Giovanni Sala
Biographic Data
| ID | 2900113 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Giovanni Sala |
| GIVEN NAMES | Giovanni |
| FAMILY NAME | Sala |
| SIGNATURE | SALA G |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Liverpool |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1589-3759 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 13 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 11 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 13 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2015 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Linking space and ordinal position in working memory
Comprehensive planning for mental health system reform
The WHO Special Initiative for Mental Health is an ambitious cross-country program currently operating in nine countries: Argentina, Bangladesh, Ghana, Jordan, Nepal, Paraguay, Philippines, Ukraine and Zimbabwe. The goal of the program is to promote mental health system reform at the national level, shifting from an institutional care model to community-based care following a person-centered and rights-based approach. An initial planning phase of…
Prime Surprisal as a Tool for Assessing Error-Based Learning Theories
Error-based learning theories of language acquisition are highly influential in language development research, yet the predictive learning mechanism they propose has proven difficult to test experimentally. Prime surprisal—the observation that structural priming is stronger following more surprising primes—has emerged as a promising methodology for resolving this issue as it tests a key prediction of error-based learning theories: surprising inpu…
A cognitive model of depression and political attitudes
Depression is among the most prevalent mental health problems. Previous research indicates that depressive symptoms and cognitive regulation processes are differentially associated with political attitudes. Here we build and test a model based on cognitive aspects of depression that provides an explanation for those differential associations. We test this formulation using a novel survey dataset that includes measures of worry and stress due to t…
Cognitive Training
Considerable research has been carried out in the last two decades on the putative benefits of cognitive training on cognitive function and academic achievement. Recent meta-analyses summarizing the extent empirical evidence have resolved the apparent lack of consensus in the field and led to a crystal-clear conclusion: The overall effect of far transfer is null, and there is little to no true variability between the types of cognitive training. …
Learning conversational dependency
We hypothesise that children learn to produce un appropriately by recognising different types of cues occurring in the immediately preceding turns. We built a set of generalised linear models on the longitudinal conversation data from seven children aged 1 to 5 years and their caregivers. Our models revealed that children not only increased their un production, but also learned to attend relevant cues in the preceding turns to understand when to …
Differential Longitudinal Associations Between Domains of Cognitive Function and Physical Function
The results show that distinct domains of cognitive functions have different associations with physical functions. Namely, the aging-associated declines in the tested physical functions are robustly correlated with the declines in Gf, but are only weakly correlated with the declines in Gc. Therefore, Gc measures may be poor proxies for the patient's frailty and should be considered with caution in clinical assessment
Verb argument structure overgeneralisations for the English intransitive and transitive constructions
We used a multi-method approach to investigate how children avoid (or retreat from) argument structure overgeneralisation errors (e.g., * You giggled me ). Experiment 1 investigated how semantic and statistical constraints (preemption and entrenchment) influence children’s and adults’ judgments of the grammatical acceptability of 120 verbs in transitive and intransitive sentences. Experiment 2 used syntactic priming to elicit overgeneralisation e…
Working memory training in typically developing children
The impact of shared book reading on children's language skills
Video game training does not enhance cognitive ability
As a result of considerable potential scientific and societal implications, the possibility of enhancing cognitive ability by training has been one of the most influential topics of cognitive psychology in the last two decades. However, substantial research into the psychology of expertise and a recent series of meta-analytic reviews have suggested that various types of cognitive training (e.g., working memory training) benefit performance only i…
Working memory training in typically developing children
Mathematical Problem-Solving Abilities and Chess
Chess is thought to be a game demanding high cognitive abilities to be played well. Although many studies proved the link between mastery in chess and high degree of intelligence, just few studies proved that chess practice can enhance cognitive abilities. Starting from these considerations, the main purpose of the present research was to investigate the potential benefits of in-presence chess lessons and on-line training on mathematical problem-…
A cognitive model of depression and political attitudes
Depression is among the most prevalent mental health problems. Previous research indicates that depressive symptoms and cognitive regulation processes are differentially associated with political attitudes. Here we build and test a model based on cognitive aspects of depression that provides an explanation for those differential associations. We test this formulation using a novel survey dataset that includes measures of worry and stress due to t…
Working memory training in typically developing children
Video game training does not enhance cognitive ability
As a result of considerable potential scientific and societal implications, the possibility of enhancing cognitive ability by training has been one of the most influential topics of cognitive psychology in the last two decades. However, substantial research into the psychology of expertise and a recent series of meta-analytic reviews have suggested that various types of cognitive training (e.g., working memory training) benefit performance only i…
Mathematical Problem-Solving Abilities and Chess
Chess is thought to be a game demanding high cognitive abilities to be played well. Although many studies proved the link between mastery in chess and high degree of intelligence, just few studies proved that chess practice can enhance cognitive abilities. Starting from these considerations, the main purpose of the present research was to investigate the potential benefits of in-presence chess lessons and on-line training on mathematical problem-…
Working memory training in typically developing children
Video game training does not enhance cognitive ability
As a result of considerable potential scientific and societal implications, the possibility of enhancing cognitive ability by training has been one of the most influential topics of cognitive psychology in the last two decades. However, substantial research into the psychology of expertise and a recent series of meta-analytic reviews have suggested that various types of cognitive training (e.g., working memory training) benefit performance only i…
The impact of shared book reading on children's language skills
Working memory training in typically developing children
Verb argument structure overgeneralisations for the English intransitive and transitive constructions
We used a multi-method approach to investigate how children avoid (or retreat from) argument structure overgeneralisation errors (e.g., * You giggled me ). Experiment 1 investigated how semantic and statistical constraints (preemption and entrenchment) influence children’s and adults’ judgments of the grammatical acceptability of 120 verbs in transitive and intransitive sentences. Experiment 2 used syntactic priming to elicit overgeneralisation e…
Cognitive Training
Considerable research has been carried out in the last two decades on the putative benefits of cognitive training on cognitive function and academic achievement. Recent meta-analyses summarizing the extent empirical evidence have resolved the apparent lack of consensus in the field and led to a crystal-clear conclusion: The overall effect of far transfer is null, and there is little to no true variability between the types of cognitive training. …
Learning conversational dependency
We hypothesise that children learn to produce un appropriately by recognising different types of cues occurring in the immediately preceding turns. We built a set of generalised linear models on the longitudinal conversation data from seven children aged 1 to 5 years and their caregivers. Our models revealed that children not only increased their un production, but also learned to attend relevant cues in the preceding turns to understand when to …
Differential Longitudinal Associations Between Domains of Cognitive Function and Physical Function
The results show that distinct domains of cognitive functions have different associations with physical functions. Namely, the aging-associated declines in the tested physical functions are robustly correlated with the declines in Gf, but are only weakly correlated with the declines in Gc. Therefore, Gc measures may be poor proxies for the patient's frailty and should be considered with caution in clinical assessment
Prime Surprisal as a Tool for Assessing Error-Based Learning Theories
Error-based learning theories of language acquisition are highly influential in language development research, yet the predictive learning mechanism they propose has proven difficult to test experimentally. Prime surprisal—the observation that structural priming is stronger following more surprising primes—has emerged as a promising methodology for resolving this issue as it tests a key prediction of error-based learning theories: surprising inpu…
A cognitive model of depression and political attitudes
Depression is among the most prevalent mental health problems. Previous research indicates that depressive symptoms and cognitive regulation processes are differentially associated with political attitudes. Here we build and test a model based on cognitive aspects of depression that provides an explanation for those differential associations. We test this formulation using a novel survey dataset that includes measures of worry and stress due to t…
Comprehensive planning for mental health system reform
The WHO Special Initiative for Mental Health is an ambitious cross-country program currently operating in nine countries: Argentina, Bangladesh, Ghana, Jordan, Nepal, Paraguay, Philippines, Ukraine and Zimbabwe. The goal of the program is to promote mental health system reform at the national level, shifting from an institutional care model to community-based care following a person-centered and rights-based approach. An initial planning phase of…
Linking space and ordinal position in working memory
Psychology (9 works) · Cognition (8 works) · Cognitive psychology (7 works) · Cognitive Abilities and Testing (4 works) · Computer Science (4 works) · Artificial Intelligence (3 works) · Cognitive Training (3 works) · Linguistics (3 works) · Medicine (3 works) · Meta-analysis (3 works)