Social attitude is the approach of a person displayed towards other individuals or groups. Social attitude comprehensively affects the way we perceive, behave in, and interact with, the surrounding world; it is simply not possible to understand complex social behaviour such as strategic thinking without first knowing the attitude of the parties involved. Several disciplines contribute to the complex study of social attitude (social preferences in economics, social value orientation in psychology), but only recently have these disciplines started to communicate and develop comprehensive definitions and models. In particular, the current research debate focuses on pinpointing the nature of social attitude (e.g., what its defining components are), the factors that influence it (e.g. context, other individuals), as well as its consequences (e.g., its relevance for self-image representation). This thesis aims to answer to some of the open questions in the literature by testing and comparing the proposed competing explanations. The studies presented are based on a series of behavioural experiments coupled with established but also newly developed measurement tools concerning social norms and personal preferences. In addition, we try to uncover the mental processes underlying decisions with the help of computational models. The thesis is structured as follows. In Chapter 1, We outline a brief summary of the theories on social attitude from the economic and psychological literature, and describe the main tasks and models employed in the thesis. Chapter 2 explores how social attitude is influenced by others’ behaviour. We conduct a systematic comparison of the possible mechanisms driving attitude conformity using various experimental conditions, computational models, and control tasks (e.g., norm elicitation). We find that participants conform due to both peer influence (by learning from others about how salient a norm is) and compliance to authority (i.e. experimenter demand effects). Chapter 3 studies the effect of context in a task eliciting social attitude. We specifically test the effect of unavailable choices, that we call ”meta-context”, on participant’s decisions. We find that participants’ concerns about social norms, as well as their choices, depend on the currently available options, but also on meta-context. In Chapter 4, we study whether individuals tend to selectively forget about their morally questionable choices, and information related to it, such as the context in which the choice was made. We find that participants recollect less correctly selfish or anti-social choices compared to pro-social ones, but we find no memory bias concerning the context of the choice. Moreover, we uncover some potential evidence of a second memory bias related to choice frequency: people are generally more pro-social than antisocial, which means antisocial choices are more rare and thus more difficult to remember correctly. Finally, in chapter 5 We summarise the main findings of the thesis and present some conclusions. We try to integrate the various results to propose an empirically-informed model of social attitude to be applied in future research on the topic.

In just over ten years, internet-based technologies revolutionized several aspects of daily human life, including social interactions. Social media sites (SNSs), such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, have dramatically changed the way people keep in touch or make new acquaintances. On the flipside, recent research have highlighted the risk for and inappropriate use of SNSs, which might result in personal discomfort or a mental disorder. For this reason, it is important to understand how these issues develop starting from the diverse contexts and individual features. The main aim of the present Ph.D. project is to identify to which extent the interaction between psychological components, like perceived parental warmth, and genetic susceptibility to the familiar environment can describe the social behavior online and offline. The underlying hypothesis is that sensibility to the familiar context will represent a positive factor, if the person recalls a good perception of parental care, leading to confident psychological mechanisms in adulthood, hence to more optimal neural responses to social stressors in real life, and to the appropriate use of social media. To this aim, three studies have been performed: •Study 1. Analysis of the impact of perceived early social experience on the formation of interactional patterns in adult social interaction in two different countries (Italy and Singapore); •Study 2. Investigation on how the interaction between genetic features of oxytocin receptor gene polymorphisms and perceived early social experience affect the neurophysiological responses to cries; •Study 3. Exploration of the link between adult psychological dimensions related to social behavior and metrics of usage on Instagram platform. The experimental activities have been performed in two different laboratories: as for the Italian samples, questionnaires and genetic information were collected at the Affiliative Behavior and PhysiologyLaboratory in Rovereto; with regards to the Singaporean sample, participants completed the questionnaires, then were tested for genetics, Near InfraRed Spectroscopy (NIRS), Electrocardiogram (ECG) at the Social and Affective Neuroscience set in Nanyang Technological University. One of the purposes of the overall project was the construction of a rich database, which aims to include information about genetic polymorphisms proved to be sensitive to social environment (oxytocin receptor gene rs53576, rs2254298, and serotonin rs25531), recalled parental warmth, main dimensions of adult attachment, neural and physiological responses to social distress, like listening to cries, and behavior on two main social media platforms, such are Facebook and Instagram. This complex design gives the project several strengths, such as the possibility to focus on the contribution of diverse factors within a bio-psycho-i social frame, that is claimed to be the more appropriate by scientific community standard, in order to have a wider and deeper understanding of human behavior. Secondly, results generated from studies based on this database would allow filling the present gap about social media usage and psychological mechanisms, providing a further comparison with offline behavior. Lastly, results might be helpful when implemented in clinical work to understand if and how social media can become a useful mean in clinical work. The temporary fragility of this project is related to the genetic sample size, as a broader sampling would be necessary to have a comparable amount of the different variants and generate more reliable explanations. However, this data collection represents a starting point, as it resents of temporal constraints. Future efforts are necessary to enrich the dataset and to find appropriate methodologies to examine in depth the interaction between all the factors

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In the last two decades several studies have been trying to explore a possible role for gut microbiota in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), supported by the high incidence of gastrointestinal disorders among ASD children and by the now well recognized existence of the brain-gut-microbiota axis (the complex system of bidirectional interactions between central nervous system, gastrointestinal tract and microorganisms inhabiting the gut). Nevertheless, results about alterations in gut microbiota composition and/or activity in ASD are to date strongly contrasting. A possible explanation could be that these studies tend to treat ASD as a unique pathology, whereas it includes different cognitive-behavioural phenotypes. Moreover, they do not consider factors which are important for children’s gut flora development, such as type of delivery, nutritional history (e.g. formula milk during lactation) and medical history (e.g. antibiotics intake) as well as factors that may affect the present composition of microbiota, such as the current diet (e.g. the strong food selectivity that often occurs in ASD children) and the presence of gastrointestinal disorders. In this study, I developed an interview to parents to assess whether there are differences related to the above mentioned aspects between ASD children and typically developing children and among ASD themselves, considering differences in cognitive level and severity of autistic traits. I also explored the use of special diets such as gluten-, lactose and casein free diets, the reasons for their adoption and the possible benefits for the child. Moreover, I decided to include in this interview also a section dedicated to parental difficulties in managing mealtime in order to collect information useful to plan future interventions. I found differences between ASD- and typical children in the incidence of gastrointestinal disorders and food selectivity. Especially, some children initially eat everything and then switch to a more and more restricted diet. This could be considered an early symptom of the pathology. I also found an association between gastrointestinal disorders and severity of autistic traits. Furthermore, I collected faecal samples from ASD families (two parents, an ASD child and a typically developing sibling) and analysed them with metaproteomics and bioinformatics techniques in order to assess microbiota activity and evaluate it in light of ASD phenotype, nutritional habits, gastrointestinal disorders and genetic proximity. Demonstrating the existence of a different microbiota composition in ASD or at least in a subgroup could allow to identify a biomarker of a possible development of ASD and to design preventive interventions, even through probiotics intake. Moreover, it could help to better understand the molecular mechanism underlying this pathology.

The present work represents an endeavour towards the investigation of the linguistic-cognitive system under the lenses of classical questions in cognitive and language sciences, by using a multi-method and question oriented approach. The ambition is to move a step towards the investigation of the mutual contribution of perceptual and linguistic-mediated representations to the understanding of human behaviour. Chapter 1 will expose the theoretical framework and the goals this project was set to achieve: contributing to the theoretical reconcile of visual attention and language functions, from a developmental perspective. Chapter 2 will expose the possibility to rethink the linguistic function as penetrating human cognition in a top-down fashion, and specifically, its influence on template-guided search and disengagement of attention mechanisms. Concurrently, chapter 3 will expose the possibility to rethink the role of visual attention as a useful tool, necessary to the computation of meaning: attention will be introduced as a window to investigate the influence of language-mediated representation (spoken and written) on visuospatial mechanisms by means of ERPs and eye-tracking methodology. Finally, chapter 4 will report the rationale and the interpretation of seven original experimental investigations of the word (and sentence) effect on perceptual representation during visuospatial tasks, across infants and adults. The final discussion will try to reconcile the results of the presented studies with the theoretical and methodological issues raised in the first, second and third chapters in an integrated perspective of a linguistic-cognitive system.

The works presented in this thesis are the result of the experiments conducted in the Cognitive and Experimental Economics Laboratory (CEEL) and in the Consumer Neuroscience Laboratory (NCLab) of the Economics and Management Department at the University of Trento. The aim of this research is to study the influence of cognitive impulsivity on commercial problem-solving and consumer decision-making. We focused on the attentional aspects related to the decision-making process as analyzed by the eye movements. The first section will present the main topic of the thesis, the key tool used to conduct the experiments (eye tracker) and the three papers; the latter will compose the second, third and fourth chapter. All the chapters have a common thread: to shed light on the cognitive aspects of problem-solving and their implications for the consumer decision-making process as analyzed through gaze behaviour. - The aim of the first paper, “The role of numeracy, cognitive reflection and attentional patterns in commercial problem-solving” by Dorigoni, Polonio, Graffeo and Bonini, is to analyze the predictive power of two important cognitive abilities, numeracy and cognitive reflection, in two different problem solving scenarios with high numerical components. - The aim of the second paper, “Getting the best deal: Effects of cognitive reflection on mental accounting of choice attributes” by Dorigoni, Cadonna and Bonini is to understand if people with low cognitive reflection are more prone to mental accounting across attributes of the same product; low cognitive reflectors do not integrate all the attribute costs and consequently they do not always choose the best deal. - The aim of the third paper, “Cognitive reflection and gaze behaviour in visual tasks” by Dorigoni, Rajsic and Bonini is to demonstrate that cognitive reflection has predictive power on heuristics and biases related to perceptual and visual tasks. This result is extremely important because it reflects a different disposition to see and analyze the information depending on the cognitive impulsivity.

Le virus Epstein-Barr est un des virus dotés de propriétés oncogéniques. Ceci est inquiétant car le virus est présent sous forme d’infection latente dans 95% de la population adulte au niveau mondial. Bien que ce virus soit associé surtout aux lymphomes, d’autres types de cancer sont aussi connus par leur association à cette infection tels que le carcinome gastrique. En fait, 10% de tous les cas de carcinome gastrique sont associés à la présence du virus Epstein-Barr. Plusieurs protéines du virus ont été étudiées individuellement afin d’établir leurs propriétés oncogéniques. Parmi celles-ci, la protéine virale EBNA1 joue un rôle important au niveau de la carcinogénèse et son expression est détectée au niveau des tissus gastriques cancéreux associés à l’infection par le virus Epstein-Barr. Des études réalisées au cours de ces dernières années montrent la relation entre un patron aberrant de l’épissage alternatif des ARN messagers et différents types de cancer, comme le cancer du sein et de la prostate. Les travaux de recherche présentés dans ce mémoire visent à établir si le virus Epstein-Barr est capable de changer le patron d’épissage alternatif au niveau des tissus cancéreux de l’estomac. L’utilisation de données de séquençage à haut débit fait sur des tissus cancéreux et tissus sains d’estomac (infectés ou non par le virus Epstein-Barr) permettra d’estimer les changements au niveau du patron d’épissage alternatif en relation à l’état des tissus et de la présence du virus Epstein-Barr. Les résultats obtenus nous montrent que l’épissage alternatif de plus de 500 gènes est altéré lorsque le virus est présent. Parmi ces gènes plusieurs codent pour des facteurs d’épissage, des facteurs de transcription, et des suppresseurs de tumeurs qui pourraient être impliqués dans le processus de développement du cancer. Finalement, nos résultats montrent que le patron d’épissage alternatif d’une cellule est modifié lorsque celle-ci est infectée par le virus Epstein-Barr ou qu’elle exprime une de ses protéines virales EBNA1, et ces altérations touchent plusieurs gènes impliqués dans des processus biologiques et qui semblent favoriser le développement du cancer.

摘要 近年來，大眾對環境保護的覺醒，以致於開始關心周遭的環境問題。而空氣的品質是最直接最重要的問題之一。我們知道空氣是人類及其他生物生命令的一項重要資源，所以空氣品質問題，值得大家關切，也是刻不容是需要解決的且作。 綜觀統計資料顯示，文台北都會區空氣污染問題已很是重;為了關懷一位居我國之五商、文化等領導重鎮、世界交通重地及企圖重心的所在地。因此，本文乃欲藉助「時空數列的自我連歸移動平均模式J (space-time autoregression moving averagemodels 簡寫為STARMA 模式) ，對大台北地區(包括板橋，三重，永和等三交通監測站)的空氣污染指標值(Pollutant Standards Index 簡寫成PSI) ，來建構一個時空數列接式，並且利用此模式來預測未來大台北都會區空氣的品質。 是後，希望藉此預測所得的資料，能夠喚醒國人及相關人士的警覺，以達到防患於未然之效果。

Il presente elaborato si colloca entro l’area di ricerca sull’invecchiamento patologico, con particolare riferimento al paziente con diagnosi di demenza moderata e grave e al relativo caregiver; tema centrale è la qualità della vita dei due membri della diade paziente/familiare, e la necessità di diversificare e arricchire l’attività psicologica entro i contesti di ricovero a lungo termine in favore di un miglioramento del benessere della diade stessa. A tale scopo, il lavoro si articola in due studi distinti: nel primo, si propone un intervento di stimolazione musicale individualizzata diretta al paziente con diagnosi di demenza moderata o grave, nel secondo un intervento di reminiscenza che ha come target il familiare. La tesi si articola in tre sezioni: la prima è una cornice teorica di riferimento, la seconda e la terza espongono rispettivamente il primo e il secondo studio sperimentale. Il primo capitolo ha lo scopo di fornire un quadro teorico e empirico aggiornato in merito al tema dell’invecchiamento. Inizialmente viene trattata la questione della “Ageing Society” da un punto di vista globale, delineando nel corso del capitolo le caratteristiche e le criticità legate all’invecchiamento patologico e alla sua gestione entro il Sistema Sanitario Nazionale, con particolare interesse verso la realtà delle Residenze Sanitario-Assistenziali (RSA), contesto entro il quale si sono svolti i due lavori di ricerca proposti. Si tocca infine il tema dell’intervento non farmacologico diretto al paziente. In una seconda parte è descritta la prospettiva del familiare, il concetto di burden e il ruolo della relazione pregressa tra paziente e caregiver da un punto di vista teorico; segue la descrizione degli interventi non farmacologici diretti al caregiver finora proposti in letteratura, ideati allo scopo di alleviare stress legato al ruolo di cura e alle sue implicazioni. Il secondo capitolo ha lo scopo di esporre il primo studio della tesi, che si è occupato di verificare l’efficacia di un intervento di ascolto musicale individualizzato sulla qualità della vita di pazienti con diagnosi di demenza moderata o grave. Per questo motivo, si sono prima di tutto descritti i sintomi comportamentali della demenza, con particolare riferimento alla agitazione psicomotoria e al suo ruolo di indice dello stato psicologico del paziente con deficit cognitivi avanzati. Nella sezione empirica del capitolo viene descritta nei dettagli la modalità di intervento selezionata, gli obiettivi dello studio e i risultati ottenuti in base alla misurazione pre-post delle variabili di outcome selezionate e al confronto tra gruppo sperimentale e gruppo di controllo. Il terzo capitolo tratta il secondo studio del lavoro di tesi, che ha indagato l’efficacia di un intervento di reminiscenza sulla qualità della vita percepita dai familiari di pazienti con diagnosi di demenza afferenti alla RSA Monsignor Bicchierai – Istituto Auxologico Italiano di Milano. Allo scopo di motivare le ragioni della scelta di questa modalità di intervento, si sono descritte le premesse teoriche della teoria della reminiscenza e le sue potenzialità come forma di approccio al paziente anziano; l’idea dello studio è stata quella di applicare tale modalità di intervento sul caregiver, allo scopo di alleviare il burden percepito conseguente al carico pratico e emotivo che la cura della persona cara comporta. Analogamente al secondo capitolo, segue la sezione empirica dello studio, con un esteso approfondimento metodologico e la descrizione e discussione dei risultati ottenuti. Una sezione finale avrà lo scopo di proporre riflessioni e spunti clinici emersi da entrambi gli studi, entro una visione globale della presa in carico della diade paziente/caregiver. / This research thesis refers to pathological aging, with a particular focus on the patient with a diagnosis of dementia and his/her caregiver. The intended central theme is the patient and the caregiver’s quality of life, assuming them as a dyad; the work also concentrated on the need to diversify and enrich the psychological offer within the context of long-term hospitalization. To this end, it is divided into two separate studies. In the first one, we propose an individualized musical intervention directed to the patient with a diagnosis of moderate or severe dementia; in the second the effcacy of a reminiscence intervention that targets the family member is tested. The thesis consists of three separate sections: the first is a theoretical frame, the second and the third expose the first and the second experimental study respectively. The first chapter aims at providing an updated theoretical and empirical framework on the subject of aging. The problem of the "Aging Society" is firstly discussed; among the chapter the characteristics and the critical issues related to pathological aging and its management are debated. This topic requested a deepening into the features of the italian National Health System, with a particular focus on the reality of Nursing Homes (RSA), within which the two proposed research works were carried out. Finally, the topic of non-pharmacological intervention directed to the patient is treated. The second part describes the caregivers’ perspective, the concept of burden and the role of the prior relationship between patient and caregiver: in order to act on the stress related to the role of care and its implications, non-pharmacological interventions directed to the caregiver according to scientific literature are described. The second chapter objective is to display the first study, which aimed at testing the effectiveness of an individualized music listening intervention on the quality of life of patients diagnosed with moderate or severe dementia. For this reason, the behavioral symptoms of dementia (BPSD) were first described, with particular reference to agitation and its role as an index of the psychological state of the patient with advanced cognitive impairment. In the empirical section of the chapter the intervention is carefully described, together with the objectives of the study and the results obtained based on the pre-post measurement of the selected outcome variables and the comparison between the experimental group and the control group. The third chapter deals with the second study of the thesis work, which investigated the effectiveness of a reminiscence intervention on the caregivers’ perceived quality of life; they belonged to the RSA Monsignor Bicchierai - Italian Auxologic Institute of Milan. In order to support the choice of this modality of intervention, the theoretical premises and its potential use as a form of treatment for dementia patients have been described; the seminal idea of the study was to apply this kind of intervention on the caregiver, in order to relieve the burden resulting from the practical and emotional load requested. Similarly to the second chapter, the empirical section of the study follows, with an extensive methodological study together with a description of the obtained results. A final section had the purpose to think over the clinical ideas emerged from both studies, viewing the dyad patient-caregiver as a single care recipient.

O presente trabalho, situado na linha de Psicologia e Educação, trata-se de uma revisão de literatura, cuja finalidade inicial foi a sistematização dos conhecimentos produzidos acerca do que se convencionou chamar, primeiramente sob o viés psicanalítico, de neurose obsessiva e, posteriormente, a partir do ponto de vista científico, de transtorno obsessivo compulsivo (TOC). Num segundo momento, teve como objetivo analisar os discursos produzidos sobre o tema, tendo em vista as diferentes áreas de conhecimento que dele se ocuparam, bem como as divergentes concepções teóricas. Porém, mais do que os saberes que têm sido produzidos, interessou-nos analisar as práticas que estão implicadas na produção e no funcionamento desses saberes, isto é, quais os efeitos dos discursos das áreas de radical psi - compreendidas aqui pela psiquiatria, psicologia e psicanálise na produção de um tipo bem determinado de sujeito e qual o papel da educação nesse contexto. Para tanto, lançamos mão de alguns estudos de intelectuais de lastro foucaultiano, que nos permitiram compreender a verdade como invenção - e não como descoberta, tal como sugerem muitos cientistas daí a necessidade de desnaturalizá-las; e o discurso como um conjunto de enunciados, vinculado a jogos de poder, que fazem circulam determinados regimes de verdade, através dos quais, realidade e sujeitos são produzidos. Nesse sentido, se a invenção se dá na/pela linguagem, podemos afirmar que, a invenção da neurose obsessiva - ou TOC - e de sua clínica, ganha status de verdade e de realidade na medida em que começa a ser produzida nas narrativas, quando começa a circular em diferentes discursos, quando começa a ganhar força em estudos que visam compreendê-la, explicá-la, enfim, quando começa a produzir saberes geradores de novas práticas e, de modo circular, práticas que convocam novos saberes. Do estudo, também foi possível depreender que os discursos psi são importantes dispositivos de poder, que funcionam no sentido de apagar toda e qualquer diferença, com vistas à adequação dos sujeitos aos padrões normativos. Nesse sentido, a escola, entendida como instituição disciplinar por excelência, onde discursos psi e pedagógicos se fundem e, por vezes, se confundem, é o lugar privilegiado para o exercício do poder e, portanto, das práticas de governo de todos e de si ao mesmo tempo. / This work, situated in the line of search of Psychology and Education, is a literature review, whose initial purpose was the systematization of knowledge produced about what is termed, primarily under the psychoanalytical view, obsessional neurosis, subsequently, from the scientific point of view, obsessive compulsive disorders (OCD). In a second moment, aimed to analyze the speeches produced about the subject, in view of, the different areas of knowledge that gets occupied by it, as well as the divergent theoretical conceptions. However, more than the knowledge that have been produced, interested to us, examining the practices that are involved in the production and operation of such knowledge, that is, what effects the speeches of the radical psy areas - understood here by psychiatry, psychology and psychoanalysis in the production of a determined type of subject and the role of education in that context. For both, in support in some studies of foucaultian approach, which allowed us understand the truth as invention - and not as discovery, as suggest many scientists hence the need for denaturalize them; and the discourse as a set of statements, entailed with power games, which are moving certain truth regimes, through which, reality and subject are produced. Then, if the invention is in/on the language, we can affirm that, the invention of obsessional neurosis - or OCD - and its clinical, get status of truth and reality in so far as it begins to be produced in narratives, when it begins to circulate in various speeches, when it begins to gain strength in studies that aim to understand and explain it, finally, when it begins to produce new knowledge-generating practices and, in a circular way, practices that summon new knowledge. From the study, it was also possible to conclude that the psy speeches are important power devices, which work in order to erase any distinction, to the suitability of the subject to normative standards. Therefore, the school, understood as disciplinary institution par excellence, where psy and educational speeches merge, and sometimes, are confused, is the privileged place for the exercise of power, and consequently, of the rules practices of every and of itself at the same time.