Papers by Alessio Toraldo
Brain Sciences
Developmental dyslexia can be viewed as the result of the effects of single deficits or multiple ... more Developmental dyslexia can be viewed as the result of the effects of single deficits or multiple deficits. This study presents a test of the applicability of a multifactor-interactive model (MFi-M) with a preliminary set of five variables corresponding to different neuropsychological functions involved in the reading process. The model has been tested on a sample of 55 school-age children with developmental dyslexia. The results show that the data fit a model in which each variable contributes to the reading ability in a non-additive but rather interactive way. These findings constitute a preliminary validation of the plausibility of the MFi-M, and encourage further research to add relevant factors and specify their relative weights. It is further discussed how subtype-based intervention approaches can be a suitable and advantageous framework for clinical intervention in a MFi-M perspective.
Biomedicines
There is strong evidence that homocysteine is a risk factor not only for cerebrovascular diseases... more There is strong evidence that homocysteine is a risk factor not only for cerebrovascular diseases but also for degenerative dementias. A recent consensus statement renewed the importance and the role of high levels of homocysteine in cognitive decline in several forms of degenerative dementia, such as Alzheimer’s disease. Although the molecular mechanisms by which homocysteine causes cell dysfunction are known, both the impact of homocysteine on specific cognitive functions and the relationship between homocysteine level and non-Alzheimer dementias have been poorly investigated. Most of the studies addressing the impact of hyperhomocysteinemia on dementias have not examined the profile of performance across different cognitive domains, and have only relied on screening tests, which provide a very general and coarse-grained picture of the cognitive status of the patients. Yet, trying to understand whether hyperhomocysteinemia is associated with the impairment of specific cognitive fu...
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory), Apr 27, 2022
Ethical approval was granted by the Bioethics Committee of the University of Bologna on the 7 th ... more Ethical approval was granted by the Bioethics Committee of the University of Bologna on the 7 th of May 2013, following the Declaration of Helsinki, and parents/tutors provided written informed consent for the children to participate in the study.
Humor is a multifaceted function unique to human beings, like language and symbolic thought. Theo... more Humor is a multifaceted function unique to human beings, like language and symbolic thought. Theories of humor propose different frameworks to investigate this function empirically; here, we applied a cognitive-psychology approach, focusing on a specific humor task. We asked 32 participants to listen to 30 jokes intermixed with 30 non-jokes that had an implausible ending, and to decide whether or not each stimulus was funny (Humor Decision Task, HDT). In a control task, 30 plausible stories were intermixed with 30 stories with an implausible ending and participants had to decide whether or not each stimulus was “strange” (Implausibility Decision Task, IDT). Response times (RT) in correct responses indicated that the two tasks involved different cognitive operations: while “yes, funny” responses were 256 ms faster than “no, not-funny” responses, “yes, strange” responses took the same time as “no, not-strange” ones. IDT results could be explained by assuming that participants used the...
Supplementary_material – Supplemental material for Italian Normative Data for the Original Version of the Tower of London Test: A Bivariate Analysis on Speed and Accuracy Scores
Supplemental material, Supplementary_material for Italian Normative Data for the Original Version... more Supplemental material, Supplementary_material for Italian Normative Data for the Original Version of the Tower of London Test: A Bivariate Analysis on Speed and Accuracy Scores by Francesca Bruni, Alessio Toraldo and Federica Scarpina in Assessment
L'influenza del Bias etnico sui processi cognitivi di attribuzione di intenzione delle azioni
Some studies on Social Cognition demonstrated that high level cognitive processes, such as empath... more Some studies on Social Cognition demonstrated that high level cognitive processes, such as empathy for pain, are influenced by racial bias. In this study we investigated whether this bias modulates the (lower) mechanism of attribution of intention too. We used a Simon-like paradigm, consisting of judging the colour of a circle at the centre of photographs of Caucasian and Black hands, from palm or back view, slightly rotated along their axes, implying a motor attitude/movement. Results were compatible with the hypothesis that palm views are interpreted as threatening by the observer. Moreover, women and men showed different reactions to black palm views (threatening stimuli): while the former showed a speeding up of reaction times, witnessing a defensive inherent response, men showed a slowing down of reaction times, suggesting a deeper analysis of stimuli (counterattack response)
Le abilita visuomotorie sono alla base di una vasta gamma di azioni quotidiane. La corretta progr... more Le abilita visuomotorie sono alla base di una vasta gamma di azioni quotidiane. La corretta programmazione del recupero di pazienti che, a seguito di menomazioni a carico del sistema nervoso centrale, subiscono una compromissione di tali abilita, richiede lo sviluppo di sistemi di valutazione in grado di stabilire quantitativamente quale dei livelli di organizzazione del sistema visuomotorio sia coinvolto. Basandoci sulle assunzioni proposte agli inizi degli anni Novanta da Milner e Goodale riguardo all’esistenza di due vie di processamento dell’informazione visiva (ventral stream e dorsal stream) che interagiscono nella pianificazione e nella programmazione del movimento, il nostro studio si e proposto di validare l’utilizzo di una metodica in grado di valutare quantitativamente e selettivamente le abilita percettive e visuomotorie connesse, rispettivamente, a tali vie. Diciannove soggetti non patologici destrimani (eta media 22.8 anni ±3.18) hanno partecipato all’esperimento. Sono...
Abbreviations: MPH, Mean Position of Hits; MPO, Mean Position of Omissions; MPT, Mean Position of... more Abbreviations: MPH, Mean Position of Hits; MPO, Mean Position of Omissions; MPT, Mean Position of Targets; MOH, Mean Ordinal position of Hits; MdnPH, Median Position of Hits; MPP, Mean Position of Positions; LCR-adjusted, Left-Centre-Right-adjusted; C-adjusted, Centre-adjusted (or centred); CoC, Centre of Cancellation; SD, expected Standard Deviation of MPH (unless otherwise stated); BF, Bayes Factor; H, number of Hits; T, number of targets; G, number of target clusters; CTL, Central Theorem of Limits; l, location parameter; s, slope parameter; c, ceiling parameter; FA, False Alarm (on catch trials); CR, Correct Rejections (on catch trials); SPS, Spatial Processing Stages; EP, Extra Processing stages (different from SPS).
Alzheimer's & Dementia, 2021
Harmonized neuropsychological assessment for neurocognitive disorders, an international priority ... more Harmonized neuropsychological assessment for neurocognitive disorders, an international priority for valid and reliable diagnostic procedures, has been achieved only in specific countries or research contexts. : To harmonize the assessment of mild cognitive impairment in Europe, a workshop (Geneva, May 2018) convened stakeholders, methodologists, academic, and non-academic clinicians and experts from European, US, and Australian harmonization initiatives. Results: With formal presentations and thematic working-groups we defined a standard battery consistent with the U.S. Uniform DataSet, version 3, and homogeneous methodology to obtain consistent normative data across tests and languages. Adaptations consist of including two tests specific to typical Alzheimer's disease and behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia. The methodology for harmonized normative data includes consensus definition of cognitively normal controls, classification of confounding factors (age, sex, and education), and calculation of minimum sample sizes. Discussion: This expert consensus allows harmonizing the diagnosis of neurocognitive disorders across European countries and possibly beyond.
Uploads
Papers by Alessio Toraldo