Giuseppe Sartori

Phonological Dyslexia: A Review

Normal readers are able to read aloud both real words and orthographically legal but meaningless nonwords (such as mant). How they achieve these two feats, and in particular whether they normally use different processes to do so, is an important issue for both the cognitive psychology and neuropsychology of reading. Patterson (1982) has made a distinction between “accessed” and “assembled” phonology. By the former, she means phonological codes that are retrieved from some hypothetical internal (or mental) lexicon. This procedure could be used for all words, but not for nonwords (which, by definition, have no representation in the internal lexicon).

Developmental Surface Dyslexia in Italian

Surface dyslexia is a reading disorder characterized by a disproportionate difficulty in reading irregular words, i.e. words for which the application of parsing procedures and phoneme assignment rules such as those proposed by Wijk (1966) and Venezky (1970) would yield incorrect phonological representations (cf. blood versus shampoo, pint versus pine). The errors produced by surface dyslexies when they try to read irregular words are often “regularization errors” (Marshall and Newcombe, 1973; Coltheart, Masterson, Byng, Prior, and Riddoch, in press), i.e. reading gauge as “gorge” and are as “air”. Stress placement errors on polysyllabic words are also observed, so that omit may be stressed on the first syllable (Marshall and Newccmbe, 1973) and recent may be read as “resent” (Holmes, 1978). Another type of error made by surface dyslexies concerns non-homographic homophones. Patients may in fact correctly read aloud a given homophone, but may be unable to assign it the correct meaning. For example, Newccmbe and Marshall (1981) report that the patient JC correctly read the noun bee, but glossed is as “To be or not to be, that is the question”.

Effects of cue focality on the neural mechanisms of prospective memory: A meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies

Remembering to execute pre-defined intentions at the appropriate time in the future is typically referred to as Prospective Memory (PM). Studies of PM showed that distinct cognitive processes underlie the execution of delayed intentions depending on whether the cue associated with such intentions is focal to ongoing activity processing or not (i.e., cue focality). The present activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis revealed several differences in brain activity as a function of focality of the PM cue. The retrieval of intention is supported mainly by left anterior prefrontal cortex (Brodmann Area, BA 10) in nonfocal tasks, and by cerebellum and ventral parietal regions in focal tasks. Furthermore, the precuneus showed increased activation during the maintenance phase of intentions compared to the retrieval phase in nonfocal tasks, whereas the inferior parietal lobule showed increased activation during the retrieval of intention compared to maintenance phase in the focal tasks. Finally, the retrieval of intention relies more on the activity in anterior cingulate cortex for nonfocal tasks, and on posterior cingulate cortex for focal tasks. Such focality-related pattern of activations suggests that prospective remembering is mediated mainly by top-down and stimulus-independent processes in nonfocal tasks, whereas by more automatic, bottom-up, processes in focal tasks.

Phonological Impairment in Italian: Acquired and Developmental Dyslexia

Recent analysis of reading breakdown in adult readers within the framework of information-processing models show that different dyslexic syndromes may affect selectively the direct visual route to meaning (surface dyslexia; Marshall and Newcombe, 1973), or the prelexical phonological route (deep and phonological dyslexia; Coltheart, Marshall and Patterson, 1980; Beauvois and Derouesne, 1979).

The detection of faked identity using unexpected questions and mouse dynamics

The detection of faked identities is a major problem in security. Current memory-detection techniques cannot be used as they require prior knowledge of the respondent’s true identity. Here, we report a novel technique for detecting faked identities based on the use of unexpected questions that may be used to check the respondent identity without any prior autobiographical information. While truth-tellers respond automatically to unexpected questions, liars have to “build” and verify their responses. This lack of automaticity is reflected in the mouse movements used to record the responses as well as in the number of errors. Responses to unexpected questions are compared to responses to expected and control questions (i.e., questions to which a liar also must respond truthfully). Parameters that encode mouse movement were analyzed using machine learning classifiers and the results indicate that the mouse trajectories and errors on unexpected questions efficiently distinguish liars from truth-tellers. Furthermore, we showed that liars may be identified also when they are responding truthfully. Unexpected questions combined with the analysis of mouse movement may efficiently spot participants with faked identities without the need for any prior information on the examinee.

When the Single Matters more than the Group (II): Addressing the Problem of High False Positive Rates in Single Case Voxel Based Morphometry Using Non-parametric Statistics

In recent years, an increasing number of studies have used Voxel Based Morphometry (VBM) to compare a single patient with a psychiatric or neurological condition of interest against a group of healthy controls. However, the validity of this approach critically relies on the assumption that the single patient is drawn from a hypothetical population with a normal distribution and variance equal to that of the control group. In a previous investigation, we demonstrated that family-wise false positive error rate (i.e., the proportion of statistical comparisons yielding at least one false positive) in single case VBM are much higher than expected (Scarpazza et al., 2013). Here, we examine whether the use of non-parametric statistics, which does not rely on the assumptions of normal distribution and equal variance, would enable the investigation of single subjects with good control of false positive risk. We empirically estimated false positive rates (FPRs) in single case non-parametric VBM, by performing 400 statistical comparisons between a single disease-free individual and a group of 100 disease-free controls. The impact of smoothing (4, 8, and 12 mm) and type of pre-processing (Modulated, Unmodulated) was also examined, as these factors have been found to influence FPRs in previous investigations using parametric statistics. The 400 statistical comparisons were repeated using two independent, freely available data sets in order to maximize the generalizability of the results. We found that the family-wise error rate was 5% for increases and 3.6% for decreases in one data set; and 5.6% for increases and 6.3% for decreases in the other data set (5% nominal). Further, these results were not dependent on the level of smoothing and modulation. Therefore, the present study provides empirical evidence that single case VBM studies with non-parametric statistics are not susceptible to high false positive rates. The critical implication of this finding is that VBM can be used to characterize neuroanatomical alterations in individual subjects as long as non-parametric statistics are employed.

An unusual case of acquired pedophilic behavior following compression of orbitofrontal cortex and hypothalamus by a Clivus Chordoma

Structural brain alterations rarely lead to changes in sexual orientation. Acquired pedophilia has been reported following lesions in the frontal and temporal lobes in males [1]. Here we report a case in which onset of paedophilia was the striking symptom of a Clivus Chordoma, a rare, slow-growing neoplasm originating from the bone in the skull base [2], that compressed the hypothalamus and the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). A 64-year-old male pediatrician was caught while enacting sexually inappropriate behavior towards a female child in a kindergarten doctor’s office. Paedophilic urges were carried out in a disorganized and risky manner (e.g., leaving the office door wide open). Upon arrest, the pediatrician appeared not to realize the severity of the moral and social disvalue of his behavior nor its legal implications. History was negative for relevant medical, neurological or psychiatric disorders, including abnormal (sexual) behavior. He had been married for over 40 years, had two children and was a highly respected pediatrician. On neurological and psychiatric examinations, conducted while he was at house arrest, he showed asymmetrical brisk motor reflexes, along with symptoms and signs suggestive of optic chiasm compression (tunnel vision and diplopia) and frontal lobe dysfunction, including pathological crying, dis-inhibition, easy irritability, childish and obsessive– compulsive behaviors, and impairments in emotion attribution, moral reasoning and abstract thinking. According to his wife, easy frustration and irritability had slowly begun about 2 years earlier, followed by subtle behavioral dis-inhibition. For instance, while traveling with his wife, the patient would steal postcards from exhibitors in museum shops. One night, he was surfing adult pornography on the web, completely worriless of being caught by his wife. Neuropsychological testing revealed impairments in emotion attribution, moral reasoning and abstract thinking. MRI scan examination revealed the presence of a 4 9 3 cm Clivus Chordoma (Fig. 1) that displaced the pituitary gland and compressed the OFC, the optic chiasm and the hypothalamus. All the behavioral, neurological and neuropsychological abnormalities, including paedophilic urges, receded following surgical resection of the tumor (Table S1 and S2 in Supplementary Information for neuropsychological evaluations). This is the first case of pedophilia emerging as a consequence of an intracranial bone tumor that affected OFC and hypothalamus concomitantly. Indeed, because of its dimensions and location, the tumor could well account for all the observed symptoms and signs. Optic chiasm compression explained the diplopia and the tunnel vision; alteration of hypothalamus functioning resulted in abnormal sexual drives [3] and the OFC compression accounts G. Sartori and C. Scarpazza equally contributed to the work.

Identity Verification Using a Kinematic Memory Detection Technique

We present a new method that allows the identification of false self-declared identity, based on indirect measures of the memories relating the affirmed personal details. This method exploits kinematic analysis of mouse as implicit measure of deception, while the user is answering to personal information. Results show that using mouse movement analysis, it is possible to reach a high rate of accuracy in detecting the veracity of self-declared identities. In fact, we obtained an average accuracy of 88 % in the classification of single answers as truthful or untruthful, that corresponds overall to 9.7/10 participants correctly classified as true tellers or liars. The advantage of this method is that it does not requires any knowledge about the real identity of the declarant.

A Novel Methodology for the Objective Ascertainment of Psychic and Existential Damage

Personal injury is a legal term for a physical or psychic injury suffered by the plaintiff under civil and/or tort law. With reference to non-pecuniary damages, the evidence itself of physical and/or psychic injury is not sufficient for damage compensation. The process of ascertaining impairments and/or disabilities which pertain to the “personal sphere” of the individual, such as pain and suffering, loss of amenity, and/or psycho-existential damage, poses particular difficulties in relation to the obtainment of scientific evidence. The “immateriality” and the subjective connotation of the personal sphere are, in themselves, critical issues. The clinical data obtained from the neuropsychological ascertainment find their essential prerequisite in the active participation of the examinee who, in legally relevant contexts (criminal law, civil law, insurance), may be “affected” by personal interests. The present manuscript presents a novel interdisciplinary methodology, experimented on a series of judicial and extra-judicial cases, aimed at the attainment of objectivity and accuracy eligible in relation to the judicial settlement of cases and other matters involving the ascertainment of peculiar aspects of non-pecuniary damage.

I didn't want to do it! The detection of past intentions.

In daily life and in courtrooms, people regularly analyze the minds of others to understand intentions. Specifically, the detection of intentions behind prior events is one of the main issues dealt with in courtrooms. To our knowledge, there are no experimental works focused on the use of memory detection techniques to detect past intentions. This study aims at investigating whether reaction times (RTs) could be used for this purpose, by evaluating the accuracy of the autobiographical Implicit Association Test (aIAT) in the detection of past intentions. Sixty healthy volunteers took part in the experiment (mean age: 36.5 y; range: 18–55; 30 males). Participants were asked to recall and report information about a meeting with a person that had occurred at least 1 month before. Half of the participants were required to report about an intentional meeting, whereas the other half reported on a chance meeting. Based on the conveyed information, participants performed a tailored aIAT in which they had to categorize real reported information contrasted with counterfeit information. Results demonstrated that RTs can be a useful measure for the detection of past intentions and that aIAT can detect real past intentions with an accuracy of 95%.