Ricerc@Sapienza

The emotions of guilt and disgust play a pivotal role in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The present study hypothesized the existence of a distinctive relation between deontological (but not altruistic) guilt and subjective and physiological correlates of disgust. Moreover, we aimed at testing whether the evoked emotion of disgust may activate OCD-like washing behaviors.

Understanding the association between autonomic nervous system [ANS] function and brain morphology across the lifespan provides important insights into neurovisceral mechanisms underlying health and disease. Resting-state ANS activity, indexed by measures of heart rate [HR] and its variability [HRV] has been associated with brain morphology, particularly cortical thickness [CT]. While findings have been mixed regarding the anatomical distribution and direction of the associations, these inconsistencies may be due to sex and age differences in HR/HRV and CT.

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) is a promising tool for the treatment of depression and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) is often targeted when exploring tDCS effects on mood. However, the basic effects of tDCS on momentary emotions are inconsistent. We tested whether a single-session of anodal tDCS over the left temporal lobe (T3), topographically closer to the insular cortex than dlPFC, had effects on both vagally-mediated heart rate variability (HRV) and momentary affect in healthy participants.

Ruminative thinking about negative feelings has been prospectively associated with increases in depressive symptoms and heightened risk for new onsets of major depression. One putative pathophysiological mechanism underlying this link might be represented by autonomic nervous system dysfunction. The objective of this longitudinal study was to evaluate the interplay between rumination, autonomic function (as revealed by heart rate variability (HRV) analysis), and depressive symptoms in healthy young subjects, over a three-year period.

Perseverative cognition represents a prototypical example of how our internal thoughts can impact our psychological and physical health, as if we were facing an actual environmental stressor (Brosschot et al., 2006). The mechanisms involved—together with other emblematic examples like the placebo effect—provide clear evidence for brain-body interaction.

In adults, rumination has been associated with costs at affective, cognitive, and physiological levels. We examined if rumination in children is characterized by the same dysfunctional consequences and the possible moderating role of family functioning (cohesion and flexibility) and parents' trait rumination and depression. After induction of rumination, forty children (20 girls; 9.6 years) performed a tracking task with thought probes while their mood, reaction times (RT), heart rate (HR), and variability (HRV) were assessed.

We tested whether a mirror could enhance the efficacy of a self-compassion manipulation in increasing soothing positive affect and heart rate variability (HRV). Eighty-six participants generated four phrases they would use to soothe and encourage their best friend. Second, they described an episode where they criticized themselves and were assigned to one of three conditions: (a) repeat the four phrases to themselves while looking at the mirror; (b) repeat the four phrases to themselves without the mirror; (c) look at themselves in the mirror without repeating the phrases.