Explore the vast range of titles available.

The aging population in Western countries has led to a rise in predementia conditions like Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). Social Assistive Robotics (SAR) interventions, among novel technological tools, offer a promising interdisciplinary approach to mitigate cognitive and social symptoms’ progression in this clinical group. This systematic review aims to identify existing clinical protocols employing social robots for treating cognitive and social cognition skills in individuals with MCI. The review protocol adheres to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines. From six databases, we retrieved and analyzed 193 articles, of which 19 met the inclusion criteria, featuring samples diagnosed with MCI and subjected to cognitive and/or social interventions through SAR. The review encompasses both qualitative and quantitative studies, with a focus on assessing bias risk. Articles were categorized into four primary areas: study participants’ samples, types of robots and programming used, assessment of cognitive abilities, and the nature of interventions (i.e., cognitive and and social cognition skills). While the findings highlight the potential benefits of using SAR for MCI interventions in both cognitive and social cognition domains, the studies primarily emphasized robot acceptability rather than intervention outcomes. Methodological limitations such as clinical heterogeneity, absence of control groups, and non-standardized assessments restrict the generalizability of these findings. This review underscores the promising role of Social Assistive Robotics in MCI interventions, emphasizing the importance of social cognition skills interventions and advocating for increased collaboration between clinicians and robotic researchers to overcome current limitations and enhance future outcomes.

Peer pressure can influence risk-taking behavior and it is particularly felt during adolescence. With artificial intelligence (AI) increasingly present in a range of everyday human contexts, including virtual environments, it is important to examine whether AI can have an impact on human’s decision making processes and behavior. By using the balloon analogue risk task (BART) evaluating propensity to take risk, in this study 113 adolescents' risk-taking behavior was measured when playing alone and in the presence of either a robot avatar or human avatar. In the avatar conditions, participants performed the BART while the avatars either (1) verbally incited risk-taking or (2) discouraged risk-taking (experimental tasks). Risk-taking behavior in the BART was assessed in terms of total number of pumps, gain and explosions. Tendency to impulsivity was also evaluated, as well as the effects of age and gender on risky behavior. The main finding showed a significant effect of both avatars on risk-taking tendency, with riskier behavior during incitement than discouragement conditions, the latter being also substantially different from the playing-alone condition. The results of this study open up new questions in a very sensitive and timely topic and offer various insights into the effect of nudging on adolescents’ behavior in virtual contexts.

As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes ubiquitous across various fields, understanding people’s acceptance and trust in AI systems becomes essential. This review aims to identify quantitative measures used to measure trust in AI and the associated studied elements. Following the PRISMA guidelines, three databases were consulted, selecting articles published before December 2023. Ultimately, 45 articles out of 1283 were selected. Articles were included if they were peer-reviewed journal publications in English reporting empirical studies measuring trust in AI systems with multi-item questionnaires. Studies were analyzed through the lenses of cognitive and affective trust. We investigated trust definitions, questionnaires employed, types of AI systems, and trust-related constructs. Results reveal diverse trust conceptualizations and measurements. In addition, the studies covered a wide range of AI system types, including virtual assistants, content detection tools, chatbots, medical AI, robots, and educational AI. Overall, the studies show compatibility of cognitive or affective trust focus between theorization, items, experimental stimuli, and level of anthropomorphism of the systems. The review underlines the need to adapt measurement of trust in the specific characteristics of human–AI interaction, accounting for both the cognitive and affective sides. Trust definitions and measurement could be chosen depending also on the level of anthropomorphism of the systems and the context of application.

According to the Theory of Natural Pedagogy, object-directed emotion may provide different information depending on the context: in a communicative context, the information conveys culturally shared knowledge regarding the emotional valence of an object and is generalizable to other individuals, whereas, in a non-communicative context, information is interpreted as a subjective disposition of the person expressing the emotion, i.e., personal preference. We hypothesized that this genericity bias, already present in infants, may be a feature of human communication and, thus, present at all ages. We further questioned the effects of robotic ostensive cues. To explore these possibilities, we presented object-directed emotions in communicative and non-communicative contexts under two conditions: adult participants ( N  = 193) were split into those who underwent the human-demonstrator condition and those who underwent the robot-demonstrator condition, i.e., a human actor or a robot displayed object-directed emotions, respectively. Questionnaires further assessed the participants’ attachment style and mentalization ability. The results showed that (1) Natural Pedagogy Theory applies to humans across the lifespan; (2) Shared knowledge depends on the contexts (communicative vs. non-communicative) and who is sharing the information (human or robot); and (3) robotic ostensive cues trigger participants’ attention, conversely, in their absence, participants do not turn the robot into a communicative partner by not assigning it a communicative intention due to a difficulty in reading the robot’s mind. Taken together, our findings indicate that robotic ostensive cues may ease the human-robot interaction (HRI), which is also biased by the human attachment style. The study has been preregistered in Open Science Framework, OSF on September 9, 2021 (Registration DOI https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/9TWY8 ).

ObjectiveThe objective was to compare the results of performance-based and self-assessed measures of health literacy (HL) and to evaluate the contribution of their joint use in assessing some HL antecedents.DesignThis was a cross-sectional study.SettingThe study was conducted on the general population in Florence (Italy).ParticipantsThis study is part of a larger one, where participants were randomly selected from the registries of 11 general practitioners working in the municipality of Florence. Inclusion criteria were the following: 18–69 years of age and Italian speaking. Exclusion criteria included cognitive impairment, severe psychiatric disease or end-stage disease. In this paper, 212 adults were included.Outcome measuresHL was measured using the European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire (HLS-EU-Q16) and the Newest Vital Sign (NVS). The HL levels obtained by means of the two measurement tools were combined into a new variable that described three different levels of HL skills: low HL skills, partial HL skills and high HL skills. Multivariate ordinal logistic regression analysis was performed to assess the predictive roles of age class, educational level and financial resources with respect to HL skills.ResultsTwenty-two per cent of the sample had high HL skills, 28.3% had low HL skills and 49.5% had partial HL skills. Educational level, age class and financial resources were significantly associated with HL skills, with OR values being higher than those obtained using the NVS or the HLS-EU-Q16 individually.ConclusionThe combination of the results obtained using the NVS and the HLS-EU-Q16 improves the understanding of HL. The new variable generated by this combination could be considered as a different way to assess HL and its multidimensional contents.

Background: Despite the availability of an effective vaccine since the 1970s, rubella disease and, importantly, congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) remain a public health concern. The aim of this study was to analyze the rubella seroprevalence in the children population of the province of Florence and compare the obtained results to a previous survey conducted in 2005–2006. Methods: A qualitative measurement of anti-rubella antibodies was performed on 165 sera using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). The anamnestic and vaccination status was also collected. Results: Our study highlighted a very high rubella seroprevalence (85–100%) in our enrolled population. In the vaccinated group (153/165), 98.7% of them were positive to rubella antibodies. Conclusions: Our study showed the highest seroprevalence rate reached in the province of Florence for rubella in the last 15 years, thanks to the several successful vaccination campaigns promoted in the Tuscany region. Our findings in pediatric and adolescent subjects are a key factor in preventing CRS in adult life, specifically in childbearing women. Thus, the set goal will be to keep the awareness about the vaccination for this preventable disease high.

Der vorliegende Beitrag analysiert Entscheidungsprozesse aus einer psychologischen Perspektive. Dabei wird auf drei Aspekte besonders eingegangen: Erstens auf den Paradigmenwechsel in der Psychologie von einer Perspektive, die nur Entscheidungsprozesse Erwachsener betrachtet, hin zu einer Psychologie lebenslanger Entwicklung, in der auch eine kindzentrierte Perspektive eingenommen wird; zweitens auf die Auffassung von Entscheidungen als individuellen Prozessen, die nur in einem interpersonalen und sozialen Kontext verstanden werden können; drittens auf Gemeinsamkeiten und Unterschiede in normativen und beschreibenden Zugängen. In diesem Zusammenhang werden zwei wichtige Methoden der Spieltheorie zur Analyse von Entscheidungsprozessen vorgestellt und analysiert: das Ultimumspiel und das Diktatorspiel. (DIPF/Orig.). This paper describes the decision-making process from a psychological perspective and the importance of the analyses of its developmental trajectories. It focuses on three main points: first, shifting from adult-centered to child-centered view; second, seeing decision making in an interpersonal and social perspective; third, similarities and differences in normative and descriptive approaches. Furthermore, we present two important tools of the Game Theory: the Ultimatum Game and the Dictator Game. (DIPF/Orig.).

(1) Background: The aim of this study is to establish which specific elements of the built environment can contribute to improving the physical activity of self-sufficient, noninstitutionalized and living in the city adults > 65 years. (2) Methods: An extensive literature search was conducted in several database. Umbrella review methodology was used to include the reviews that presented a sufficient methodological quality. (3) Results: Eleven reviews were included. The elements positively associated with physical activity in older adults were: walkability; residential density/urbanization; street connectivity; land-use mix-destination diversity; overall access to facilities, destinations and services; pedestrian-friendly infrastructures; greenery and aesthetically pleasing scenery; high environmental quality; street lighting; crime-related safety; traffic-related safety. The elements that were negatively associated with physical activity were: poor pedestrian access to shopping centers; poor pedestrian-friendly infrastructure and footpath quality; barriers to walking/cycling; lack of aesthetically pleasing scenery; crime-related unsafety; unattended dogs; inadequate street lighting and upkeep; traffic; littering, vandalism, decay; pollution; noise. (4) Conclusions: Evidence shows that specific elements of the built environment can contribute to promoting older people’s physical activity. The city restructuring plans should take into consideration these factors.

Health literacy(HL) has recently been proposed as a potential mediator in the pathway through which socio-economic status(SES) affects health. However, empirical research investigating the contribution of HL in this relationship remains scarce. This study investigated whether functional HL mediates the association between SES and self-reported health(SRH) in an adult population-based sample. The study adopted a cross-sectional design. Education level and financial status were used as measures of SES, while functional HL was assessed with the Newest Vital Sign. Moderated mediation analyses were conducted using SES variables as independent variables, SRH as dependent variable and functional HL as mediator variable. Furthermore, age, sex and chronic diseases were tested as moderators of the effect mediated by functional HL. 452 subjects completed the study (58,8% female; mean age 53,25±11,7). Results showed that functional HL mediates on average 18.5% of the association between education and SRH (p = 0.02) and 12.9% (p = 0.01) of the association between financial status and SRH. Furthermore, the proportion of effect mediated by functional HL was found to be higher in lower socio-economic classes for both SES variables considered. No significant moderation effects of age, sex or chronic diseases were observed for both SES variables. Findings suggest that functional HL may serve as a pathway by which SES affects health status, especially in lower SES groups. HL may be a valuable and actionable intermediate target for addressing health inequalities. However, further studies are needed to better define the mediating role of HL across socio-economic classes.