Objective Social cognition and executive deficits are frequent in neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders. Yet, there is a paucity of standardized domain-specific psychometric tools for the assessment of complex decision-making, social cognition (i.e., Theory of Mind), and empathy. To this aim, this study intended at providing normative data in an Italian population sample for the Iowa Gambling Task, the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test, and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index. Method The Iowa Gambling Task, the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test, and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index were administered to 462 healthy Italian participants aged between 18 and 91 years, considering demographic factors. A confirmatory factor analysis was run to test for unidimensionality. Normative values were derived by means of the Equivalent Scores method. Results Education predicted all tests’ scores, age influenced scores at the Interpersonal Reactivity Index and the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test, gender predicted empathic abilities only. The three tests did not underpin a unidimensional structure. Conclusions The present work provides demographically adjusted Italian normative data for a set of tests assessing real-life decision-making, emotion recognition and empathy, filling a gap within II-level, domain-specific, neuropsychological testing. For the first time, the Interpersonal Reactivity Index is proposed as an adjuvant neuropsychological tool, while the standardization of the Iowa Gambling Task offers a new scoring system for advantageous/disadvantageous choices.

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We propose a method to estimate static discrete games with weak assumptions on the information available to players. We do not fully specify the information structure of the game, but allow instead for all information structures consistent with players knowing their own payoffs. To make this approach tractable we adopt as a solution concept Bayes Correlated Equilibrium (BCE) (Bergemann and Morris, 2016). We characterize the sharp identified set under BCE and unrestricted equilibrium selection, and find that in simple games with limited variation in covariates identified sets are informative. In an application, we estimate a model of entry in the Italian supermarket industry and quantify the effect of large malls on local supermarkets. Estimates and predictions differ from those obtained under more restrictive assumptions.

Starting from the early 2000s, paired associative stimulation (PAS) protocols have been used in humans to study brain connectivity in motor and sensory networks by exploiting the intrinsic properties of timing-dependent cortical plasticity. In the last 10 years, PAS have also been developed to investigate the plastic properties of complex cerebral systems, such as the frontal ones, with promising results. In the present work, we review the most recent advances of this technique, focusing on protocols targeting frontal cortices to investigate connectivity and its plastic properties, subtending high-order cognitive functions like memory, decision-making, attentional, or emotional processing. Overall, current evidence reveals that PAS can be effectively used to assess, enhance or depress physiological connectivity within frontal networks in a timing-dependent way, in turn modulating cognitive processing in healthy and pathological conditions.

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