thought to be rooted in bodily sensations coming from the autonomic nervous system. In parallel, the functionality and perceptions coming from the autonomic nervous system could be improved by practicing activities that involve mind-body interactions, such as meditation. Furthermore, perceptions from the autonomic nervous system are thought to be important in the embodiment of abstract concepts. Consequently, in the current study, we collected data online from 581 participants and explored the associations between levels of empathy and (1) the practice of meditation, music, and sports; (2) the impact of self-report measures on bodily awareness and reactivity; and (3) the embodiment of abstract concepts in interoception. In line with previous studies, Meditators were found to have higher empathy scores than Non-Meditators. In addition, lower levels of autonomic reactivity in organs above the diaphragm were associated with higher empathy. Finally, we also observed that empathy was positively associated with interoceptive components of abstract concepts in those participants with high autonomic reactivity. Taken together, the results suggest that meditation practice and having low autonomic reactivity are associated with empathy, arguably through the downregulation of autonomic responses. Implications for mind-body interaction in meditation and its role in promoting empathy are discussed.

A clear overview of biological correlates to vitality is still lacking. Consequently, in the current opinion paper, we suggest an electrophysiological and biological approach to the question of vitality. We will examine this issue by bringing forth the interconnectedness between life, consciousness, neuronal synchronization, and death. In addition, we will then connect the state of self to vitality and biophotons. While Electroencephalogram (EEG) activity and biophoton emissions have been linked to different states of health, here we argue that a more complete picture can be obtained by considering them together with another general biomarker of longetivity, namely telomeres for a fuller understanding of the life-death continuum and its relation to consciousness.

The COVID-19 pandemic influenced adolescents' psychological wellbeing and the frequency of bullying and cyberbullying. Literature highlights that self-compassion could protect adolescents' mental health. In the present study, the impact of the neuropsychopedagogical training Envisioning the Future (EF) on adolescents is investigated. Three-hundred and fourteen (N=314) Italian adolescents (59% female; Mean age=15.41 years, SD=1.94) answered an online questionnaire in two stages, at the beginning (t1) and end (t2) of EF. The questionnaire included the Self-Compassion Scale (Neff, 2003; Veneziani et al., 2017) and two ad-hoc items on the perceived frequency of bullying and cyberbullying episodes among peers (0=never to 4=once a day). Data were analyzed using paired sample t-tests with frequentist and Bayesian approaches. From pre-to post-EF, frequentist t-tests reveal an increase in self-kindness t(314)=-2.68, p=.008, common humanity t(313)=-3.76, p<.001, frequency with which adolescents perceive bullying t(313)=-8.9, p<.001 and cyberbullying t(313)=-5.22, p<.001. Bayesian t-tests corroborate the results, revealing extreme evidence (BF 10 <100) of an increase in the perceived frequency of bullying and cyberbullying, strong evidence (30<BF 10 <100) of an increase in common humanity, anecdotal evidence (1<BF 10 <3) of an increase in self-kindness. The paper highlights the beneficial effects of EF on adolescents' socio-emotional wellbeing, and lays ground for further research on the training.

When reflecting sociologically on the prison community, one usually refers to the community of prisoners. Thinking of this community in a broader way – i.e., involving all those who act in the prison field with different roles and statuses – has the potential to question the widespread representation of prison as a place inhabited by opposed social groups and instead shed light on contextual aspects that affect all social actors, structuring their forms of adaptation and common response models. The opportunity of a neuro-psycho-pedagogical training project called “Envisioning the Future” – conceived by the Patrizio Paoletti Foundation and realised with the University of Padua – addressed to the prison community in the broad sense gave the opportunity to explore this perspective. Starting from this formative experience and from a qualitative research carried out through semi-structured interviews to the prisoners that took part in the course, in this contribution we would like to reflect on the concept of prison community, in particular with regard to: (i) the exploration of relationships within the prison and the possibility for the prisoner to experience the other members of the prison community as a source of support, useful for coping with the challenges inherent to the prison experience; (ii) the possibility for the prison community to benefit in the future and in other prison contexts from formative experiences that follow this perspective.

Covid-19 pandemic had a massive impact on adolescents. The present study illustrates an online survey administered to N = 861 Italian adolescents (mean age = 15.81 years; females 58%), asking them about: (i) the most frequent negative emotions during the pandemic; (ii) the main sources of social support; (iii) whether they had also experienced positive emotions; (iv) in which life-domains they had experienced positive emotions. The results reveal that adolescents experienced boredom, sadness, fear, and agitation as negative emotions. The respondents reported family, friends and themselves as sources of social support. The main life-domains in which adolescents experienced positive emotions were: new discoveries in self-awareness, inner growth, relational skills. This study highlights that the pandemic has elicited positive resources (e.g., resilience, creativity and generativity) in adolescents, laying the foundations for interventions, in developmental and educational psychology, that are not top-down but bottom-up.

Recent studies have emphasized that silence is a fundamental element in meditative practices for stress relief, well-being, and stimulating faith in the future. This study describes the educational experience of implementing the Practice of Silence Device in a prison setting during the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic (May-July, 2021). Interviews with 23 adult male imprisoned individuals (aver-age age ¼ 48.79; 65% Italians) were analyzed through a qualitative-phenomenological method. The results revealed this technique's positive impact on rehabilitating imprisoned individuals across 3 dimensions: coping, emotion management, and ability to plan the future. Future studies should investigate specific silence-based techniques to support imprisoned individuals' rehabilitation.