Department of General Psychology

Understanding the neurocognitive basis of risk-taking behavior is an important issue, especially in economic decision-making. Classical behavioral studies have shown that risk-attitude changes across different contexts, but little is so far known about the brain correlates of processing of outcomes across such context shifts. In this study, EEG was recorded while subjects performed a gambling task. Participants could choose between a risky and a safer option, within two different contexts: one in which options yielded gains and losses of the same magnitude (Zero Expected Value context) and another in which gains were larger than losses (Positive Expected Value context). Based on their risk-attitude, two groups were compared: subjects who are risk-seekers in the zero Expected Value context (Zero-Oriented group) and subjects who are riskseekers in the positive Expected Value condition (Positive-Oriented group). The Feedback Related Negativity (FRN) reflects this distinction, with each group being insensitive to magnitude of outcomes in the condition in which they were risk-prone. P300 amplitude mirrored the behavioral results, with larger amplitudes in the condition in which each group showed a higher risk-tendency. Source analyses highlighted the involvement of posterior cingulate cortex in risky decision-making. Taken together, the findings make a contribution to the clarification of the neurocognitive substrates of risky decision-making.

In this study, 100 Italian eighth graders were divided into two groups to compare the effects of two instructional interventions e the first based on problem-solving through discussion, the second on individual problem-solving e on students' learning of two historical topics (World War I and the economic boom), interest and self-perception of competence in history. The intervention based on discussion produced greater situational interest and understanding of the historical inquiry. The topic of World War I turned out to be an effective source of situational interest. Structural equation models showed that situational interest elicited by the use of discussion and by World War I impacted both on students' individual interest and on self-perception of competence in history.

Background The Depression Questionnaire (QD) is an instrument designed to measure depression in an inpatientrehabilitation setting. This study proposes a reduced version of the original 24-item QD, to make it better suited to the characteristics of patients in this setting. Methods The study population consisted of 801 individuals admitted to cardiac rehabilitation (564 males and 237 females) who had validly completed the original version of the QD. Data were analyzed first through confirmatory factor analysis and then using logistic models. Results Factor analysis of QD-24 items form, confirmed the plausibility of the monofactorial solution, both for males and females. Factor analysis combined with clinical observation suggested the possibility of reducing the QD to 17 items. Two further items were eliminated through use of simple logistic models. We thus obtained a shortened 15-item version of the QD (QD-R) that maintains a good index of separation (0.80), that is, good capacity to discriminate between individuals with different levels of depression, and a good item-trait interaction (v 2 153 = 165.37, P > 0.05). A second confirmatory factor analysis applied to the 15-item monofactorial model confirmed the validity of this shortened version of the instrument. The QD-R scores significantly correlated with metres walked during the 6 minute walking test (r = -0.316; P < 0.01). Conclusion Combined use of confirmatory factor analysis and simple logistic models together with observations drawn from clinical experience constitutes a valid method for shortening a questionnaire while at the same time maintaining, if not improving, its psychometric properties. The QD-R, seems adequate to how much is required in rehabilitation to point out the outcome, in case of variation of depression, easily to fill in by the debilitated individual or elderly, mainly because some item excessively influenced by the pathology or the hospital context were removed. Eur J Cardiovasc Prev Rehabil 00:000-000

The inverted-T illusion was studied by the magnitude estimation method. The horizontal line in the inverted T is perceptually shorter than the same horizontal line presented singly, and the vertical line in the inverted T is perceptually longer than the same vertical line presented singly. Thus, the inverted-T illusion is due to both a perceptual lengthening of the vertical line and a shortening of the horizontal line. In the light of these findings, current theories of the illusion seem to give unsatisfactory explanations.

The greater reactivity in Type A subjects is a controversial issue. It is possible that anxiety, neuroticism and depression interact with Type A behaviour pattern, giving rise to different psychophysiological reactivity. To evaluate this hypothesis we studied 70 Italian healthy male volunteers. A11 were blue-collar workers. Cardiac health was confirmed by a detailed family and medical history. Individual assessment included the Structured Interview, the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ), the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and the Depression Questionnaire (QD). To assess cardiac (rate-pressure product) and electrodermic (skin conductance level) psychophysiological reactivity we used the following tasks: (1) Interactive Concentration Test (ICT); (2) Mental Arithmetic (MAT); (3) Workside Noises (WN). In Type A (A1 + A2) subjects a higher neuroticism score was associated with greater reactivity whereas in non A (X+B) subjects a lower neuroticism score was associated with greater reactivity. Subjects classified as Type A with lower depression scores had greater cardiovascular responses, whereas in non A subjects higher depression scores were associated with greater reactivity. KEY WORDS-TY~~ A behaviour, anxiety, neuroticism, depression, electrodermal reactivity, cardiovascular reactivity.

Averaging models have been proposed within the framework of Information Integration Theory . Nowadays, these models are applied in several psychological areas. However, statistical problems such as divergence, uniqueness, and goodness of fit arise from parameter identification. To deal with these issues, suggested the method of sub-designs, capable of providing theoretically valid estimations. Using the empirical results obtained by this approach, ) offered a statistical procedure for the estimation of weights and scale values in averaging models. This procedure can be primarily applied when a full factorial design is followed by all its sub-designs; it considers a subset of the possible averaging models, and the software permits to manage data from one subject and one session at a time. Moreover, Wang and Yang (1998) noted that, although this procedure was carefully designed to allow for proper tests of statistical significance especially involving the Chisquare test, it does not involve validation criteria for the estimated weights and scale values as, for example, the information criterion.

Trust influences interactions among individuals and organizations but has been an elusive concept to define and measure. The Organizational Trust Inventory (OTI) measures three dimensions of organizational trust, as defined by Cummings and Bromiley (in: Kramer and Tyler (eds) Trust in Organizations, 1996), believing or feeling that others: keep commitments, negotiate honestly, and do not take excessive advantage. This research presents an original adaptation of the OTI for the Italian people. It can now be used to evaluate trust regarding colleagues, managers, suppliers, subordinates, clients, and organizations. Using a sample of 490 employees and structural equation modeling, we consider the validity of the questionnaire and the theoretical model articulation both across different counterpart and countries. Besides, we develop a new reduced-form of the questionnaire (OTI/R), which offers better psychometric properties than the long form.

Aim. Our paper presents an instrument for recognising the psychological problems of caregivers: the short form of a previously validated questionnaire, the Family Strain Questionnaire. Background. Individuals caring for chronic patients frequently suffer from psychological problems, which are underestimated by medical professionals and, consequently, are not adequately treated. Therefore, clinical nurses, general practitioners and the members of home care teams have to recognise the psychological problems of caregivers. To do so, they need to quickly measure the problem's severity quickly and track it over time, without a specific training in psychological diagnosis. Design. Survey. Method. Principal caregivers (n = 811) completed the Family Strain Questionnaire in its original form (semi-structured interview plus 44 dichotomous items, administrable in about 20 minutes), aimed at investigating the subjective perception of emotional burden, problems in social involvement, the need for more information about the disease, satisfaction with family relationships and thoughts about death. Data were analysed using the Rasch model for the reduction of items. Thirty items were selected and reanalysed in a new sample of 40 caregivers. Results. The thirty items selected showed very good fit statistics and maintained the diagnostic qualities of the original form. They thus compose the Family Strain Questionnaire -Short Form that caregivers can complete in about five minutes. This brief measure can indicate the severity of stress and allows categorisation of caregivers by psychological risk, which is also represented by a graphic tool.

The implementation of training programs often requires a complex design if effectiveness is to be accurately evaluated. Part of the difficulty lies in the fact that trainees must be presented with a series of ever-changing tasks in order to avoid biases due to learning or carryover effects.

In the present study the use of Knowledge Space Theory (KST), jointly with Formal Concept Analysis (FCA), is proposed to develop a formal representation of the relations between the items of a questionnaire and a set of psychodiagnostic criteria. This formal representation can be used to develop an efficient adaptive tool for psychological assessment. show some interesting connections between KST and FCA; these connections are applied to construct knowledge structures starting from a formal context representing the relations between items and criteria. The proposed general methodology has been applied, as an example, to the Maudsley Obsessive-Compulsive Questionnaire. We used a data-set provided by a sample of patients with a diagnosis of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder to validate the obtained structures. The parameters of the Basic Local Independence Model (BLIM) have been estimated for the obtained knowledge structures. The fit of each model has been tested by parametric bootstrap because of the sparseness of the derived data matrix. Results are discussed in light of both psychological and methodological relapses. In particular we propose a re-interpretation of the BLIM parameters that seems suitable for testing reliability and construct validity; furthermore it is pointed out how the obtained structures could represent the starting point for the development of a computerized assessment tool. B128 4

Averaging Models have a large diffusion in several different areas of psychological and social research. They consist of a two parameters representation: a scale value for the subjective location of the stimulus on the response dimension and a weight for its importance in the integrated response. In the present paper we suggest a light but significant modification of the traditional formula used to represent the model in order to make clear some relevant properties of the model, which are essential to obtain unique and unbiased parameter estimations when a differential-weight averaging model is considered. This representation favors a superior understanding of the distinction between scale-values and importance-weights in order to realize what differences in weight could mean when we analyze empirical data coherent with an Averaging Model.

An important open issue in Functional Measurement is whether the three most important models of cognitive algebra are sufficient to describe the great majority of possible response behaviors. Generally speaking, the individual response R is a function of the subjective scale values s k and can be imagined as a continuous manifold. First and second order terms of a Taylor series are often used to locally approximate the shape of such a generic function. In this work we suggest that almost any response surface can be approximated by an additive, multiplicative or averaging model, considering that the Taylor expansion is cut at the second order at most. In particular, additive and multiplicative models appear to hold as global approximations, while the averaging model appears to be a connection of local approximations.

Forty subjects were asked to evaluate the length in evolving horizontal lines. Evolving lines, presented for 750, 1500 and 3000 msec in the centre of a computer monitor, expanded symmetrically from the central point toward the two endpoints from 0 to 84 mm, or shrunk symmetrically from two endpoints toward the central point from 84 to 0 mm. Subjects fixate their gaze in the median point between the stimuli. A variant of the constant method was used. Results show that fixation of the gaze differentiates the evaluations of the expanding lines from the shrinking lines.