Ricerc@Sapienza

The technological development in the cochlear implants (CI) has been producing external processors designed to increase performances in patients facing word in noise recognition conditions. In our study we investigated the neurophysiological responses underlying these abilities, firstly aiming at obtaining an electroencephalographic (EEG) measure of the listening effort experienced by patients. Secondly, we investigated whether the technological progress reduced such listening effort levels in these patients.

The identification of measurable indices of cerebral functions to be
applied in clinical settings is ever more felt as necessary for a more thorough
and objective evaluation of patients cognitive performance. In the present
paper, the electroencephalographic-based indices of mental workload (WL =
frontal θ/parietal α) and of mental engagement (ME = β/(α+θ)), calculated
along the brain midline, have been employed to characterize the eventual
specific patterns of cerebral activations during a speech in noise perception task

Product placement is a marketing technique that, by inserting products into a narrative structure, constitutes a likely effective tool to increase the visibility and notoriety of a brand. For years, the opportunities for product placement in music videos were limited. Recently, there has been a growth of interest for this tool/advertising modality since the digital community allowed the possibility to move videos from television to the Internet. The scope of the present study is to investigate the effectiveness of the product placement in music videos.

Our objective was to investigate the capacity to control a P3-based brain-computer interface (BCI) device for communication and its related (temporal) attention processing in a sample of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients with respect to healthy subjects. The ultimate goal was to corroborate the role of cognitive mechanisms in event-related potential (ERP)-based BCI control in ALS patients. Furthermore, the possible differences in such attentional mechanisms between the two groups were investigated in order to unveil possible alterations associated with the ALS condition.

The functional connectivity between cortex and muscle during motor tasks can change after stroke. Motor rehabilitation aims at restoring it, either by re-establishing “close-to-normal” connectivity or supporting the development of alternative pathways. With the ultimate aim to design a rehabilitative approach based on a combination of Electroencephalographic (EEG) and Electromyographic (EMG) signals, we studied how different processing pipelines affect the extraction of a potential hybrid feature to discriminate movement tasks.

We investigated in a longitudinal multicenter cohort study functional cortical connectivity changes along the course of frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) from the prodromal stage of the diseases. Electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded in 18 FTD and 18 AD patients at the prodromal stage of dementia, at dementia onset, and 3 years after dementia onset. Twenty healthy controls (HC) underwent EEG recordings at the same time interval as the patients. Mutual information (MI) analysis measured the strength of functional network connectivity.

During a non-invasive procedure, participants both helped and helped by a confederate with features that create social distance (membership in an ethnic outgroup or another social group). For this purpose, we created a set of virtual scenarios in which the confederate’s ethnicity (white vs. black) and appearance (business man vs. beggar, with casual dress as a control condition) were crossed.

The rhythmic oscillations embedded in the spontaneous or evoked electroencephalographic (EEG) activity are closely related to the subtle cognitive processes of the brain. This review is aimed to provide a comprehensive overview of the studies investigating brain oscillations across various frequency ranges in migraine, using EEG and evoked potentials.

Hemiplegic migraine (HM) is a clinically and genetically heterogeneous condition with attacks of headache and motor weakness which may be associated with impaired consciousness, cerebellar ataxia and intellectual disability. Motor symptoms usually last <72?hours and are associated with visual or sensory manifestations, speech impairment or brainstem aura. HM can occur as a sporadic HM or familiar HM with an autosomal dominant mode of inheritance. Mutations in CACNA1A, ATP1A2 and SCN1A encoding proteins involved in ion transport are implicated.

Meditation has been integrated into different therapeutic interventions. To inform the evidence-based selection of specific meditation types it is crucial to understand the neural processes associated with different meditation practices. Here we explore commonalities and differences in electroencephalographic oscillatory spatial synchronisation patterns across three important meditation types. Highly experienced meditators engaged in focused attention, open monitoring, and loving kindness meditation.