Background: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) affects up to 40% of patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD), yet conventional rehabilitation often lacks engagement. The OPERA project developed a novel Bio-cooperative Robotic Platform (PRoBio), integrating a service robot and a virtual reality-based rehabilitation for personalized cognitive training. This work presents two preliminary user-centred studies aimed to assess PRoBio usability and acceptability. Methods: to gather qualitative feedback on robotic and virtual reality technologies, through ad hoc questionnaires, developed according to participatory design principles and user-centered evaluation literature, Study 1 (Focus group) involved 23 participants: 10 PD patients (F = 6; mean age = 68.9 ± 8.2 years), 5 caregivers (F = 3; mean age = 49.0 ± 15.5), 8 healthcare professionals (F = 6; mean age = 40.0 ± 12.0). Study 2 (Living Lab) tested the final version of PRoBio platform with 6 healthy volunteers (F = 3; mean age = 50.3 ± 11.0) and 8 rehabilitation professionals (F = 3; mean age = 32.8 ± 9.9), assessing usability and acceptability through validated questionnaires. Results: The focus group revealed common priorities across the three groups, including ease of use, emotional engagement, and personalization of exercises. Living Lab unveiled PRoBio as user-friendly, with high usability, hedonic quality, technology acceptance and low workload. No significant differences were found between groups, except for minor concerns on system responsiveness. Discussion: These preliminary findings support the feasibility, usability, and emotional appeal of PRoBio as a cognitive rehabilitation tool. The positive convergence among the groups suggests its potential for clinical integration. Conclusions: These preliminary results support the feasibility and user-centred design of the PRoBio platform for cognitive rehabilitation in PD. The upcoming usability evaluation in a pilot study with patients will provide critical insights into its suitability for clinical implementation and guide further development.

Pleasant touch is a form of tactile stimulation mediated by tactile C afferent fibres. It involves the encoding of the emotional value associated with tactile stimulation and subserves important social functions. Although pleasant touch has gathered increased interest in recent years, no protocol has been proposed to assess it with a robust and reliable method. In the present study we adopted a rigorous protocol for evaluating the pleasantness or unpleasantness of 9 tactile (pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral) stimuli delivered on eight body areas in healthy individuals. We recorded participants' ratings on pleasantness and intensity of the stimulus, as well as their activity in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) by functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). A questionnaire evaluated participants' subjective experience of touch in everyday life. The behavioural results confirmed the effectiveness of the protocol as the stimuli selected to evoke pleasantness were perceived as significantly more pleasant than unpleasant and neutral ones, whereas unpleasant stimuli were perceived as more intense than all other stimuli. The participants reported the palm of the hand, particularly the left one, as the most sensitive area to tactile stimulation. Judgements of pleasantness were positively correlated with subjective experience of touch in everyday life. fNIRS data showed increased activity in the prefrontal cortex particularly during stimulation with pleasant and unpleasant stimuli, consistent with behavioural findings. Overall, this study contributes to understand the processing of pleasant touch and its neural correlates, while introducing a rigorous protocol for investigating tactile stimulation. This protocol holds promise for future utilisation in both healthy and clinical populations.

Trauma is a condition that overwhelms an individual’s capacity to cope, disrupting emotional regulation, cognitive functioning, and the sense of safety. Complex trauma, characterized by prolonged and interpersonal adverse experiences, is associated with significant psychological distress, including anxiety, dissociation, and difficulties in self-regulation. Neurobiological research highlights how trauma is encoded not only cognitively but also within the body, through autonomic nervous system dysregulation and procedural memory processes, often resulting in states of hyperarousal or hypoarousal and a narrowed window of tolerance. The aim of this narrative review is to synthesize and critically examine the current literature on somatic-based interventions for the treatment of trauma, with a particular focus on Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Somatic Experiencing, and related body-oriented approaches. In this context, somatic-based interventions offer a bottom–up approach that directly targets physiological and sensorimotor processes. Modalities such as Sensorimotor Psychotherapy and Somatic Experiencing aim to restore autonomic balance, enhance body awareness, and support the integration of traumatic experiences. This narrative review synthesizes current evidence, suggesting that these approaches can improve emotional regulation, dissociation, and overall trauma-related symptoms, particularly in individuals with complex trauma. Despite promising findings, the literature is limited by methodological variability and a lack of rigorous trials. Further research is needed to strengthen the evidence base and clarify mechanisms of change. Overall, somatic interventions represent a valuable complement to traditional trauma therapies, supporting a more integrated and embodied approach to treatment.

Disorders of consciousness (DoC) can result from severe acquired brain injuries disrupting arousal (wakefulness) and/or awareness (self and environment perception) (1,2). In coma, both arousal and ...