Table 3.

Brief description of the neuropsychological tasks administered pre- and post-training

Token test, 36 items De Renzi and Faglioni (1978)

The task assesses linguistic comprehension. The examiner reads a list of instructions of increasing difficulty regarding tokens differing in shape (squares and circles), size (large and small) and color (green, white, yellow, red and blue). The first five sets of instructions are based on the verb ‘touch’, e.g., ‘Touch a circle’ or ‘Touch the red circle’. The last set of instruction increases in difficulty and includes a wider variety of actions, e.g., ‘Before touching the yellow circle, pick up the red square’. Each instruction executed in a correct way is attributed a score of 1, while any instruction executed incorrectly is attributed a score of 0. The total score corresponds to the sum of the score obtained at each item (ranging from 0 to 36)

Naming task Brizzolara et al. (1993)

The task assesses the ability to name items. The examiner shows, one by one, 88 black and white pictures, and asks the examinee to name them as fast as possible. The pictures present well-known objects belonging to the following semantic categories: animals, toys, tools, vegetables, cloths, fruits, pieces of furniture, means of transport, music instruments, domestic appliances, professions. The pictures’ name may have high or low degree of iteration frequency in daily communicative interaction (e.g., chair vs. accordion), determining a certain variability in terms of complexity. Each pic correctly named is attributed a score of 1 while when a mistake occurs a score of 0 is attributed. The total score corresponds to the sum of the score obtained at each item (ranging from 0 to 88)

Digit Span and Corsi block-tapping test Bisiacchi et al. (2005)

The tasks assess, respectively, verbal and spatial working memory. Specifically, they measure the ability to keep in mind a limited amount of information (numbers and locations/spatial relations between objects, respectively), in a readily available state, for a short period of time. In the Digit span, the participant is asked to repeat, after the examiner, sequences of numbers of increasing length. The total score is based on the longest series of numbers for which 2 or more sequences are correctly repeated. Score ranges from 0 to 9. In the Corsi block-tapping test, the examinee is presented with 9 wooden blocks arranged irregularly. The examiner taps the blocks in randomized sequences of increasing length (from 2 to 7), and the examinee is required to repeat the same sequence immediately after him/her. Each block-tapping series has three sequences of the same length. The total score is based on the length of the sequence of at least two taps (out of three) that the examinee repeats correctly. The score ranges from 0 to 7

Immediate and Deferred Recall test for long-term verbal memory task Spinnler and Tognoni (1987)

The tasks assess the ability to extract and memorize information and recall it, immediately after its presentation and after a short time has elapsed. The examinee is required to repeat the content of a short text after listening to the examiner reading it out loud. The task is repeated once immediately after the examiner has read the text and again about 10 min later (in this time range the examinee is engaged in non-verbal tasks to rule out any possible interference with the present task). The content of the text is organized in main events (i.e., what has happened) and their secondary features (when and where), with different degree of relevance, which correspond to different scores. The total score is separate for immediate and deferred task and in both cases ranges from 0 to 8

Selective attention Bisiacchi et al. (2005)

The task assesses the ability to focus on a single or a few items in a given perceptual field, for a certain amount of time. The task material is made of a pattern of geometric shapes (i.e., squares with a line in different angles) displayed on a paper sheet. The examinee is shown the target square on the upper part of the sheet and, after a brief training, is required to mark all the squares on the paper sheet that look exactly like the target one. Time limit is one minute. A score of 1 is given for each square correctly identified and the total score corresponds to the sum (range 0 to 21)

Tower of London Shallice (1982)

The task assesses planning ability. It requires the examinee to create a mental representation of the pattern of a set of given items and establish which actions are needed to switch from the baseline to the given goal configuration. The task is administered using a board with pegs and colored wooden balls. The examinee is required, starting from an initial given configuration, to arrange 3 colored balls on three upright sticks according to a series of given patterns pictured on a paper sheet. The instruction says to try to achieve the goal arrangement in as few moves as possible and by following simple given rules (e.g., do not move more than a ring at a time). A score of 1 is attributed each time the examinee sets the balls on the pegs according to the configuration given, within the maximum time of 1 min and without breaking any of the rules. The total score corresponds to the sum of the scores attributed for each configuration (range 0–12)

Modified card sorting test Nelson (1976)

The task assesses shifting and inhibitory control and consists of 4 stimulus and 48 response cards displaying several symbols, different in color (red, green, yellow, blue), number (1, 2, 3, 4), and type (triangle, star, cross and circle) of shape. The examinee is requested to sort the response cards so to place each of them below one of the stimulus cards. Each response card has only one feature in common with three of the stimulus cards, and none with the fourth one. The examinees are not given information about the sorting criterion to be used (i.e., shape, color or number), but they are guided to discover the sorting rule at each move. A score of 1 is attributed for each criterion correctly identified and applied 6 times in a row. The total score represents the total number of categories correctly identified (range 0–8)