Marcello Vellante

The “Reading the Mind in the Eyes” test: Systematic review of psychometric properties and a validation study in Italy

Introduction. The “Reading the Mind in the Eyes” test (henceforth, Eyes test) is a simple but advanced Theory of Mind test, and it is widely used across different cultures. This study assessed the reliability and construct (convergent and discriminant) validity of the Eyes test in Italy. Methods. A sample of 18- to 32-year-old undergraduate students of both sexes (N=200, males=46%) were invited to fill in the Italian version of the Eyes test, the Empathy Quotient (EQ), the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS), and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (SDS). Results. Internal consistency (Cronbachs alpha) was .605. Confirmatory factor analysis provided evidence for a unidimensional model, with maximal weighted internal consistency reliability=.719. Test–retest reliability for the Eyes test, as measured by intraclass correlation coefficient, was .833 (95% confidence interval=.745 to .902). Females scored significantly higher than males on both the Eyes test and the EQ, replicating earlier work. Those participants who scored lower than 30 on the EQ (n=10) also scored lower on the Eyes test than those who did not (p<.05). Eyes test scores were not related to social desirability. Conclusions. This study confirms the validity of the Eyes test. Both internal consistency and test–retest stability were good for the Italian version of the Eyes test.

Oxytocin and autism: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials.

OBJECTIVE Little is known about the effectiveness of pharmacological interventions on autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This is a systematic review of the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of oxytocin interventions in autism, made from January 1990 to September 2013. METHOD A search of computerized databases was supplemented by manual search in the bibliographies of key publications. The methodological quality of the studies included in the review was evaluated independently by two researchers, according to a set of formal criteria. Discrepancies in scoring were resolved through discussion. RESULTS The review yielded seven RCTs, including 101 subjects with ASD (males=95) and 8 males with Fragile X syndrome. The main categories of target symptoms tested in the studies were repetitive behaviors, eye gaze, and emotion recognition. The studies had a medium to high risk of bias. Most studies had small samples (median=15). All the studies but one reported statistically significant between-group differences on at least one outcome variable. Most findings were characterized by medium effect size. Only one study had evidence that the improvement in emotion recognition was maintained after 6 weeks of treatment with intranasal oxytocin. Overall, oxytocin was well tolerated and side effects, when present, were generally rated as mild; however, restlessness, increased irritability, and increased energy occurred more often under oxytocin. CONCLUSIONS RCTs of oxytocin interventions in autism yielded potentially promising findings in measures of emotion recognition and eye gaze, which are impaired early in the course of the ASD condition and might disrupt social skills learning in developing children. There is a need for larger, more methodologically rigorous RCTs in this area. Future studies should be better powered to estimate outcomes with medium to low effect size, and should try to enroll female participants, who were rarely considered in previous studies. Risk of bias should be minimized. Human long-term administration studies are necessary before clinical recommendations can be made.

Creativity and Psychopathology: Higher Rates of Psychosis Proneness and Nonright-handedness Among Creative Artists Compared to Same Age and Gender Peers

Creative people have been found to score higher on psychopathologic scales in standardized tests, particularly on the scales that measure traits of psychoticism, and to be more likely to report an excess of nonright handedness compared with controls. However, results are inconsistent across surveys and methodologies, and the contribution of substance abuse has rarely been measured. In this study, 80 creative artists were compared with 80 matched noncreative controls on the Annett Hand Preference Questionnaire (HPQ), the Peters et al. Delusions Inventory, and the General Health Questionnaire. Creative artists were statistically more likely to admit the use of the left hand on the HPQ, with more widespread left hand use reported by artists involved in the creative activities traditionally associated with the right hemisphere (music and painting). They also scored higher on the Peters et al. Delusions Inventory independently from the level of psychopathology (measured with the General Health Questionnaire), from their laterality score (measured with the HPQ), and from their higher use of both licit and illicit drugs.

The Italian version of the validated short TEMPS-A: The temperament evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris and San Diego

The TEMPS developed from classical temperament concepts at the Universities of Tennessee (Memphis) and California (San Diego) in collaboration with clinical scientists in Pisa and Paris. It presently exists in 20 languages and full validation of its 110-item version has been accomplished in American English, Italian, French, German, Hungarian, Japanese, Turkish, Lebanese Arabic and Argentinean Spanish. For many studies, a shorter version is easier to use. Accordingly, the 39-item validated English version has just been rendered into French, to facilitate clinical use and research in Francophone countries.

Physical Activity Interventions in Schools for Improving Lifestyle in European Countries

Background : In the last decades, children’s and adolescents’ obesity and overweight have increased in European Countries. Unhealthy eating habits and sedentary lifestyle have been recognized to determine such an epidemic. Schools represent an ideal setting to modify harmful behaviors, and physical activity could be regarded as a potential way to avoid the metabolic risks related to obesity. Methods : A systematic review of the literature was carried out to summarize the evidence of school-based interventions aimed to promote, enhance and implement physical activity in European schools. Only randomized controlled trials were included, carried out in Europe from January 2000 to April 2014, universally delivered and targeting pupils aged between 3 and 18 years old. Results : Forty-seven studies were retrieved based either on multicomponent interventions or solely physical activity programs. Most aimed to prevent obesity and cardiovascular risks among youths. While few studies showed a decrease in BMI, positive results were achieved on other outcomes, such as metabolic parameters and physical fitness. Conclusion : Physical activity in schools should be regarded as a simple, non-expensive and enjoyable way to reach all the children and adolescents with adequate doses of moderate to vigorous physical activity.

Hallucination-like experiences in the nonclinical population

Abstract Unusual subjective experiences are relatively common in the general population and have been associated with an increased level of vulnerability to psychosis. The current study aimed to a) determine the distribution of hallucination-like experiences (HLEs) in a community sample of young adults, b) investigate their dimensional subtypes, and c) test the association of HLEs with indicators of poor mental health. Four hundred thirty-seven participants (men, 41%) completed a battery of questionnaires including the 16-item Launay-Slade Hallucination Scale (LSHS), the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) and the 21-item Peters et al. Delusions Inventory (PDI). The LSHS correlated significantly with GHQ-12 and PDI. Individuals with higher levels of psychological distress were found to report higher frequencies of the HLEs compared with those in the reference range. Exploratory factor analysis of LSHS produced a four-factor solution: a) “auditory and visual HLEs,” b) “multisensory HLEs,” c) “intrusive thoughts,” and d) “vivid daydreams.” The current results provide further support for the multidimensional nature of hallucination proneness in the general population and indicate that some HLEs (particularly those related to intrusiveness of thought) are associated with a lower level of perceived well-being.

Confirmatory factor analysis and measurement invariance by gender, age and levels of psychological distress of the short TEMPS-A

BACKGROUND The Temperament Evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris and San Diego - Autoquestionnaire (TEMPS-A) is a widely used self-reported tool aimed at measuring the affective temperaments that define the bipolar spectrum, with cyclothymic, depressive, irritable, hyperthymic, and anxious subscales. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was rarely used to confirm the expected five-factor model. Measurement invariance was never tested. METHODS Cross-sectional, survey design involving 649 Italian college students (males: 47%). The short 39-item TEMPS-A and the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) were used as measures of the affective temperaments and of psychological distress, respectively. CFA was applied to the TEMPS-A. Measurement invariance by gender, age and levels of psychological distress on the GHQ-12 was calculated with the establishment of subsequent equivalence constraints in the model parameters across groups. RESULTS The expected five-factor model had the best fit for all CFA indexes. Configural, metric and scalar invariance of the five-factor model of the TEMPS-A was proved across gender, age and levels of psychological distress of the participants. The hyperthymic temperament subscale has low or no links with the other affective temperament subscales, which were interrelated with medium to large effect sizes. LIMITATIONS College students might be not representative of the general population. No information on the clinical status of the students was available beyond self-report data. CONCLUSION The study proved the measurement invariance of the (short) TEMPS-A, which is a pre-requisite to compare groups or individuals in cross-sectional and longitudinal surveys. Generalizability cannot be assumed without replication of the findings in clinical samples.

Bifactor structure of the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ)

The schizotypal personality questionnaire (SPQ) is used to characterize schizotypy, a complex construct helpful for the investigation of schizophrenia-related psychopathology and putative endophenotypes. The SPQ factor structure at item level has been rarely replicated and no study had tested a bifactor model of the SPQ so far. The unidimensional, the correlated, the second-order and the bifactor models of the SPQ were tested to evaluate whether the items converge into a major single factor defining the schizotypy-proneness of the participants, to be used for grouping purpose. Parallel principal component analysis (PCA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were used to determine the optimal number of factors and components in a cross-sectional, survey design involving 649 college students (males: 47%). The first-order, nine-subscale model was confirmed by CFA in the whole sample. The best evidence from parallel PCA in the training set was in favor of a two-factor model; the bifactor implementation of this model showed good fit in the subsequent CFA. Two main dimensions of positive and negative symptoms underlie schizotypy in non-clinical samples, entailing specific risk of psychosis. On a measurement level, the study provided support for the use of the total scores of the SPQ to characterize schizotypy.

The independence of schizotypy from affective temperaments – A combined confirmatory factor analysis of SPQ and the short TEMPS-A

Sparse evidence of a co-aggregation of the risk of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder provides support for a shared but nonspecific genetic etiology of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Temperaments are conceptualized as trait sub-syndromic conditions of major pathologies. This study set out to test the hypothesis of a continuum between schizotypy and affective temperaments versus the alternative hypothesis of their independence based on a cross-sectional, survey design involving 649 (males: 47%) college students. The short 39-item TEMPS-A and the SPQ were used as measures of the affective temperaments and of schizotypy, respectively. Confirmatory factor analyses were applied to a unidimensional model, to a standard correlate traits model, to second-order representations of a common latent structure, and to a bifactor model. Confirmatory bifactor modeling provided evidence against a complete independence of the dimensions subsumed by the affective and the schizotypal traits. The best solution distinguished between two sub-domains grouping positive symptoms and negative symptoms as measured by the SPQ subscales, and a sub-domain related to the affective temperaments as measured by the TEMPS-A. Limitations due to the use of subscales from two different tools should be taken into account.

Male–female differences in left-handedness in Sardinia, Italy

Males were consistently found to be more likely than females to report left-hand preference in single-hand tasks, but the literature reports negative results too. Using data from a large sample in Sardinia, we aimed at testing the links of left-handedness with sex, age, residence, and seasonality of birth. A total of 4239 participants (males = 1589; females = 2650) were recruited in public places such as high schools, university classes, or gyms in one of the major islands of Italy. Hand preference was established with the question: Which hand do you normally use to write legibly? The monthly distribution of births was studied with the Rayleigh test. In the sample, 270 female participants reported left-hand preference in writing (10.2%) versus 161 male participants (10.1%). Left-hand preference in writing was negatively related to age, with increasing left-hand preference in the younger generations. Left-hand preference in writing was not more common in urban than in suburban or rural settings. The month of birth was found to have a seasonal effect on the left-handed (p=.031) but not on the right-handed (p=.80) participants, and this seasonal effect was more evident in males (p=.04) than in females (p =.26). In our sample males were not more likely to report left-hand preference in writing than females. On the other hand, left-hand preference does vary by age and, in all likelihood, this is an effect of the reduced cultural pressure to write with the right hand in the younger generations.