Dottorato in NEUROSCIENZE CLINICO-SPERIMENTALI E PSICHIATRIA

Titolo della tesi: MEMORY, EMOTION, COGNITION AND WAVES: neuroscientific navigation through hearing and deafness

In light of the significant differences in cognitive and emotional abilities found in hearing impaired people with cochlear implants (CIs), the present work investigates neurophysiological and cognitive correlates in hearing impaired and normal hearing people. The main objective was to understand whether neurophysiological markers of deficits in working memory (WM) and emotional tasks could be obtained through electroencephalography (EEG). An additional objective was to investigate the psychological well-being of students (both normal and hearing impaired) during isolation due to the covid 19 pandemic. The work is therefore structured in three parts. The first part (background) briefly explains the anatomical and clinical aspects and the variables investigated (WM, attention, emotions) in the ten published papers covered by the Thesis. The second part delves into EEG, the main investigation methodology chosen for the research activity. Then, in the third part, the ten scientific questions are asked and answered in the nine papers published in international journals and in a chapter in a book published in Italy. The results of the work show in summary how EEG methodology, combined with cognitive and behavioral assessment, can be a key tool between diagnostics and research, offering significant quantitative data for further multidisciplinary developments. On the other hand, studies conducted during the pandemic showed unexpected resilience in children with CI, while in university students, the benefit brought by listening to an artistic art product such as poetry.