COVID-19 Related Restriction Measures and Their Impact on Cognition

Dear Colleagues,

The COVID-19 associated restriction measures, such as lockdowns, social distancing, and highly reduced access of patients' family members to hospitals and care facilities exposed individuals to an unprecedented stressful situation. This led to an increase of the overall risk of mental health problems. What is the role that cognition played and how were cognitive functions affected within this scenario? In this Special Issue, we aim at collecting studies about the impact of restriction measures on cognition in terms of the prevalence, nature, and clinical severity of any recorded effect. We are also interested in exploring the possible mediating role of cognition (e.g., cognitive reserve) in preventing/decreasing the negative effects of isolation.

This Special Issue mainly aims to attract empirical articles investigating the impact of restriction measures on cognitive domains (i.e., memory, temporal and spatial orientation, attention, concentration, and executive functions) in patients and healthy controls. Studies recruiting large samples of participants and/or adopting a longitudinal perspective (i.e., data collected pre and during the COVID-19 pandemic) are strongly encouraged. Review articles on the current state-of-the-art in the field are also welcome.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:
• Impact of restriction measures on cognitive functions in the elderly;
• Impact of restriction measures on cognitive functions in adolescents;
• Impact of restriction measures on cognitive functions in children;
• Impact of restriction measures on cognitive functions in patients affected by dementias;
• Impact of restriction measures on cognitive functions in patients affected by Parkinson's disease;
• Impact of restriction measures on cognitive functions in patients affected by Multiple Sclerosis;
• Impact of restriction measures on cognitive functions in patients affected by Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis;
• Impact restriction measures on cognitive functions in patients affected by psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia;
• Impact restriction measures on cognitive functions in patients affected by psychiatric conditions such as bipolar disorder;
• Impact restriction measures on cognitive functions in patients affected by psychiatric conditions such as autism spectrum disorder;
• Impact of restriction measures on self-perceptions of cognition (i.e., subjective cognitive decline).

Prof. Dr. Marco Cavallo, Prof. Dr. Barbara Colombo and Dr. Serena Sabatini

Guest Editors

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