Music and language are two complex systems that specifically characterize the human communication toolkit. There has been a heated debate in the literature on whether music was an evolutionary precursor to language or a byproduct of cognitive faculties that developed to support language. The present review of existing literature about the relationship between music and language highlights that music plays a critical role in language development in early life. Our findings revealed that musical properties, such as rhythm and melody, could affect language acquisition in semantic processing and grammar, including syntactic aspects and phonological awareness. Overall, the results of the current review shed further light on the complex mechanisms involving the music-language link, highlighting that music plays a central role in the comprehension of language development from the early stages of life.

With the spread of the Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the mass vaccination plan represents the primary weapon to control the infection curve. Unfortunately, vaccine hesitancy also spread out worldwide. This led to exploring the critical factors that prevent vaccination from improving the efficacy of vaccine campaigns. In the present study, the role of the Dark Triad (psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and narcissism) in vaccine hesitancy was investigated, considering the sequential mediating effects of conspiracy beliefs and risk perception. Via a cross-sectional design, the study was conducted with 210 participants surveyed using an online questionnaire to assess the Dark Triad, vaccine hesitancy, conspiracy beliefs, risk perception, and a set of demographic and socio-cultural control variables. Results showed that conspiracy beliefs and risk perception fully mediated the association between the Dark Triad and vaccine hesitancy. This finding suggested that albeit personality accounts for individual differences in human behaviour, vaccine hesitancy is also affected by irrational and false beliefs that, in turn, weaken the risk perception associated with COVID-19. Implications and future research directions were discussed.

Creativity is a multifaceted construct that can be defined both in terms of process (e.g.,divergent thinking) and product (e.g., a poem). Across years, it has been related to different cognitive and personality variables, including cognitive styles. The current systematic review aimed to summarize the literature on the relationships between field dependence–independence and creativity, considering both the creative process and creative production approaches. We selected eight studies using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses rules. Findings revealed that a consistent number of studies focused on creative process mainly in terms of divergent thinking instead of convergent thinking, also providing misleading results. Additionally, only two studies focused on creative production, showing that field independents were more creative than field dependents. Given the contradictory results and the paucity of studies, we concluded that the association between field dependence–independence and creativity needs to be further investigated by more accurate empirical explorations. Limitations and future research directions are discussed.

Previous studies explored the relationships between field dependent-independent cognitive style (FDI) and creativity, providing misleading and unclear results. The present research explored this problematic interplay through the lens of the Geneplore model, employing a product-oriented task: the Visual Creative Synthesis Task (VCST). The latter requires creating objects belonging to pre-established categories, starting from triads of visual components and consists of two steps: the preinventive phase and the inventive phase. Following the Amabile’s consensual assessment technique, three independent judges evaluated preinventive structures in terms of originality and synthesis whereas inventions were evaluated in terms of originality and appropriateness. The Embedded Figure Test (EFT) was employed in order to measure the individual’s predisposition toward the field dependence or the field independence. Sixty undergraduate college students (31 females) took part in the experiment. Results revealed that field independent individuals outperformed field dependent ones in each of the four VCST scores, showing higher levels of creativity. Results were discussed in light of the better predisposition of field independent individuals in mental imagery, mental manipulation of abstract objects, as well as in using their knowledge during complex tasks that require creativity. Future research directions were also discussed.