*2.4. Procedure*

Prior to performing the experiment, each participant received all the information on the research protocol via an online information sheet. Subjects who agreed to participate in the study signed and sent the online informed consent.

Each participant logged into Microsoft Teams platform, which allows to share the visual and auditory stimuli of the PASAT and MIST tests between the experimenter and the participant for a duration of one hour by using a personal access code. The examiner, after verifying the number code, shared the computer screen. For the PASAT test, subjects had to respond within 1.8 milliseconds, while for the MIST test, participants had to answer within 2 min for items 3, 5, 7, and 8 and within 15 min for items 1, 2, 4, and 6. The cognitive tests, PASAT and MIST, measured the participants' cognitive performance one month after the COVID-19 confinement (T1).

The two psychometrically self-reported questionnaires investigated the psychological factors (anxiety, depression, and stress) and prospective and retrospective memory by asking participants to compare their responses at two time-points: one month before (T0) and one month after (T1) the COVID-19 confinement. They were administered through a specific online platform (Google Forms, Google Inc., Mountain View, CA, USA).

The order of administration of the self-report questionnaires (DASS-21, PRMQ) and of the cognitive tests (PASAT, MIST) was randomized among participants.
