Luciano Fadiga

University of Ferrara | UNIFE · Sezione di Fisiologia Umana

Organic Electronic platforms for biosensing are being demonstrated at a fast pace, especially in healthcare applications where the use of organic (semi‐)conductive materials leads to devices that efficiently interface living matter. Nevertheless, interesting properties of organic (semi‐)conductors are usually neglected in the development of (bio‐)s...

Background Motor difficulties are common in many, but not all, autistic individuals. These difficulties can co-occur with other problems, such as delays in language, intellectual, and adaptive functioning. Biological mechanisms underpinning such difficulties are less well understood. Poor motor skills tend to be more common in individuals carrying...

Mirror neurons show activity during both the execution (AE) and observation of actions (AO). The Mirror Neuron System (MNS) could be involved during motor imagery (MI) as well. Extensive research suggests that the cerebellum is interconnected with the MNS and may be critically involved in its activities. We gathered evidence on the cerebellum's rol...

Joint action (JA) is a continuous process of motor co‐regulation based on the integration of contextual (top‐down) and kinematic (bottom‐up) cues from partners. The fine equilibrium between excitation and inhibition in sensorimotor circuits is, thus, central to such a dynamic process of action selection and execution. In a bimanual task adapted to...

We introduce the Alternating Reading Task (ART) Corpus, a collection of dyadic sentence reading for studying the entrainment and imitation behaviour in speech communication. The ART corpus features three experimental conditions-solo reading, alternating reading, and deliberate imitation-as well as three sub-corpora encompassing French-, Italian-, a...

A novel organic neuromorphic device performing pattern classification is presented and demonstrated. It features an artificial soma capable of dendritic integration from three pre-synaptic neurons. The time-response of the interface between electrolytic solutions and organic mixed ionic-electronic conductors is proposed as the sole computational fe...

Brain imaging studies have recently provided some evidence in favour of covert cognitive processes ongoing in patients with disorders of consciousness (DoC) (e.g., minimally consciousness states, vegetative state/unresponsive wakefulness syndrome) engaged in passive sensory stimulation or active tasks such as motor imagery. In this exploratory stud...

Acting in concert with others, a key aspect of our social life, requires behavioral coordination between persons on multiple timescales. When zooming in on the kinematic properties of movements, it appears that small speed fluctuations, called submovements, are embedded within otherwise smooth end-point trajectories. Submovements, by occurring at a...

Behavioral interpersonal coordination requires smooth negotiation of actions in time and space (joint action—JA). Inhibitory control may play a role in fine-tuning appropriate coordinative responses. To date, little research has been conducted on motor inhibition during JA and on the modulatory influence that premotor areas might exert on inhibitor...

Usually, positive neurological symptoms are considered as the consequence of a mere, afinalistic and abnormal increase in function of specific brain areas. However, according to the Theory of Active Inference, which argues that action and perception constitute a loop that updates expectations according to a Bayesian model, the brain is rather an ex...

The human brain tracks available speech acoustics and extrapolates missing information such as the speaker's articulatory patterns. However, the extent to which articulatory reconstruction supports speech perception remains unclear. This study explores the relationship between articulatory reconstruction and task difficulty. Participants listened t...

In this study, rapid topographical changes were detected in the forelimb motor maps in the primary motor cortex (M1) of awake marmoset monkeys using our previously developed accurate short-time stimulation mapping procedure (Takemi et al. 2017; Kosugi et al. 2018). The results revealed that although the hotspot (the location in M1 that elicited a f...

Aberrant motor-sensory predictive functions have been linked to symptoms of psychosis, particularly reduced attenuation of self-generated sensations and misattribution of self-generated actions. Building on the parallels between prediction of self- and other-generated actions, this study aims to investigate whether individuals with psychosis also d...

Biomaterials able to promote neuronal development and neurite outgrowth are highly desired in neural tissue engineering for the repair of damaged or disrupted neural tissue and restoring the axonal connection. For this purpose, the use of either electroactive or micro- and nanostructured materials has been separately investigated. Here, the use of...

In the absence of disease, humans produce smooth and accurate movement trajectories. Despite such ‘macroscopic’ aspect, the ‘microscopic’ structure of movements reveals recurrent (quasi‐rhythmic) discontinuities. To date, it is unclear how the sensorimotor system contributes to the macroscopic and microscopic architecture of movement. Here, we inve...

Movements are naturally composed of submovements, i.e. recurrent speed pulses (2–3 Hz), possibly reflecting intermittent feedback-based motor adjustments. In visuomotor (unimanual) synchronization tasks, partners alternate submovements over time, indicating mutual coregulation. However, it is unclear whether submovement coordination is organized di...

Joint action (JA) is a continuous process of motor co-regulation based on the integration of contextual (top-down) and kinematic (bottom-up) cues from partners. The fine equilibrium between excitation and inhibition in sensorimotor circuits is, thus, central to such a dynamic process of action selection and execution. In a bimanual task adapted to...

The next generation of brain–machine interfaces are envisioned to couple signal transduction, filtering, and sorting on board with minimum power consumption and maximum bio‐integrability. These functional needs shall be mandatorily met in order to design efficient closed‐loop brain–machine interfaces aimed at treating and monitoring various disorde...

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), as we use it today, was developed in the 1980s, and already in the 1990s, it was clear it would became an essential tool to study human brain functions. The present chapter focuses on the technical challenges that are specific to the use of TMS in speech and language research. A section is devoted to the co-...

The ventral premotor cortex (PMv) and primary motor cortex (M1) represent critical nodes of a parietofrontal network involved in grasping actions, such as power and precision grip. Here, we investigated how the functional PMv–M1 connectivity drives the dissociation between these two actions. We applied a PMv–M1 cortico‐cortical paired associative s...

Communicative gaze (e.g., mutual or averted) has been shown to affect attentional orienting. However, no study to date has clearly separated the neural basis of the pure social component that modulates attentional orienting in response to communicative gaze from other processes that might be a combination of attentional and social effects. We used...

In primates, learning to use a tool modulates cognitive functions related to the physical properties of objects. However, the impact of tool-use learning on social aspects of cognition has not been explored. We addressed this question via a training paradigm by using six, adult, long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis), who were born in captivity...

We study how obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) affects the complexity and time-reversal symmetry-breaking (irreversibility) of the brain resting-state activity as measured by magnetoencephalography (MEG). Comparing MEG recordings from OCD patients and age/sex matched control subjects, we find that irreversibility is more concentrated at faster ti...

The observation that different effectors can execute the same movement suggests functional equivalences driven by limb independent representation of action in the central nervous system. A common invariant motor behavior is the speed and curvature coupling (the 1/3 power law), a low dimensional (abstract) descriptor of movement which is resilient t...

The next generation of brain-machine interfaces are envisioned to couple signal transduction, filtering, and sorting on board with minimum power consumption and maximum bio-integrability. These functional needs shall be mandatorily met in order to design efficient closed-loop brain-machine interfaces aimed at treating and monitoring various disorde...

Early motor difficulties are a common in many, but not all, autistic individuals. These difficulties tend to be highly present in individuals carrying rare genetic mutations with high penetrance for autism. Many of these rare genetic mechanisms also cause neurophysiological dysregulation of excitation-inhibition balance (E:I). A predicted downstrea...

Communicative gaze (e.g., mutual or averted) has been shown to affect attentional orienting. However, no study to date has clearly separated the neural basis of the pure social component that modulates attentional orienting in response to communicative gaze from other processes that might be a combination of attentional and social effects. We used...

The mirror neurons network in the human brain is activated both during the observation of action and the execution of the same action, facilitating thus the transformation of visual information into motor representations, to understand the actions and intentions of others. How this transformation takes place, however, is still under debate. One pre...

This preliminary study introduces a novel action observation therapy (AOT) protocol associated with electroencephalographic (EEG) monitoring to be used in the future as a rehabilitation strategy for the upper limb in patients with subacute stroke. To provide initial evidence on the usefulness of this method, we compared the outcome of 11 patients w...

The role of pre-synaptic DC bias is investigated in three-terminal organic neuromorphic architectures based on Electrolyte gated Organic Transistors - EGOTs. By means of presynaptic offset it is possible to finely control the number of discrete conductance states in short-term plasticity experiments, to obtain, at will, both depressive and facilita...

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that impairs normal brain development and socio-cognitive abilities. The pathogenesis of this condition points out the involvement of genetic and environmental factors during in-utero life. Placenta, as an interface tissue between mother and fetus, provides developing fetus requirement...

Organic Electrochemical Transistors (OECTs) are suitable for developing ultra-sensitive bioelectronic sensors. In the OECT architecture, the source-drain channel is made of a conductive polymer film either cast from a formulated dispersion or electrodeposited from a monomer solution. The commercial poly(3,4-ethylenedioxidethiophene)/poly(styrene su...

The functional connection between ventral premotor cortex (PMv) and primary motor cortex (M1) is critical for the organization of goal‐directed actions. Repeated activation of this connection by means of cortico‐cortical paired associative stimulation (cc‐PAS), a transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) protocol, may induce Hebbian‐like plasticity....

The nervous system is sensitive to statistical regularities of the external world and forms internal models of these regularities to predict environmental dynamics. Given the inherently social nature of human behavior, being capable of building reliable predictive models of others' actions may be essential for successful interaction. While social p...

Objective: Cognitive performance in Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is frequently impaired and related to functional outcomes. Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) may exert its effects on MDD acting both on depressive symptoms and neurocognition. Furthermore, cognitive status could predict the therapeutic response of depressive sym...

Flexible PEDOT:PSS Micropillar Arrays Flexible interfaces featuring 3D PEDOT:PSS micropillars are realized, showing tailored geometric area, surface properties and electrochemical characteristics as reported by Alice Lunghi, Michele Bianchi, Francesca Santoro, and co‐workers in article number 2200709. Soft micropillars are shown to support the adhe...

Social behaviors rely on the coordination of multiple effectors within one’s own body as well as between the interacting bodies. However, little is known about how coupling at the interpersonal level impacts coordination among body parts at the intrapersonal level, especially in ecological, complex, situations. Here, we perturbed interpersonal sens...

Multi-electrode arrays with 3D micropillars allow the recording of electrophysiological signals in vitro with higher precision and signal-to-noise ratio than planar arrays. This is the result of the tight interaction between the 3D electrode and the cell membrane. Most 3D electrodes are manufactured on rigid substrates and their integration on flex...

Developmental coordination disorder (DCD) is a common neurodevelopmental condition characterized by disabling motor impairments being visible from the first years of life. Over recent decades, research in this field has gained important results, showing alterations in several processes involved in the regulation of motor behavior (e.g., planning an...

Sailing is an exciting experience. For anyone, but especially for those interested in the brain. In this short chapter I try to underline the aspects that most strike a neuroscientist. Sense of time, variety and variability of sensory stimulations, improvement of attentional skills and reshaping of priorities and goals, are all aspects that fill th...

In the current landscape of endothelial cell isolation for building in vitro models of the blood-brain barrier, our work moves towards reproducing the features of the neurovascular unit to achieve glial compliance through an innovative biomimetic coating technology for brain chronic implants. We hypothesized that the autologous origin of human brai...

Successful translation of organic transistors as sensors and transducers to clinical settings is hampered by safety and stability issues. The operation of such devices demands driving voltages across the biotic/abiotic interface, which may result in undesired electrochemical reactions that may harm both the patient and the device. In this study, a...

Most animal species group together and coordinate their behavior in quite sophisticated manners for mating, hunting or defense purposes. In humans, coordination at a macroscopic level (the pacing of movements) is evident both in daily life (e.g., walking) and skilled (e.g., music and dance) behaviors. By examining the fine structure of movement, we...

Flexible neural implants are extremely favored, as the most successful strategy to promote probe-tissue integration and avoid severe gliosis relies on reducing the mechanical mismatch between probe and brain tissue. But what are the realistic requirements for achieving chronic recording stability? What are the critical dimensions and main factors d...

This is a Review paper on the use of conductive polymers in neural interfaces aimed at bidirectional communication with the brain.

This is a Review paper on the use of conductive polymers in neural interfaces aimed at bidirectional communication with the brain.

Organic neuromorphic devices mimic signal processing features of biological synapses, with short‐term plasticity, STP, modulated by the frequency of the input voltage pulses. Here, an artificial synapse, made of intracortical microelectrodes, is demonstrated that exhibits either depressive or facilitative STP. The crossover between the two STP regi...

In non-human primates, a subset of frontoparietal neurons (mirror neurons) respond both when an individual executes an action and when it observes another individual performing a similar action.1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 Mirror neurons constitute an observation and execution matching system likely involved in others’ actions processing³,⁵,⁹ and in a la...

GABAergic activity plays an important role in action stopping but little is known about the influence exerted by GABAergic modulation on action selection. To investigate this issue, we determined whether resting-state GABAergic activity in the primary motor cortex (M1) as measured by Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), was related to action se...

Recent technological advances show the feasibility of offline decoding speech from neuronal signals, paving the way to the development of chronically implanted speech brain computer interfaces (sBCI). Two key steps that still need to be addressed for the online deployment of sBCI are, on the one hand, the definition of relevant design parameters of...

Most animal species group together and coordinate their behavior in quite sophisticated manners for mating, hunting or defense purposes. In humans, coordination at a macroscopic level (the pacing of movements) is evident both in daily life (e.g., walking) and skilled (e.g., music and dance) behaviors. By examining the fine structure of movement, we...

Flexible neural implants are extremely favored, as the most successful strategy to promote probe-tissue integration and avoid severe gliosis relies on reducing the mechanical mismatch between probe and brain tissue. But what is a realistic requirement for achieving chronic recording stability? Which are the critical dimensions and main factors dete...