Neuroaesthetics investigates the neural underpinnings involved in the aesthetic experience, which may transpire from harmonious interaction of neural systems linked to sensory-motor, emotion-valuation, and meaning-knowledge processes (Chatterjee & Vartanian, 2014; Nadal & Skov, 2015; Pelowski et al., 2016). The default… Leggi tutto mode and executive control networks, partly comprised of frontal-striatal circuits (Boot et al., 2017), have been suggested to play a significant role in the appreciation and judgment of visual artwork (Belfi et al., 2019; Cela-Conde et al., 2009, 2013; Vessel et al., 2019), and their interplay may synchronize neural systems engendering the aesthetic experience via top-down and bottom-up processes (Pelowski et al., 2017). Likewise, the posterior cerebellum has been posited to work as a predictive mechanism that matches internal schematic representations with the external environment in a regulatory fashion by integrating top-down and bottom-up processes to efficiently navigate one’s environment (Cattaneo et al., 2021; Van Overwalle, 2020), which may be essential in modulating reward and emotion throughout the aesthetic experience (Kesner, 2014; Van de Cruys & Wagemans, 2011). The predictive posterior cerebellum facilitates executive control/functioning, emotional (i.e., affective) processes, and social cognition via functional cerebral-cerebellar networks (Cattaneo et al 2021; Van Overwalle, 2020). Art-based content may recruit cerebral-cerebellar networks as trainings in art and visual design showed positive associations between cerebellar and prefrontal engagement and improved creative thinking (Saggar et al., 2017; Schlegel et al., 2015). Posterior cerebellar regions have been shown to be involved in the aesthetic appreciation and/or judgment of buildings (Kirk et al., 2009), faces (Kedia et al., 2014), images (Ishizu & Zeki, 2017), paintings (Ishizu & Zeki, 2013; Mizokami et al., 2014), and sculptures (Di Dio et al., 2011); however, empirical research has generally neglected further discussion about the role of the cerebellum within the visual aesthetic experience. Importantly, non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) sheds light on the causal role of neural areas within the aesthetic experience (Cattaneo, 2020). Moreover, the medial regions of cerebellum have been associated with the recognition and processing of emotions in humans (Adamaszek et al., 2017). Anodal and cathodal cerebellar transcranial direct current stimulation (ctDCS) medially positioned over the posterior cerebellum improved the emotional recognition of facial expressions (Ferrucci et al., 2012) while repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over the posterior cerebellum disrupted the emotional recognition of faces (Ferrari et al., 2018) and bodies (Ferrari et al., 2019). In consideration of correlational and causative evidence, medial regions of the posterior cerebellum may play a role in the appreciation and affective appraisal and of figural visual artwork.

This project aims to develop a virtual companion for Social Media users that educates and supports teenage school students facing the threats of Social Media. These include discrimination and biases in general, possibly escalating to hate speech, bullying, fake news… Leggi tutto and other toxic content that can strongly affect the users in their real lives. The companion will raise awareness of potential threats in Social Media while still providing a satisfactory experience through the use of innovative gamification strategies and educative information selection algorithms. Using carefully designed gamification strategies, based on the concept of interactive counter-narrative, together with a learnt model of diffusion of biased and/or toxic content in Social Media, the companion will learn and revise its user interaction strategies in order to support the development of coping strategies in the targeted learner group. These strategies will be refined and personalized for different users and their social niches, pursuing the dual aims of (A) improving and creating healthy social relationships between the users, peers and the targets of bias, as well as, (B) increasing their understanding of the social effects of toxic content in Social Media and the user's role in its propagation. Experimentation will use data harvested from real Social Media and re-enact these examples in restricted and controllable conditions (e.g. schools, classes).

The current European societies are experiencing an unprecedented crisis when it comes to social inclusion in general and the social inclusion of disadvantaged groups in particular. As many newspapers show, the same COVID-19 pandemic does not produce the same effects on the student… Leggi tutto population since, for example, only considering the use of online training, students of migrant origin have more problems if only because of the lack of personal computers at home. Many studies point the finger at the growing social exclusion of this group of persons trapped between school dropouts and menial jobs (very often in the deliveroo sector). According to OECD (https://gpseducation.oecd.org/revieweducationpolicies/#!node=41750&filt…), "Immigrant students are less likely to enrol in early childhood education programmes, tend to have more restricted access to quality education, leave school earlier, and have lower academic achievements than their native peers. Among adults, many highly-educated workers in their own countries face a higher risk of unemployment or end up in low-wage jobs that underutilise their skills, around half of foreign-born workers are employed in jobs primarily involving routine tasks, more prone to job loss due to automation. As a result, host countries forgo the potential of productive contributions that these immigrants could bring to their communities, especially in ageing societies". The Technical report by the Joint Research Centre (JRC), (Luxembourg, 2018), highlights that "Early school leavers become generally disadvantaged socially and economically in later stages in life, so that it is important to better understand the motivations for leaving school and provide adequate policy solutions" while identifying that "at the students’ level, the socio-economic background of students, their epistemological beliefs and grade repetition, while, at the school level, the most consistent factor is the school’s mean expected early school leavers rate. The school-environment thus appears to play a key role in shaping educational expectations". As the report points out, the school environment is indeed a central theme and it also allows us to introduce the topic of the whole-school approach. From this point of view, one of the most interesting experiences is that coming from the "Schools for Health in Europe Network Foundation" (SHE) that is a network of health promoting school professionals from 33 countries in Europe and Central Asia. The network is supported by the WHO Regional Office for Europe and the European Commission (https://www.schoolsforhealth.org/). The network promotes the whole-school approach which recognizes that all aspects of the school community can impact upon students’ health and wellbeing, and that learning and health are linked. SHE recommends focus on six components in order to seek to achieve a whole-school approach, and here as for this project, we highlight: 1) "School social environment relates to the quality of the relationships among and between school community members, e.g., between students and students and school staff. The social environment is influenced by the relationships with parents and the broader community" and 2) "Community links are links between the school and the students’ families and the school and key groups/individuals in the surrounding community. Consulting and collaborating with community stakeholders will support health promoting school efforts and support the school community in their health promoting actions". Educators, youth workers and, especially, schools teachers, often complain about training and tools lackness and how often, when it comes to students of migrant origin, the emphasis is placed on teachers' skills mainly on intercultural competence, which is important but not enough. Due to this reason, the "Whole school Approach" for Youth with migrant background" (WAY) project aims at: 1. To produce a very first research paper on the whole-school approach adapted to education to students with migrant background that will be published in the "Health Promotion International"; 2. develop the methodological guidelines for the training of teachers, educators, youth workers with regard to whole-school approach to education to students with migrant background; 3. supporting of 60 teachers, educators, youth workers in developing the whole-school approach to education to students with migrant background. While in the long term WAY project aims at: 1. promoting the social inclusion of people coming from a migrant and low socio-economic background; 2. reduce the early school leaving for students of migrant origin. The importance of funding WAY project lies in the the potential of the whole-school approach aimed at reducing the school dropout of children of migrant origin. Carrying it out at TRANSNATIONAL LEVEL offers, besides, the possibility to strengthen the strategic European dimension of the consortium.