Davide Fedeli - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Davide Fedeli

Scientific Reports

Inhibitory control is the capacity to withhold or suppress a thought or action intentionally. The... more Inhibitory control is the capacity to withhold or suppress a thought or action intentionally. The anterior Midcingulate Cortex (aMCC) participates in response inhibition, a proxy measure of inhibitory control. Recent research suggests that response inhibition is modulated by individual variability in the aMCC sulcal morphology. However, no study has investigated if this phenomenon is associated with neurofunctional differences during a task. In this study, 42 participants performed an Attention Network Task and a Numerical Stroop task in an MRI scanner. We investigated differences in brain activity and response inhibition efficiency between individuals with symmetric and asymmetric aMCC sulcal patterns. The results showed that aMCC morphological variability is partly associated with inhibitory control, and revealed greater activation in individuals with symmetric patterns during the Stroop task. Our findings provide novel insights into the functional correlates of the relationship b...

L'invention porte sur un procede pour induire la regeneration d'un filtre a particules (1... more L'invention porte sur un procede pour induire la regeneration d'un filtre a particules (125) associe a un moteur emettant des gaz d'echappement (105) tout en fonctionnant dans un vehicule (100) dans des conditions de conduite variables. Le procede comprend la mise en marche, pendant une periode de temps, d'un dispositif de chauffage sensiblement en contact ponctuel avec ledit filtre au niveau de son entree de gaz. Ladite mise en marche dudit dispositif de chauffage est soumise aux conditions suivantes : i) une pression moyenne du gaz d'echappement a l'entree du filtre est superieure a une valeur predeterminee ; ii) une pression instantanee du gaz d'echappement a l'entree du filtre est a une valeur elevee improbable. La periode de temps pendant laquelle ce dispositif de chauffage reste en marche est suffisamment longue pour que l'on atteigne la temperature d'allumage des particules et pour qu'une telle pression instantanee passe de la valeu...

Brain Sciences

The neural mechanisms subserving the processing of abstract concepts remain largely debated. Even... more The neural mechanisms subserving the processing of abstract concepts remain largely debated. Even within the embodiment theoretical framework, most authors suggest that abstract concepts are coded in a linguistic propositional format, although they do not completely deny the role of sensorimotor and emotional experiences in coding it. To our knowledge, only one recent proposal puts forward that the processing of concrete and abstract concepts relies on the same mechanisms, with the only difference being in the complexity of the underlying experiences. In this paper, we performed a meta-analysis using the Activation Likelihood Estimates (ALE) method on 33 functional neuroimaging studies that considered activations related to abstract and concrete concepts. The results suggest that (1) concrete and abstract concepts share the recruitment of the temporo-fronto-parietal circuits normally involved in the interactions with the physical world, (2) processing concrete concepts recruits fron...

Brain Structure and Function

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews

Journal of Cultural Cognitive Science

Cerebral Cortex

The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is a key structure implicated in the regulation of cognitive ... more The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is a key structure implicated in the regulation of cognitive control (CC). Previous studies suggest that variability in the ACC sulcal pattern—a neurodevelopmental marker unaffected by maturation or plasticity after birth—is associated with intersubject differences in CC performance. Here, we investigated whether bilingual experience modulates the effects of ACC sulcal variability on CC performance across the lifespan. Using structural MRI, we first established the distribution of the ACC sulcal patterns in a large sample of healthy individuals (N = 270) differing on gender and ethnicity. Second, a participants’ subsample (N = 157) was selected to test whether CC performance was differentially affected by ACC sulcation in bilinguals and monolinguals across age. A prevalent leftward asymmetry unaffected by gender or ethnicity was reported. Sulcal variability in the ACC predicted CC performance differently in bilinguals and monolinguals, with a reve...

Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience

When making decisions, people are typically differently sensitive to gains and losses according t... more When making decisions, people are typically differently sensitive to gains and losses according to the motivational context in which the choice is performed. As hypothesized by Regulatory Focus Theory (RFT), indeed, goals are supposed to change in relation to the set of possible outcomes. In particular, in a promotion context, the goal is achieving the maximal gain, whereas in a prevention context it turns into avoiding the greatest loss. We explored the neurophysiological counterpart of this phenomenon, by applying Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) and recording the motor evoked potentials (MEPs) in participants taking part in an economic game, in which they observed actions conveying different goal attainment levels, framed in different motivational contexts. More than the actual value of the economic exchange involved in the game, what affected motor cortex excitability was the goal attainment failure, corresponding to not achieving the maximal payoff in a promotion context and not avoiding the greatest snatch in a prevention context. Therefore, the results provide support for the key predictions of RFT, identifying a neural signature for the goal attainment failure.

Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism

Whether bilingualism acts positively against neurocognitive decline is intensely debated. Althoug... more Whether bilingualism acts positively against neurocognitive decline is intensely debated. Although some reasons for it might be ideological, variability in sampling procedures and experimental design represent potential sources of inconsistency among studies. In this paper, we contend that bilingualism renders the extra-years of life of an increasingly long-lived population cognitively healthy, but only under specific conditions such as continuous practice and immersion in bilingual environments. We thus disagree with some authors’ recommendation that bilingualism be removed from consideration as a neuroprotective factor. We suggest, at the same time, that bilingualism should not be treated as axiologically superior to other environmental measures that promise to contrast the progressive loss of functional independence with increasing age. We conclude by emphasizing the need to evaluate the protective effects of L2-learning on the aging brain in a multimodal intervention perspective...