Gian Luca Romani

Publications of Gian Luca Romani

• Common and unique neuro-functional basis of induction, visualization, and spatial relationships as cognitive components of fluid intelligence.

  Authors: Sjoerd J Ebisch, Mauro G Perrucci, Pasqua Mercuri, Roberta Romanelli, Dante Mantini, Gian Luca Romani, Roberto Colom, Aristide Saggino

  NeuroImage. 05/2012;

  Neuroimaging research of fluid intelligence (Gf) has mainly focused on the neural basis of abilities explaining performance on cognitive tasks. However, the neuro-functional basis of clearly definedNeuroimaging research of fluid intelligence (Gf) has mainly focused on the neural basis of abilities explaining performance on cognitive tasks. However, the neuro-functional basis of clearly defined theoretical cognitive components underlying Gf remains unclear. Induction, Visualization, and Spatial Relationships have the highest relevance for Gf (Carroll, 1993). Here we report a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study exploring the neural correlates of these abilities characterized by their unidimensionality and matched for task-difficulty, as evidenced by a psychometric calibration study. Twenty-two healthy young adult females, recruited from a large sample of 300 participants, with either below- or above-average Gf abilities underwent fMRI scanning during Gf tasks performance. The results reveal that these tasks activate a shared frontoparietal network. Specific activations were also observed, in particular for Induction and Visualization. The key findings suggest that Gf comprises distinguishable cognitive abilities, but the Gf construct is associated with a common network.

• The Role of Left Superior Parietal Lobe in Male Sexual Behavior: Dynamics of Distinct Components Revealed by fMRI.

  Authors: Nicoletta Cera, Ezio D Di Pierro, Gianna Sepede, Francesco Gambi, Mauro Gianni Perrucci, Arcangelo Merla, Armando Tartaro, Cosimo Del Gratta, Giuseppe Galatioto Paradiso, Carlo Vicentini, Gian Luca Romani, Antonio Ferretti

  The journal of sexual medicine. 04/2012;

  Introduction.  Despite the interest for the brain correlates of male sexual arousal, few studies investigated neural mechanisms underlying psychogenic erectile dysfunction (ED). Although theseIntroduction.  Despite the interest for the brain correlates of male sexual arousal, few studies investigated neural mechanisms underlying psychogenic erectile dysfunction (ED). Although these studies showed several brain regions active in ED patients during visual erotic stimulation, the dynamics of inhibition of sexual response is still unclear. Aim.  This study investigated the dynamics of brain regions involved in the psychogenic ED. Methods.  Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and simultaneous penile tumescence (PT) were used to study brain activity evoked in 17 outpatients with psychogenic ED and 19 healthy controls during visual erotic stimulation. Patterns of brain activation related to different phases of sexual response in the two groups were compared. Main Outcome Measures.  Simultaneous recording of blood oxygen level-dependent fMRI responses and PT during visual erotic stimulation. Results.  During visual erotic stimuli, a larger activation was observed for the patient group in the left superior parietal lobe, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, and posterior cingulate cortex, whereas the control group showed larger activation in the right middle insula and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and hippocampus. Moreover, the left superior parietal lobe showed a larger activation in patients than controls especially during the later stage of sexual response. Conclusion.  Our results suggest that, among regions more active in patient group, the left superior parietal lobe plays a crucial role in inhibition of sexual response. Previous studies showed that left superior parietal lobe is involved in monitoring of internal body representation. The larger activation of this region in patients during later stages of sexual response suggests a high monitoring of the internal body representation, possibly affecting the behavioral response. These findings provide insight on brain mechanisms involved in psychogenic ED. Cera N, Di Pierro ED, Sepede G, Gambi F, Perrucci MG, Merla A, Tartaro A, Del Gratta C, Galatioto Paradiso G, Vicentini C, Romani GL, and Ferretti A. The role of left superior parietal lobe in male sexual behavior: Dynamics of distinct components revealed by fMRI. J Sex Med **;**:**-**.

• Out of touch with reality? Social perception in first-episode schizophrenia.

  Authors: Sjoerd J H Ebisch, Anatolia Salone, Francesca Ferri, Domenico De Berardis, Gian Luca Romani, Filippo M Ferro, Vittorio Gallese

  Social cognitive and affective neuroscience. 03/2012;

  Social dysfunction has been recognized as an elementary feature of schizophrenia, but it remains a crucial issue whether social deficits in schizophrenia concern the inter-subjective domain orSocial dysfunction has been recognized as an elementary feature of schizophrenia, but it remains a crucial issue whether social deficits in schizophrenia concern the inter-subjective domain or primarily have their roots in disturbances of self-experience. Social perception comprises vicarious processes grounding an experiential inter-relationship with others as well as self-regulation processes allowing to maintain a coherent sense of self. The present study investigated whether the functional neural basis underlying these processes is altered in first-episode schizophrenia (FES). Twenty-four FES patients and 22 healthy control participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging during a social perception task requiring them to watch videos depicting other individuals' inanimate and animate/social tactile stimulations, and a tactile localizer condition. Activation in ventral premotor cortex for observed bodily tactile stimulations was reduced in the FES group and negatively correlated with self-experience disturbances. Moreover, FES patients showed aberrant differential activation in posterior insula for first-person tactile experiences and observed affective tactile stimulations. These findings suggest that social perception in FES at a pre-reflective level is characterized by disturbances of self-experience, including impaired multisensory representations and self-other distinction. However, the results also show that social perception in FES involves more complex alterations of neural activation at multiple processing levels.

• Individual variability in functional connectivity predicts performance of a perceptual task.

  Authors: Antonello Baldassarre, Christopher M Lewis, Giorgia Committeri, Abraham Z Snyder, Gian Luca Romani, Maurizio Corbetta

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 02/2012; 109(9):3516-21.

  People differ in their ability to perform novel perceptual tasks, both during initial exposure and in the rate of improvement with practice. It is also known that regions of the brain recruited byPeople differ in their ability to perform novel perceptual tasks, both during initial exposure and in the rate of improvement with practice. It is also known that regions of the brain recruited by particular tasks change their activity during learning. Here we investigate neural signals predictive of individual variability in performance. We used resting-state functional MRI to assess functional connectivity before training on a novel visual discrimination task. Subsequent task performance was related to functional connectivity measures within portions of visual cortex and between visual cortex and prefrontal association areas. Our results indicate that individual differences in performing novel perceptual tasks can be related to individual differences in spontaneous cortical activity.

• Action verb understanding in first-episode schizophrenia: Is there evidence for a simulation deficit?

  Authors: Francesca Ferri, Anatolia Salone, Sjoerd J Ebisch, Domenico De Berardis, Gian Luca Romani, Filippo M Ferro, Vittorio Gallese

  Neuropsychologia. 02/2012; 50(5):988-96.

  Schizophrenia is often associated with deficits in the domain of language, which are thought to be closely related to deficits in the structure of semantic knowledge. The main aim of the presentSchizophrenia is often associated with deficits in the domain of language, which are thought to be closely related to deficits in the structure of semantic knowledge. The main aim of the present study was to behaviorally investigate whether semantic impairments in schizophrenia are present also at the very basic level of action verb processing, in particular at the level of motor simulation. We used a go-no go paradigm both for a semantic decision task (with either an early, EGD, or a delayed go-signal delivery, DGD) and for a lexical decision task (control task). Only the first task requires motor simulation to be solved. We found that first-episode schizophrenia (FES) patients, like healthy control (HC) participants, use motor simulation as a basic strategy to semantically judge action verbs. In the EGD condition, both motor simulation and action verb understanding seem to be preserved in FES. However, differently from HC participants, FES patients kept on using the simulation strategy also with the DGD condition, whereas, simultaneously, task performance during this condition appeared to be less efficient and sensitive. Voxel-based morphometry analysis suggested that this altered performance in FES patients could be related to structural brain abnormalities in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. We propose that a prolonged motor simulation in FES may serve as a compensatory strategy for impairments in the selection of action representation and/or for memory deficits disclosed by the DGD condition during the semantic decision task investigated in the present study.

• Interspecies activity correlations reveal functional correspondence between monkey and human brain areas.

  Authors: Dante Mantini, Uri Hasson, Viviana Betti, Mauro G Perrucci, Gian Luca Romani, Maurizio Corbetta, Guy A Orban, Wim Vanduffel

  Nature methods. 01/2012; 9(3):277-82.

  Evolution-driven functional changes in the primate brain are typically assessed by aligning monkey and human activation maps using cortical surface expansion models. These models use putativeEvolution-driven functional changes in the primate brain are typically assessed by aligning monkey and human activation maps using cortical surface expansion models. These models use putative homologous areas as registration landmarks, assuming they are functionally correspondent. For cases in which functional changes have occurred in an area, this assumption prohibits to reveal whether other areas may have assumed lost functions. Here we describe a method to examine functional correspondences across species. Without making spatial assumptions, we assessed similarities in sensory-driven functional magnetic resonance imaging responses between monkey (Macaca mulatta) and human brain areas by temporal correlation. Using natural vision data, we revealed regions for which functional processing has shifted to topologically divergent locations during evolution. We conclude that substantial evolution-driven functional reorganizations have occurred, not always consistent with cortical expansion processes. This framework for evaluating changes in functional architecture is crucial to building more accurate evolutionary models.

• Mother and child in synchrony: thermal facial imprints of autonomic contagion.

  Authors: Sjoerd J Ebisch, Tiziana Aureli, Daniela Bafunno, Daniela Cardone, Gian Luca Romani, Arcangelo Merla

  Biological psychology. 01/2012; 89(1):123-9.

  Mothers' ability to empathically share offspring's emotional feelings is considered integral to primary affective bonds and a healthy socio-emotional development. What neurobiological mechanism isMothers' ability to empathically share offspring's emotional feelings is considered integral to primary affective bonds and a healthy socio-emotional development. What neurobiological mechanism is responsible for this ability in humans? It has been proposed that the psychological and neural components of affective experiences are strictly associated with autonomic-visceral changes. Hence, the vicarious response of empathy may also embody a sharing of changes in body physiology. The present study aimed at investigating whether maternal empathy is accompanied by a synchrony in autonomic responses. We simultaneously recorded, in an ecological context with contact free methodology, the facial thermal imprints of mother and child, while the former observed the latter when involved in a distressing situation. The results showed a situation-specific parallelism between mothers' and children's facial temperature variations, providing preliminary evidence for a direct affective sharing involving autonomic responding. These findings support a multidimensional approach for the comprehension of emotional parent-child relationships.

• Effects of mobile phone signals over BOLD response while performing a cognitive task.

  Authors: Giuseppe Curcio, Davide Nardo, Mauro Gianni Perrucci, Patrizio Pasqualetti, Tzu Ling Chen, Cosimo Del Gratta, Gian Luca Romani, Paolo Maria Rossini

  Clinical neurophysiology : official journal of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. 07/2011; 123(1):129-36.

  The aim of this study was to investigate the effects induced by an exposure to a GSM signal (Global System for Mobile Communication) on brain BOLD (blood-oxygen-level dependent) response, as well asThe aim of this study was to investigate the effects induced by an exposure to a GSM signal (Global System for Mobile Communication) on brain BOLD (blood-oxygen-level dependent) response, as well as its time course while performing a Go-NoGo task. Participants were tested twice, once in presence of a "real" exposure to GSM radiofrequency signal and once under a "sham" exposure (placebo condition). BOLD response of active brain areas and reaction times (RTs) while performing the task were measured both before and after the exposure. RTs to the somatosensory task did not change as a function of exposure (real vs sham) to GSM signal. BOLD results revealed significant activations in inferior parietal lobule, insula, precentral and postcentral gyri associated with Go responses after both ''real'' and ''sham'' exposure, whereas no significant effects were observed in the ROI analysis. The present fMRI study did not detect any brain activity changes by mobile phones. Also RTs in a somatosensory task resulted unaffected. No changes in BOLD response have been observed as a consequence of RF-EMFs exposure.

• Altered intrinsic functional connectivity of anterior and posterior insula regions in high-functioning participants with autism spectrum disorder.

  Authors: Sjoerd J H Ebisch, Vittorio Gallese, Roel M Willems, Dante Mantini, Wouter B Groen, Gian Luca Romani, Jan K Buitelaar, Harold Bekkering

  Human brain mapping. 07/2011; 32(7):1013-28.

  Impaired understanding of others' sensations and emotions as well as abnormal experience of their own emotions and sensations is frequently reported in individuals with Autism Spectrum DisorderImpaired understanding of others' sensations and emotions as well as abnormal experience of their own emotions and sensations is frequently reported in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). It is hypothesized that these abnormalities are based on altered connectivity within "shared" neural networks involved in emotional awareness of self and others. The insula is considered a central brain region in a network underlying these functions, being located at the transition of information about bodily arousal and the physiological state of the body to subjective feelings. The present study investigated the intrinsic functional connectivity properties of the insula in 14 high-functioning participants with ASD (HF-ASD) and 15 typically developing (TD) participants in the age range between 12 and 20 years by means of "resting state" or "nontask" functional magnetic resonance imaging. Essentially, a distinction was made between anterior and posterior regions of the insular cortex. The results show a reduced functional connectivity in the HF-ASD group, compared with the TD group, between anterior as well as posterior insula and specific brain regions involved in emotional and sensory processing. It is suggested that functional abnormalities in a network involved in emotional and interoceptive awareness might be at the basis of altered emotional experiences and impaired social abilities in ASD, and that these abnormalities are partly based on the intrinsic functional connectivity properties of such a network.

• Differential involvement of somatosensory and interoceptive cortices during the observation of affective touch.

  Authors: Sjoerd J H Ebisch, Francesca Ferri, Anatolia Salone, Mauro Gianni Perrucci, Luigi D'Amico, Filippo Maria Ferro, Gian Luca Romani, Vittorio Gallese

  Journal of cognitive neuroscience. 07/2011; 23(7):1808-22.

  Previous studies suggested that the observation of other individuals' somatosensory experiences also activates brain circuits processing one's own somatosensory experiences. However, it is unclearPrevious studies suggested that the observation of other individuals' somatosensory experiences also activates brain circuits processing one's own somatosensory experiences. However, it is unclear whether cortical regions involved with the elementary stages of touch processing are also involved in the automatic coding of the affective consequences of observed touch and to which extent they show overlapping activation for somatosensory experiences of self and others. In order to investigate these issues, in the present fMRI study, healthy participants either experienced touch or watched videos depicting other individuals' inanimate and animate/social touch experiences. Essentially, a distinction can be made between exteroceptive and interoceptive components of touch processing, involved with physical stimulus characteristics and internal feeling states, respectively. Consistent with this distinction, a specific negative modulation was found in the posterior insula by the mere visual perception of other individuals' social or affective cutaneous experiences, compared to neutral inanimate touch. On the other hand, activation in secondary somatosensory and posterior superior temporal regions, strongest for the most intense stimuli, seemed more dependent on the observed physical stimulus characteristics. In contrast to the detected vicarious activation in somatosensory regions, opposite activation patterns for the experience (positive modulation) and observation (negative modulation) of touch suggest that the posterior insula does not reflect a shared representation of self and others' experiences. Embedded in a distributed network of brain regions underpinning a sense of the bodily self, the posterior insula rather appears to differentiate between self and other conditions when affective experiences are implicated.

• Differential contribution of right and left parietal cortex to the control of spatial attention: a simultaneous EEG-rTMS study.

  Authors: Paolo Capotosto, Claudio Babiloni, Gian Luca Romani, Maurizio Corbetta

  Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991). 06/2011; 22(2):446-54.

  We have recently shown that interference with repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) of right posterior intraparietal sulcus (IPS) cortex during the allocation of spatial attention leadsWe have recently shown that interference with repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) of right posterior intraparietal sulcus (IPS) cortex during the allocation of spatial attention leads to abnormal desynchronization of anticipatory (pretarget) electroencephalographic alpha rhythms (8-12 Hz) in occipital-parietal cortex and the detection of subsequently presented visual targets (Capotosto et al. 2009). Since lesion data suggest that lesions of the right frontoparietal cortices produce more severe and long-lasting deficits of visual spatial attention than lesions of the left hemisphere, here, we used the mentioned rTMS-electroencephalographic procedure to test if the control of anticipatory alpha rhythms by IPS is asymmetrically organized in the 2 hemispheres. Results showed that interference with either left or right IPS during covert spatial attention equally disrupted the normally lateralized anticipatory modulation of occipital visual cortex, with stronger alpha desynchronization contralaterally to the attended visual field. In contrast, only interference with right IPS induced a paradoxical pretarget synchronization of alpha rhythms and bilateral deficits of target identification. These results suggest that the control of spatial topography of anticipatory alpha rhythms in occipital-parietal cortex is shared between left and right IPS cortex, but that right IPS uniquely contributes to a bilateral prestimulus activation of occipital visual cortex.

• Episodic memory retrieval, parietal cortex, and the default mode network: functional and topographic analyses.

  Authors: Carlo Sestieri, Maurizio Corbetta, Gian Luca Romani, Gordon L Shulman

  The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience. 03/2011; 31(12):4407-20.

  The default mode network (DMN) is often considered a functionally homogeneous system that is broadly associated with internally directed cognition (e.g., episodic memory, theory of mind,The default mode network (DMN) is often considered a functionally homogeneous system that is broadly associated with internally directed cognition (e.g., episodic memory, theory of mind, self-evaluation). However, few studies have examined how this network interacts with other networks during putative "default" processes such as episodic memory retrieval. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we investigated the topography and response profile of human parietal regions inside and outside the DMN, independently defined using task-evoked deactivations and resting-state functional connectivity, during episodic memory retrieval. Memory retrieval activated posterior nodes of the DMN, particularly the angular gyrus, but also more anterior and dorsal parietal regions that were anatomically separate from the DMN. The two sets of parietal regions showed different resting-state functional connectivity and response profiles. During memory retrieval, responses in DMN regions peaked sooner than non-DMN regions, which in turn showed responses that were sustained until a final memory judgment was reached. Moreover, a parahippocampal region that showed strong resting-state connectivity with parietal DMN regions also exhibited a pattern of task-evoked activity similar to that exhibited by DMN regions. These results suggest that DMN parietal regions directly supported memory retrieval, whereas non-DMN parietal regions were more involved in postretrieval processes such as memory-based decision making. Finally, a robust functional dissociation within the DMN was observed. Whereas angular gyrus and posterior cingulate/precuneus were significantly activated during memory retrieval, an anterior DMN node in medial prefrontal cortex was strongly deactivated. This latter finding demonstrates functional heterogeneity rather than homogeneity within the DMN during episodic memory retrieval.

• Haptic perception and body representation in lateral and medial occipito-temporal cortices.

  Authors: Marcello Costantini, Cosimo Urgesi, Gaspare Galati, Gian Luca Romani, Salvatore M Aglioti

  Neuropsychologia. 02/2011; 49(5):821-9.

  Although vision is the primary sensory modality that humans and other primates use to identify objects in the environment, we can recognize crucial object features (e.g., shape, size) using theAlthough vision is the primary sensory modality that humans and other primates use to identify objects in the environment, we can recognize crucial object features (e.g., shape, size) using the somatic modality. Previous studies have shown that the occipito-temporal areas dedicated to the visual processing of object forms, faces and bodies also show category-selective responses when the preferred stimuli are haptically explored out of view. Visual processing of human bodies engages specific areas in lateral (extrastriate body area, EBA) and medial (fusiform body area, FBA) occipito-temporal cortex. This study aimed at exploring the relative involvement of EBA and FBA in the haptic exploration of body parts. During fMRI scanning, participants were asked to haptically explore either real-size fake body parts or objects. We found a selective activation of right and left EBA, but not of right FBA, while participants haptically explored body parts as compared to real objects. This suggests that EBA may integrate visual body representations with somatosensory information regarding body parts and form a multimodal representation of the body. Furthermore, both left and right EBA showed a comparable level of body selectivity during haptic perception and visual imagery. However, right but not left EBA was more activated during haptic exploration than visual imagery of body parts, ruling out that the response to haptic body exploration was entirely due to the use of visual imagery. Overall, the results point to the existence of different multimodal body representations in the occipito-temporal cortex which are activated during perception and imagery of human body parts.

• A signal-processing pipeline for magnetoencephalography resting-state networks.

  Authors: Dante Mantini, Stefania Della Penna, Laura Marzetti, Francesco de Pasquale, Vittorio Pizzella, Maurizio Corbetta, Gian Luca Romani

  Brain connectivity. 01/2011; 1(1):49-59.

  Abstract To study functional connectivity using magnetoencephalographic (MEG) data, the high-quality source-level reconstruction of brain activity constitutes a critical element. MEG resting-stateAbstract To study functional connectivity using magnetoencephalographic (MEG) data, the high-quality source-level reconstruction of brain activity constitutes a critical element. MEG resting-state networks (RSNs) have been documented by means of a dedicated processing pipeline: MEG recordings are decomposed by independent component analysis (ICA) into artifact and brain components (ICs); next, the channel maps associated with the latter ones are projected into the source space and the resulting voxel-wise weights are used to linearly combine the IC time courses. An extensive description of the proposed pipeline is provided here, along with an assessment of its performances with respect to alternative approaches. The following investigations were carried out: (1) ICA decomposition algorithm. Synthetic data are used to assess the sensitivity of the ICA results to the decomposition algorithm, by testing FastICA, INFOMAX, and SOBI. FastICA with deflation approach, a standard solution, provides the best decomposition. (2) Recombination of brain ICs versus subtraction of artifactual ICs (at the channel level). Both the recombination of the brain ICs in the sensor space and the classical procedure of subtracting the artifactual ICs from the recordings provide a suitable reconstruction, with a lower distortion using the latter approach. (3) Recombination of brain ICs after localization versus localization of artifact-corrected recordings. The brain IC recombination after source localization, as implemented in the proposed pipeline, provides a lower source-level signal distortion. (4) Detection of RSNs. The accuracy in source-level reconstruction by the proposed pipeline is confirmed by an improved specificity in the retrieval of RSNs from experimental data.

• Passive tactile recognition of geometrical shape in humans: An fMRI study.

  Authors: Nicoletta Savini, Claudio Babiloni, Marcella Brunetti, Massimo Caulo, Cosimo Del Gratta, Mauro Gianni Perrucci, Paolo Maria Rossini, Gian Luca Romani, Antonio Ferretti

  Brain research bulletin. 10/2010; 83(5):223-31.

  Tactile shape discrimination involves frontal other than somatosensory cortex (Palva et al., 2005 [48]), but it is unclear if this frontal activity is related to exploratory concomitants. In thisTactile shape discrimination involves frontal other than somatosensory cortex (Palva et al., 2005 [48]), but it is unclear if this frontal activity is related to exploratory concomitants. In this study, we investigated topographical details of prefrontal, premotor, and parietal areas during passive tactile recognition of 2D geometrical shapes in conditions avoiding exploratory movements. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was performed while the same wooden 2D geometrical shapes were blindly pressed on subjects' passive right palm in three conditions. In the RAW condition, shapes were pressed while subjects were asked to attend to the stimuli but were not trained to recognize them. After a brief training, in the SHAPE condition subjects were asked to covertly recognize shapes. In the RECOGNITION condition, they were asked to overtly recognize shapes, using response buttons with their opposite hand. Results showed that somatosensory cortex including contralateral SII, contralateral SI, and left insula was active in all conditions, confirming its importance in processing tactile shapes. In the RAW vs. SHAPE contrast, bilateral posterior parietal, insular, premotor, prefrontal, and (left) Broca's areas were more active in the latter. In the RECOGNITION, activation of (left) Broca's area correlated with correct responses. These results suggest that, even without exploratory movements, passive recognition of tactile geometrical shapes involves prefrontal and premotor as well as somatosensory regions. In this framework, Broca's area might be involved in a successful selection and/or execution of the correct responses.

  Download

• Effects of somatosensory stimulation and attention on human somatosensory cortex: an fMRI study.

  Authors: Tzu Ling Chen, Claudio Babiloni, Antonio Ferretti, Mauro Gianni Perrucci, Gian Luca Romani, Paolo Maria Rossini, Armando Tartaro, Cosimo Del Gratta

  NeuroImage. 10/2010; 53(1):181-8.

  It is well known that primary and non-primary areas of human somatosensory cortex are involved in the processing of adequate deviant/rare stimuli and omission of frequent stimuli. However, theIt is well known that primary and non-primary areas of human somatosensory cortex are involved in the processing of adequate deviant/rare stimuli and omission of frequent stimuli. However, the relative weight and interaction of these variables is poorly known. This functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study tested the hypothesis that somatosensory stimulus processing and attention especially interact in non-primary somatosensory areas including secondary somatosensory cortex (SII) and insula. To test this hypothesis, responses of somatosensory cortex were mapped during four conditions of an oddball paradigm: DELIVERED COUNT and IGNORE (count or ignore deviant/rare electrical stimuli, respectively); OMITTED COUNT and IGNORE (count or ignore the rare omission of frequent electrical stimuli, respectively). The deviant/rare and frequent electrical stimuli were delivered to median and ulnar nerve, respectively. It was observed that contralateral (left) primary somatosensory responses were not markedly modulated by the mentioned deviant/rare events. Furthermore, contralateral SII and insula responded to all but not OMITTED IGNORE (purely attentive) condition, whereas ipsilateral (right) SII responded to all conditions. Finally, ipsilateral insula responded to the COUNT (attentive) conditions, regardless of the physical presence of the deviant/rare stimuli. The results suggest that in somatosensory modality, bilateral SII and left (contralateral) insula reflect complex integrative processes of stimulus elaboration and attention, whereas right (ipsilateral) insula mainly sub-serves active attention to deviance within a sequence of somatosensory stimuli.

• Scrotal thermoregulatory model and assessment of the impairment of scrotal temperature control in varicocele.

  Authors: Alessandro Mariotti, Luigi Di Carlo, Giuseppe Orlando, Maria Letizia Corradini, Luigi Di Donato, Paolo Pompa, Roberto Iezzi, Antonio Raffaele Cotroneo, Gian Luca Romani, Arcangelo Merla

  Annals of biomedical engineering. 10/2010; 39(2):664-73.

  Varicocele is defined as the pathological dilatation of the pampiniform plexus and scrotal veins with venous blood reflux. Varicocele may impair scrotal thermoregulation and spermatogenesis, evenVaricocele is defined as the pathological dilatation of the pampiniform plexus and scrotal veins with venous blood reflux. Varicocele may impair scrotal thermoregulation and spermatogenesis, even when present in asymptomatic forms. In this study, we use the control system theory to model scrotal thermoregulation in response to a standardized cold challenge in order to study the functional thermal impairment secondary to varicocele. The proposed model is based on a homeostatic negative feedback loop, characterized by four distinct parameters, which describe how the control mechanisms are activated and maintained. Thermal infrared images series from 49 young patients suffering from left varicocele and 17 healthy controls were processed. With respect to healthy controls, left varicocele patients presented higher basal scrotal temperature and faster recovery of the left hemiscrotum. The model indicated that varicocele alters local heat exchange processes among cutaneous layers and inner structures. The estimated model parameters help in the assessment of the scrotal thermoregulatory impairment secondary to the disease.

• Neural correlates of focused attention and cognitive monitoring in meditation.

  Authors: Antonietta Manna, Antonino Raffone, Mauro Gianni Perrucci, Davide Nardo, Antonio Ferretti, Armando Tartaro, Alessandro Londei, Cosimo Del Gratta, Marta Olivetti Belardinelli, Gian Luca Romani

  Brain research bulletin. 03/2010; 82(1-2):46-56.

  Meditation refers to a family of complex emotional and attentional regulatory practices, which can be classified into two main styles - focused attention (FA) and open monitoring (OM) - involvingMeditation refers to a family of complex emotional and attentional regulatory practices, which can be classified into two main styles - focused attention (FA) and open monitoring (OM) - involving different attentional, cognitive monitoring and awareness processes. In a functional magnetic resonance study we originally characterized and contrasted FA and OM meditation forms within the same experiment, by an integrated FA-OM design. Theravada Buddhist monks, expert in both FA and OM meditation forms, and lay novices with 10 days of meditation practice, participated in the experiment. Our evidence suggests that expert meditators control cognitive engagement in conscious processing of sensory-related, thought and emotion contents, by massive self-regulation of fronto-parietal and insular areas in the left hemisphere, in a meditation state-dependent fashion. We also found that anterior cingulate and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices play antagonist roles in the executive control of the attention setting in meditation tasks. Our findings resolve the controversy between the hypothesis that meditative states are associated to transient hypofrontality or deactivation of executive brain areas, and evidence about the activation of executive brain areas in meditation. Finally, our study suggests that a functional reorganization of brain activity patterns for focused attention and cognitive monitoring takes place with mental practice, and that meditation-related neuroplasticity is crucially associated to a functional reorganization of activity patterns in prefrontal cortex and in the insula.

• Temporal dynamics of spontaneous MEG activity in brain networks.

  Authors: Francesco de Pasquale, Stefania Della Penna, Abraham Z Snyder, Christopher Lewis, Dante Mantini, Laura Marzetti, Paolo Belardinelli, Luca Ciancetta, Vittorio Pizzella, Gian Luca Romani, Maurizio Corbetta

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 03/2010; 107(13):6040-5.

  Functional MRI (fMRI) studies have shown that low-frequency (<0.1 Hz) spontaneous fluctuations of the blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) signal during restful wakefulness are coherent withinFunctional MRI (fMRI) studies have shown that low-frequency (<0.1 Hz) spontaneous fluctuations of the blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) signal during restful wakefulness are coherent within distributed large-scale cortical and subcortical networks (resting state networks, RSNs). The neuronal mechanisms underlying RSNs remain poorly understood. Here, we describe magnetoencephalographic correspondents of two well-characterized RSNs: the dorsal attention and the default mode networks. Seed-based correlation mapping was performed using time-dependent MEG power reconstructed at each voxel within the brain. The topography of RSNs computed on the basis of extended (5 min) epochs was similar to that observed with fMRI but confined to the same hemisphere as the seed region. Analyses taking into account the nonstationarity of MEG activity showed transient formation of more complete RSNs, including nodes in the contralateral hemisphere. Spectral analysis indicated that RSNs manifest in MEG as synchronous modulation of band-limited power primarily within the theta, alpha, and beta bands-that is, in frequencies slower than those associated with the local electrophysiological correlates of event-related BOLD responses.

• Viewing one's own face being touched modulates tactile perception: an fMRI study.

  Authors: Flavia Cardini, Marcello Costantini, Gaspare Galati, Gian Luca Romani, Elisabetta Làdavas, Andrea Serino

  Journal of cognitive neuroscience. 03/2010; 23(3):503-13.

  The perception of tactile stimuli on the face is modulated if subjects concurrently observe a face being touched; this effect, termed visual remapping of touch (VRT), is maximum for observing one'sThe perception of tactile stimuli on the face is modulated if subjects concurrently observe a face being touched; this effect, termed visual remapping of touch (VRT), is maximum for observing one's own face. In the present fMRI study, we investigated the neural basis of the VRT effect. Participants in the scanner received tactile stimuli, near the perceptual threshold, on their right, left, or both cheeks. Concurrently, they watched movies depicting their own face, another person's face, or a ball that could be touched or only approached by human fingers. Participants were requested to distinguish between unilateral and bilateral tactile stimulation. Behaviorally, perception of tactile stimuli was modulated by viewing a tactile stimulation, with a stronger effect when viewing one's own face being touched. In terms of brain activity, viewing touch was related with an enhanced activity in the ventral intraparietal area. The specific effect of viewing touch on oneself was instead related with a reduced activity in both the ventral premotor cortex and the somatosensory cortex. The present findings suggest that VRT is supported by a network of fronto-parietal areas. The ventral intraparietal area might remap visual information about touch onto tactile processing. Ventral premotor cortex might specifically modulate multisensory interaction when sensory information is related to one's own body. Then this activity might back project to the somatosensory cortices, thus affecting tactile perception.