It is considered to be particularly interesting to enrich the scientific overview investigating the comorbidities of specific learning disorders (SLDs) in young adults. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the psychosocial and relational profiles associated with the presence of learning difficulties in a population of university students. The hypothesis is that young adults with SLDs have lower psychological and socio-relational functioning than their typical-development peers. We further hypothesized that the socio-relational difficulties of students with SLDs could be explained not only by referring to the presence of a learning disorder, but also by considering some variables that may follow the experience of students with SLDs. The results highlighted that students with SLDs, compared to their typical-development peers, have low self-efficacy, high academic anxiety scores, emotional problems, and issues with peers. We finally suggest considering these aspects as early as the diagnostic process to facilitate an effective treatment plan for learning disorders to prevent, in terms of developmental trajectory, the manifestation of these aspects in adulthood.

Bullying is still a widespread social problem that needs serious attention. To date, research on this topic has shown that understanding the phenomenon requires a psychosocial perspective. The primary goal of the study is to identify the factors that contribute to the victimization of students with learning disabilities. The hypothesis is that the victimization experiences of this group of students can be explained by some socio-relational dynamics. Using a mediation model, this study demonstrates that perceived social integration completely mediates the association between the presence of learning disabilities and victimization experiences. This implies that students with learning disabilities are primarily victimized when they are not socially integrated into their class group. The implications for diagnosis and treatment are discussed.

Objectives: This research investigated the impact of transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) on sense of agency (SoA) when focusing on cortical regions like the cerebellum, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), and the angular gyrus (AG). To this aim, three experiments were carried out, and agency was assessed through the Wundt Clock Paradigm, which provides a measure of intentional binding. Methods: The first experiment provided offline cathodal stimulation applied to the right cerebellum, with the return electrode placed on the left DLPFC, and participants were randomly assigned to either the placebo group or the active group. The second experiment adopted the same montage as the previous one, but the online stimulation was provided in a within-subjects design. Results: Since none of these studies targeting the cerebellum produced significant results on the agency measures, we carried out a third experiment aimed to replicate a previous study that provided inhibitory stimulation of the left AG. However, this also showed no modulations of SoA. Conclusions: Several explanations could be given for these negative results. For example, the inter-individual variability, task complexity, and limitations of tDCS technology may contribute to the inconsistencies of the results. Also, the failure to replicate a previous study raises the issue of the replicability crisis in psychology. Nevertheless, this study may represent an important reference for research aimed at modulating SoA through the neuromodulation of brain areas included in the agency network. Future studies could benefit from assessing individual cognitive abilities supporting agency, optimizing stimulation protocols, and exploring alternative brain stimulation techniques to obtain significant results.

Background: Developmental dyslexia (DD) is the most common form of specific learning disorders (SLDs). From a neurocognitive point of view, dyslexic reading is associated with atypical neurofunctional patterns in the left hemisphere, mainly in the posterior areas linked to lexical access and phonological processing. Nowadays, rehabilitation treatments do not aim to fix the disorder but rather improve adaptive skills. On the other hand, the transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has recently gained popularity in this field. In fact, a few studies have documented enhanced accuracy and speed after the tDCS over the parietal cortex, although the results were mainly limited to non-word reading. Methods: We conducted a single-case study employing an innovative multifocal eight-channel tDCS aimed at increasing the reading network activity in the left hemisphere and inhibiting the contralateral areas. The participant was a 9-year-old boy with a diagnosis of severe mixed-type specific learning disorder. The high-definition multifocal tDCS was administered over key areas of the frontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital lobes (four 3.14 cm² electrodes per hemisphere) in conjunction with tachistoscope training over a span of 10 weeks, with three sessions per week for a total of thirty sessions. Standardized assessments of reading were carried out at the beginning, at the end of the treatment, and at one- and six-month follow-up. Results: The treatment led to a 77% improvement in the accuracy of passage reading and an 83% improvement in the reading of high-frequency short words, with stable results at the 1- and 6-month follow-up. By contrast, in line with the severity of the disorder, there were only slight improvements in the speed parameter. Conclusions: This is the first study to document such remarkable improvements in reading in a case of severe SLD: if confirmed, these promising findings could pave the way for an effective, non-invasive rehabilitation for SLDs using multifocal tDCS. However, future studies are needed to overcome the limitations of single-case studies, such as the lack of control conditions and quantifiable analysis.