Ricerc@Sapienza

In the last few decades, there have been an increasing number of studies focusing on better characterizing the cerebellar functions beyond motor control, including emotional and social domains. Anatomical and functional evidence strongly contributes to delineating the cerebellar functional subdivisions and their integration with cerebral functional networks strictly related to emotional regulation and social functioning, thus suggesting a model of cerebellar organization that resembles that of the cerebral cortex.

In recent years, increasing evidence of the cerebellar role in social cognition has emerged. The cerebellum has been shown to modulate cortical activity of social brain regions serving as a regulator of function-specific mentalizing and mirroring processes. In particular, a mentalizing area in the posterior cerebellum, specifically Crus II, is preferentially recruited for more complex and abstract forms of social processing, together with mentalizing cerebral areas including the dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC), the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ), and the precuneus.

Thalamo-cortical connectivity was characterised in a patient with bilateral infarct of the thalami, without evidence of cognitive deficits in everyday life. Patient underwent social and emotional tests, Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), with and without concomitant heart rate variability (HRV) recording and at 3T-MRI to assess thalamo-cortical connectivity. Patient showed impairment at the IGT, in somatic marker, in emotions and theory of mind. MRI documented a bilateral damage of the centromedian-parafascicular complex.

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).

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are known to be characterized by restricted and repetitive behaviors and interests, and by impairments in social communication and interactions mainly including “Theory of Mind” (ToM) processes. The cerebellum has emerged as one of the brain regions affected by ASDs. As the cerebellum is known to influence cerebral cortex activity via cerebello-thalamo-cortical (CTC) circuits, it has been proposed that cerebello-cortical 'disconnection' could in part underlie autistic symptoms.