Ricerc@Sapienza

The 22q11 deletion syndrome (22q11DS), or DiGeorge syndrome (DG), is one of the most common genetic deletion syndromes. DG also carries a high risk for psychiatric disorders, with learning disabilities frequently being reported. Impairments in specific cognitive domains, such as executive functioning and attention, have also been described. The aim of this study was to investigate attentional functioning in a group of subjects with DG using ERPs, and in particular the P300 and CNV components.

Objective: To verify whether central fatigue in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) is associated with the presence of a more severe selective cognitive impairment. Methods: Twenty-four PD patients without fatigue-PDnF, 11 with fatigue-PDF and 32 healthy volunteers underwent a P300 novelty task that elicits both the P3a and the P3b components. Results: P3b latency was significantly longer in both PDF and PDnF than in controls. P3b amplitudes were comparable between groups.

Right Brain Damaged patients with left spatial neglect (N+), are characterised by poor allocation of attention in the contralesional left side of space. In a recent study (Lasaponara et al., 2018) we showed during orienting of spatial attention with endogenous central cues, both the EEG markers reflecting the early phases of orienting (Early Directing Attention Negativity) and those reflecting the late setting-up of sensory facilitation in the visual cortex (Late Directing Attention Positivity) are disturbed in N+ when these patients attend the left side of space.

Self-face representation is fundamentally important for self-identity and self-consciousness. Given its role in preserving identity over time, self-face processing is considered as a robust and stable process. Yet, recent studies indicate that simple psychophysics manipulations may change how we process our own face. Specifically, experiencing tactile facial stimulation while seeing similar synchronous stimuli delivered to the face of another individual seen as in a mirror, induces 'enfacement' illusion, i.e.

Inspecting or transforming the position of Arabic numbers in mental space helps everyday mathematical calculations. Nonetheless the neural and functional bases of this ability are poorly understood. Here we show that imagining the position of Arabic numbers on a horizontal mental number line speeds up the detection of targets appearing at corresponding positions in visual space. No similar advantage is found when numbers are merely perceived or classified according to their magnitude.

Orienting of attention produces a “sensory gain” in the processing of visual targets at attended locations and an increase in the amplitude of target-related P1 and N1 ERPs. P1 marks gain reduction at unattended locations; N1 marks gain enhancement at attended ones. Lateral targets that are preceded by valid cues also evoke a larger P1 over the hemisphere contralateral to the no-target side, which reflects inhibition of this side of space [Slagter, H. A., Prinssen, S., Reteig, L. C., & Mazaheri, A.

Previous studies have shown that Event-related potentials (ERPs) are sensitive to violations of gender-based stereotypes. In the present investigation, we used ERPs to measure the detection of a discrepancy between gender-based occupational stereotypes and written material presented to fifteen Italian viewers in a completely implicit task. No awareness or judgment about stereotypes was required, no decision had to be made on sentence acceptability or congruence, and no prime words related to gender were presented (which might reveal the matter of the investigation).

Brain activity related to orienting of attention with spatial cues and brain responses to attentional targets are influenced the probabilistic contingency between cues and targets. Compared to predictive cues, cues predicting at chance the location of targets reduce the filtering out of uncued locations and the costs in reorienting attention to targets presented at these locations. Slagter et al.