Mental imagery is a cognitive ability that enables individuals to simulate sensory experiences without external stimuli. This complex process involves generating, manipulating, and experiencing sensory perceptions. Despite longstanding interest, understanding its relationship with other cognitive functions and emotions remains limited. This narrative review aims to address this gap by exploring mental imagery’s associations with cognitive and emotional processes. It emphasizes the significant role of mental imagery on different cognitive functions, with a particular focus on learning processes in different contexts, such as school career, motor skill acquisition, and rehabilitation. Moreover, it delves into the intricate connection between mental imagery and emotions, highlighting its implications in psychopathology and therapeutic interventions. The review also proposes a comprehensive psychometric protocol to assess mental imagery’s cognitive and emotional dimensions, enabling a thorough evaluation of this complex construct. Through a holistic understanding of mental imagery, integrating cognitive and emotional aspects, researchers can advance comprehension and application in both research and clinical settings.

Current drugs for Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), such as cholinesterase inhibitors (ChEIs), exert only symptomatic activity. Different psychometric tools are needed to assess cognitive and non-cognitive dimensions during pharmacological treatment. In this pilot study, we monitored 33 mild-AD patients treated with ChEIs. Specifically, we evaluated the effects of 6 months (Group 1 = 17 patients) and 9 months (Group 2 = 16 patients) of ChEIs administration on cognition with the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), and the Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB), while depressive symptoms were measured with the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS). After 6 months (Group 1), a significant decrease in MoCA performance was detected. After 9 months (Group 2), a significant decrease in MMSE, MoCA, and FAB performance was observed. ChEIs did not modify depressive symptoms. Overall, our data suggest MoCA is a potentially useful tool for evaluating the effectiveness of ChEIs.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused critical mental health issues and lifestyle disruptions. The aim of this study was to explore, during the lockdown of second-wave contagions in Italy, how stress was affected by dispositional (personality factors and intolerance to uncertainty) and behavioral (coping strategies) dimensions, how these variables differed among sex, age, educational, professional, and health groups, and how the various changes in work and daily routine intervened in the psychological impact of the emergency. Our results highlight that women, the youngs, students/trainees, those with chronic diseases, those who stopped their jobs due to restrictions, and those who left home less than twice a week were more stressed, while health professionals showed lower levels of the same construct. Those with higher levels of stress used more coping strategies based on avoidance, which positively correlated with age, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and intolerance to uncertainty, and negatively with openness. Stress levels also positively correlated with agreeableness, conscientiousness, intolerance to uncertainty, and seeking of social support, and negatively with openness, a positive attitude, and a transcendent orientation. Finally, stress was predicted mainly by behavioral dimensions. Our results are discussed and framed within the literature, as important insights for targeted intervention strategies to promote health even in emergencies.

Vicarious War Trauma (VWT) refers to psychological distress arising from indirect exposure to war-related suffering through media, social media, news reports, images, videos, or communication with affected individuals. Grounded in theories of vicarious traumatization and secondary traumatic stress, this study aimed to develop and validate the Vicarious War Trauma Scale (VWTS) for the Pakistani population. A cross-sectional design was employed across three studies. In Study I, an initial pool of 40 items was generated through literature review and interviews and refined to 34 items through expert evaluation. Exploratory factor analysis with maximum likelihood extraction and Promax rotation was conducted using data from 311 participants, yielding a 15-item scale with four factors: Shaky Beliefs, Empathic Distress, Hopelessness, and Anxiety, explaining 48.48% of the variance. In Study II, confirmatory factor analysis in an independent sample (N = 200) provided preliminary support for the proposed multidimensional structure. A post hoc revised second-order model with four first-order factors including two theoretically interpretable within-factor residual covariances showed acceptable fit, χ²(84) = 162.83, χ²/df = 1.94, CFI = 0.94, TLI = 0.92, and RMSEA = 0.07. Study III provided validity evidence for the provisional VWTS total score based on relations with external variables, showing positive associations with intolerance of uncertainty, empathy, depression, stress, and anxiety, and a negative association with resilience. Factor-specific validity based on relations with external variables was not examined. The scale is a psychometrically promising research instrument for assessing self-reported multidimensional psychological distress associated with indirect exposure to war-related suffering. Its potential utility as a screening measure requires further evaluation through longitudinal and predictive studies and external replication. It is not intended to assess posttraumatic stress disorder or to serve as a diagnostic measure of trauma-related disorders.

The development and validation of interpersonal violence in terms of hot weather scale is the goal of the current study. The initial pool of items was deve