Emotional engagement and orienting: the effects of picture size on affective response

For their survival, humans and animals can rely on motivational systems which are specialized in assessing the valence and imminence of dangers and appetitive cues. The Orienting Response (OR) is a fundamental response pattern that an organism executes whenever a novel or significant stimulus is detected, and has been shown to be consistently modulated by the affective value of a stimulus. However, detecting threatening stimuli and appetitive affordances while they are far away compared to when they are within reach constitutes an obvious evolutionary advantage. Building on the linear relationship between stimulus distance and retinal size, the present research was aimed at investigating the extent to which emotional modulation of distinct processes (action preparation, attentional capture, and subjective emotional state) is affected when reducing the retinal size of a picture. Studies 1-3 examined the effects of picture size on emotional response. Subjective feeling of engagement, as well as sympathetic activation, were modulated by picture size, suggesting that action preparation and subjective experience reflect the combined effects of detecting an arousing stimulus and assessing its imminence. On the other hand, physiological responses which are thought to reflect the amount of attentional resources invested in stimulus processing did not vary with picture size. Studies 4-6 were conducted to substantiate and extend the results of studies 1-3. In particular, it was noted that a decrease in picture size is associated with a loss in the low spatial frequencies of a picture, which might confound the interpretation of the results of studies 1-3. Therefore, emotional and neutral images which were either low-pass filtered or reduced in size were presented, and affective responses were measured. Most effects which were observed when manipulating image size were replicated by blurring pictures. However, pictures depicting highly arousing unpleasant contents were associated with a more pronounced decrease in affective modulation when pictures were reduced in size compared to when they were blurred. The present results provide important information for the study of processes involved in picture perception and in the genesis and expression of an emotional response. In particular, the availability of high spatial frequencies might affect the degree of activation of an internal representation of an affectively charged scene, and might modulate subjective emotional state and preparation for action. Moreover, the manipulation of stimulus imminence revealed important effects of stimulus engagement on specific components of the emotional response, and the implications of the present data for some models of emotions have been discussed. In particular, within the framework of a staged model of emotional response, the tactic and strategic role of response preparation and attention allocation to stimuli varying in engaging power has been discussed, considering the adaptive advantages that each might represent in an evolutionary view. Finally, the identification of perceptual parameters that allow affective processing to be carried out has important methodological applications in future studies examining emotional response in basic research or clinical contexts.

Teoria e prassi del product placement. Il caso dei film contemporanei per adolescenti (ITA/USA 2006-2010)

Through this research I have tried to demonstrate how the evolution of the newest marketing strategies - that work towards engaging relationships with consumers, thus building an emotional connection between the brand and the user- can be considered as a response to the evolution of young audiences and consumers. More specifically, I have analized product placement as a cultural and social phenomena above all, and not only as an economical one, thus demonstrating all the social and cultural practices that this tool implies. The approach I have chosen to do so, is historical-analytical, particularly focusing on the evolution of the society and of the consumer, especially for what teenagers (both as audiences and as consumers) are concerned.

Il linguaggio degli ambienti virtuali culturali: comunicare la storia di Bologna attraverso il progetto Nu.M.E.

The contemporary media landscape is characterized by the emergence of hybrid forms of digital communication that contribute to the ongoing redefinition of our societies cultural context. An incontrovertible consequence of this phenomenon is the new public dimension that characterizes the transmission of historical knowledge in the twenty-first century. Awareness of this new epistemic scenario has led us to reflect on the following methodological questions: what strategies should be created to establish a communication system, based on new technology, that is scientifically rigorous, but at the same time engaging for the visitors of museums and Internet users? How does a comparative analysis of ancient documentary sources form a solid base of information for the virtual reconstruction of thirteenth century Bologna in the Metaverse? What benefits can the phenomenon of cross-mediality give to the virtual heritage? The implementation of a new version of the Nu.M.E. project allowed for answering many of these instances. The investigation carried out between 2008 and 2010 has shown that, indeed, real-time 3D graphics and collaborative virtual environments can be feasible tools for representing philologically the urban medieval landscape and for communicating properly validated historical data to the general public. This research is focused on the study and implementation of a pipeline that permits mass communication of historical information about an area of vital importance in late medieval Bologna: Piazza di Porta Ravegnana. The originality of the developed project is not limited solely to the methodological dimension of historical research. Adopted technological perspective is an excellent example of innovation that digital technologies can bring to the cultural heritage. The main result of this research is the creation of Nu.ME 2010, a cross-media system of 3D real-time visualization based on some of the most advanced free software and open source technologies available today free of charge.

Macchine esperienziali: Narrativa, cognizione e atto di lettura

La mia tesi si riallaccia al dibattito teorico-letterario contemporaneo sulla possibilità di un approccio cognitivo alla narrativa e alla letteratura in particolare. Essa si propone di esplorare il rapporto tra narrazione ed esperienza, ridefinendo il concetto di “esperienzialità” della narrativa introdotto da Monika Fludernik nel suo Towards a “Natural” Narratology (1996). A differenza di Fludernik, che ha identificato l’esperienzialità con la rappresentazione dell’esperienza dei personaggi, la mia trattazione assegna un ruolo di primo piano al lettore, cercando di rispondere alla domanda: perché leggere una storia è – o si costituisce come – un’esperienza? L’intuizione dietro tutto ciò è che le teorizzazioni dell’esperienza e della coscienza nella filosofia della mente degli ultimi venti anni possano gettare luce sull’interazione tra lettori e testi narrativi. Il mio punto di riferimento principale è la scienza cognitiva “di seconda generazione”, secondo cui l’esperienza è un relazionarsi attivo e corporeo al mondo. La prima parte del mio studio è dedicata all’intreccio tra la narrativa e quello che chiamo lo “sfondo esperienziale” di ogni lettore, un repertorio di esperienze già note ai lettori attraverso ripetute interazioni con il mondo fisico e socio-culturale. Mi soffermo inoltre sul modo in cui relazionarsi a un testo narrativo può causare cambiamenti e slittamenti in questo sfondo esperienziale, incidendo sulla visione del mondo del lettore. Mi rivolgo poi al coinvolgimento corporeo del lettore, mostrando che la narrativa può attingere allo sfondo esperienziale dei suoi fruitori anche sul piano dell’esperienza di base: le simulazioni corporee della percezione contribuiscono alla nostra comprensione delle storie, incidendo sia sulla ricostruzione dello spazio dell’ambientazione sia sulla relazione intersoggettiva tra lettori e personaggi. Infine, mi occupo del rapporto tra l’esperienza della lettura e la pratica critico-letteraria dell’interpretazione, sostenendo che – lungi dal costituire due modalità opposte di fruizione dei testi – esse sono intimamente connesse.

Variability analysis of discrete event series and wavefront patterns in surface electrocardiogram: contributions to psychophysiological and clinical research

The surface electrocardiogram (ECG) is an established diagnostic tool for the detection of abnormalities in the electrical activity of the heart. The interest of the ECG, however, extends beyond the diagnostic purpose. In recent years, studies in cognitive psychophysiology have related heart rate variability (HRV) to memory performance and mental workload. The aim of this thesis was to analyze the variability of surface ECG derived rhythms, at two different time scales: the discrete-event time scale, typical of beat-related features (Objective I), and the “continuous” time scale of separated sources in the ECG (Objective II), in selected scenarios relevant to psychophysiological and clinical research, respectively. Objective I) Joint time-frequency and non-linear analysis of HRV was carried out, with the goal of assessing psychophysiological workload (PPW) in response to working memory engaging tasks. Results from fourteen healthy young subjects suggest the potential use of the proposed indices in discriminating PPW levels in response to varying memory-search task difficulty. Objective II) A novel source-cancellation method based on morphology clustering was proposed for the estimation of the atrial wavefront in atrial fibrillation (AF) from body surface potential maps. Strong direct correlation between spectral concentration (SC) of atrial wavefront and temporal variability of the spectral distribution was shown in persistent AF patients, suggesting that with higher SC, shorter observation time is required to collect spectral distribution, from which the fibrillatory rate is estimated. This could be time and cost effective in clinical decision-making. The results held for reduced leads sets, suggesting that a simplified setup could also be considered, further reducing the costs. In designing the methods of this thesis, an online signal processing approach was kept, with the goal of contributing to real-world applicability. An algorithm for automatic assessment of ambulatory ECG quality, and an automatic ECG delineation algorithm were designed and validated.

Emotional engagement and brain potentials: repetition in affective picture processing

The present thesis addresses several experimental questions regarding the nature of the processes underlying the larger centro-parietal Late Positive Potential (LPP) measured during the viewing of emotional(both pleasant and unpleasant) compared to neutral pictures. During a passive viewing condition, this modulatory difference is significantly reduced with picture repetition, but it does not completely habituate even after a massive repetition of the same picture exemplar. In order to investigate the obligatory nature of the affective modulation of the LPP, in Study 1 we introduced a competing task during repetitive exposure of affective pictures. Picture repetition occurred in a passive viewing context or during a categorization task, in which pictures depicting any mean of transportation were presented as targets, and repeated pictures (affectively engaging images) served as distractor stimuli. Results indicated that the impact of repetition on the LPP affective modulation was very similar between the passive and the task contexts, indicating that the affective processing of visual stimuli reflects an obligatory process that occurs despite participants were engaged in a categorization task. In study 2 we assessed whether the decrease of the LPP affective modulation persists over time, by presenting in day 2 the same set of pictures that were massively repeated in day 1. Results indicated that the reduction of the emotional modulation of the LPP to repeated pictures persisted even after 1-day interval, suggesting a contribution of long-term memory processes on the affective habituation of the LPP. Taken together, the data provide new information regarding the processes underlying the affective modulation of the late positive potential.

La coazione all'adempimento mediante la tecnica delle misure coercitive indirette

La tesi intende offrire una riflessione in merito all’utilizzo della tecnica delle misure coercitive indirette quali strumenti di coartazione della volontà dell’obbligato al fine di indurlo all’esatto adempimento in presenza di statuizioni giudiziali il cui contenuto si sostanzi in prestazioni a carattere infungibile o in un dovere di astensione dal porre in essere determinati comportamenti, che non possono trovare esecuzione secondo le ordinarie forme previste dal Libro Terzo del Codice di procedura civile. Il lavoro prende le mosse dall'analisi storico-comparatistica dello sviluppo dell'esecuzione processuale indiretta nei principali ordinamenti giuridici europei, per poi soffermarsi sulle singole misure coercitive indirette disciplinate dal legislatore italiano nel corso degli anni al fine di far fronte alle esigenze di tutela emergenti in specifici settori del diritto. Segue un'attenta disamina in ordine alla disposizione di cui all'art. 614-bis c.p.c., con cui è stata introdotta per la prima volta nel nostro ordinamento una misura coercitiva indiretta a carattere generale in materia di esecuzione degli obblighi di fare infungibile e di non fare.