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Papers by Marco Neppi-mòdona
International Conference on Parietal lobe Function, 2010
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
Drawing from field theory, Gestalt therapy conceives psychological suffering and psychotherapy as... more Drawing from field theory, Gestalt therapy conceives psychological suffering and psychotherapy as two intentional field phenomena, where unprocessed and chaotic experiences seek the opportunity to emerge and be assimilated through the contact between the patient and the therapist (i.e., the intentionality of contacting). This therapeutic approach is based on the therapist’s aesthetic experience of his/her embodied presence in the flow of the healing process because (1) the perception of beauty can provide the therapist with feedback on the assimilation of unprocessed experiences; (2) the therapist’s attentional focus on intrinsic aesthetic diagnostic criteria can facilitate the modification of rigid psychopathological fields by supporting the openness to novel experiences. The aim of the present manuscript is to review recent evidence from psychophysiology, neuroaesthetic research, and neurocomputational models of cognition, such as the free energy principle (FEP), which support the...
npj Microgravity
Our body has evolved in terrestrial gravity and altered gravitational conditions may affect the s... more Our body has evolved in terrestrial gravity and altered gravitational conditions may affect the sense of body ownership (SBO). By means of the rubber hand illusion (RHI), we investigated the SBO during water immersion and parabolic flights, where unconventional gravity is experienced. Our results show that unconventional gravity conditions remodulate the relative weights of visual, proprioceptive, and vestibular inputs favoring vision, thus inducing an increased RHI susceptibility.
Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 2020
Cognitive Neuroscience Society (CNS) Meeting, 2008
Experimental Brain Research
Experimental Brain Research, 2017
Visuomotor prismatic training has been demonstrated to be among the most effective rehabilitative... more Visuomotor prismatic training has been demonstrated to be among the most effective rehabilitative techniques of spatial neglect, a neurological syndrome manifested by a number of right brain-damaged patients characterized by unawareness of the egocentric left half of the world. In the present study, we demonstrate that a novel oculomotor prismatic training procedure only consisting in a sequence of gaze shifts to visual targets, can reduce spatial neglect symptoms. Following oculomotor prismatic training, patients show a significant decrease in neglect severity in straight ahead and paper and pencil tasks. We propose that during oculomotor prismatic training, the inconsistency between the prisms-biased visual/oculomotor input and the unbiased head-on-trunk proprioceptive information relative to the straight-ahead position determines the observed aftereffects and the amelioration of spatial neglect symptoms.
The Cognitive and Neural Bases of Spatial Neglect, 2002
Consciousness and Cognition, 1998
Ninety-one right brain-damaged patients with left neglect and 43 right brain-damaged patients wit... more Ninety-one right brain-damaged patients with left neglect and 43 right brain-damaged patients without neglect were asked to extend horizontal segments, either left- or rightward, starting from their right or left endpoints, respectively. Earlier experiments based on similar tasks had shown, in left neglect patients, a tendency to overextend segments toward the left side. This seemingly paradoxical phenomenon was held to undermine current explanations of unilateral neglect. The results of the present extensive research demonstrate that contralesional overextension is also evident in most right brain-damaged patients without contralesional neglect. Furthermore, they show that in a minority of left neglect patients, the opposite behavior, i.e., right overextension can be found. The paper also reports the results of correlational analyses comprising the parameters of line-extension, line-bisection, and cancellation tasks, as well as the parameters relative to the Milner Landmark Task, by which a distinction is drawn between perceptual and response biases in unilateral neglect. A working hypothesis is then advanced about the brain dysfunction underlying neglect and an attempt is made at finding an explanation of neglect and the links between the mechanisms of space representation and consciousness through the study of the changes induced by unilateral brain lesions in the characteristics of space-coding neurons. C, control group; GN+91, full group of neglect patients; GN+27, group of neglect patients with relative left overextension; GN+14, group of neglect patients with relative right overextension; GN-43, full group of non-neglect patients; GN-9, group of non-neglect patients with relative left overextension; H canc, H cancellation task; LE, left extension; LE/RE, ratio of left-right extension; N+, neglect patients; N-, non-neglect patients; PB Land-M, perceptual bias on Landmark motor task; PB Land-V, perceptual bias on Landmark verbal task; RB Land-M, response bias on Landmark motor task; RB Land-V, response bias on Landmark verbal task; RE, right extension.
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2013
Brain Stimulation, 2021
BACKGROUND Neuroimaging studies suggest that the inferior frontal operculum (IFO) is part of a ne... more BACKGROUND Neuroimaging studies suggest that the inferior frontal operculum (IFO) is part of a neuronal network involved in facial expression processing, but the causal role of this region in emotional face discrimination remains elusive. OBJECTIVE We used cathodal (inhibitory) tDCS to test whether right (r-IFO) and left (l-IFO) IFO play a role in discriminating basic facial emotions in healthy volunteers. Specifically, we tested if the two sites are selectively involved in the processing of facial expressions conveying high or low arousal emotions. Based on the Arousal Hypothesis we expected to find a modulation of high and low arousal emotions by cathodal tDCS of the r-IFO and the l-IFO, respectively. METHODS First, we validated an Emotional Faces Discrimination Task (EFDT). Then, we targeted the r-IFO and the l-IFO with cathodal tDCS (i.e. the cathode was placed over the right or left IFO, while the anode was placed over the contralateral supraorbital area) during facial emotions...
J. Cogn. Neurosci., 2016
Recent studies show that motor responses similar to those present in one'... more Recent studies show that motor responses similar to those present in one's own pain (freezing effect) occur as a result of observation of pain in others. This finding has been interpreted as the physiological basis of empathy. Alternatively, it can represent the physiological counterpart of an embodiment phenomenon related to the sense of body ownership. We compared the empathy and the ownership hypotheses by manipulating the perspective of the observed hand model receiving pain so that it could be a first-person perspective, the one in which embodiment occurs, or a third-person perspective, the one in which we usually perceive the others. Motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) by TMS over M1 were recorded from first dorsal interosseous muscle, whereas participants observed video clips showing (a) a needle penetrating or (b) a Q-tip touching a hand model, presented either in first-person or in third-person perspective. We found that a pain-specific inhibition of MEP amplitude (a significantly greater MEP reduction in the “pain” compared with the “touch” conditions) only pertains to the first-person perspective, and it is related to the strength of the self-reported embodiment. We interpreted this corticospinal modulation according to an “affective” conception of body ownership, suggesting that the body I feel as my own is the body I care more about.
International Conference on Parietal lobe Function, 2010
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
Drawing from field theory, Gestalt therapy conceives psychological suffering and psychotherapy as... more Drawing from field theory, Gestalt therapy conceives psychological suffering and psychotherapy as two intentional field phenomena, where unprocessed and chaotic experiences seek the opportunity to emerge and be assimilated through the contact between the patient and the therapist (i.e., the intentionality of contacting). This therapeutic approach is based on the therapist’s aesthetic experience of his/her embodied presence in the flow of the healing process because (1) the perception of beauty can provide the therapist with feedback on the assimilation of unprocessed experiences; (2) the therapist’s attentional focus on intrinsic aesthetic diagnostic criteria can facilitate the modification of rigid psychopathological fields by supporting the openness to novel experiences. The aim of the present manuscript is to review recent evidence from psychophysiology, neuroaesthetic research, and neurocomputational models of cognition, such as the free energy principle (FEP), which support the...
npj Microgravity
Our body has evolved in terrestrial gravity and altered gravitational conditions may affect the s... more Our body has evolved in terrestrial gravity and altered gravitational conditions may affect the sense of body ownership (SBO). By means of the rubber hand illusion (RHI), we investigated the SBO during water immersion and parabolic flights, where unconventional gravity is experienced. Our results show that unconventional gravity conditions remodulate the relative weights of visual, proprioceptive, and vestibular inputs favoring vision, thus inducing an increased RHI susceptibility.
Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 2020
Cognitive Neuroscience Society (CNS) Meeting, 2008
Experimental Brain Research
Experimental Brain Research, 2017
Visuomotor prismatic training has been demonstrated to be among the most effective rehabilitative... more Visuomotor prismatic training has been demonstrated to be among the most effective rehabilitative techniques of spatial neglect, a neurological syndrome manifested by a number of right brain-damaged patients characterized by unawareness of the egocentric left half of the world. In the present study, we demonstrate that a novel oculomotor prismatic training procedure only consisting in a sequence of gaze shifts to visual targets, can reduce spatial neglect symptoms. Following oculomotor prismatic training, patients show a significant decrease in neglect severity in straight ahead and paper and pencil tasks. We propose that during oculomotor prismatic training, the inconsistency between the prisms-biased visual/oculomotor input and the unbiased head-on-trunk proprioceptive information relative to the straight-ahead position determines the observed aftereffects and the amelioration of spatial neglect symptoms.
The Cognitive and Neural Bases of Spatial Neglect, 2002
Consciousness and Cognition, 1998
Ninety-one right brain-damaged patients with left neglect and 43 right brain-damaged patients wit... more Ninety-one right brain-damaged patients with left neglect and 43 right brain-damaged patients without neglect were asked to extend horizontal segments, either left- or rightward, starting from their right or left endpoints, respectively. Earlier experiments based on similar tasks had shown, in left neglect patients, a tendency to overextend segments toward the left side. This seemingly paradoxical phenomenon was held to undermine current explanations of unilateral neglect. The results of the present extensive research demonstrate that contralesional overextension is also evident in most right brain-damaged patients without contralesional neglect. Furthermore, they show that in a minority of left neglect patients, the opposite behavior, i.e., right overextension can be found. The paper also reports the results of correlational analyses comprising the parameters of line-extension, line-bisection, and cancellation tasks, as well as the parameters relative to the Milner Landmark Task, by which a distinction is drawn between perceptual and response biases in unilateral neglect. A working hypothesis is then advanced about the brain dysfunction underlying neglect and an attempt is made at finding an explanation of neglect and the links between the mechanisms of space representation and consciousness through the study of the changes induced by unilateral brain lesions in the characteristics of space-coding neurons. C, control group; GN+91, full group of neglect patients; GN+27, group of neglect patients with relative left overextension; GN+14, group of neglect patients with relative right overextension; GN-43, full group of non-neglect patients; GN-9, group of non-neglect patients with relative left overextension; H canc, H cancellation task; LE, left extension; LE/RE, ratio of left-right extension; N+, neglect patients; N-, non-neglect patients; PB Land-M, perceptual bias on Landmark motor task; PB Land-V, perceptual bias on Landmark verbal task; RB Land-M, response bias on Landmark motor task; RB Land-V, response bias on Landmark verbal task; RE, right extension.
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2013
Brain Stimulation, 2021
BACKGROUND Neuroimaging studies suggest that the inferior frontal operculum (IFO) is part of a ne... more BACKGROUND Neuroimaging studies suggest that the inferior frontal operculum (IFO) is part of a neuronal network involved in facial expression processing, but the causal role of this region in emotional face discrimination remains elusive. OBJECTIVE We used cathodal (inhibitory) tDCS to test whether right (r-IFO) and left (l-IFO) IFO play a role in discriminating basic facial emotions in healthy volunteers. Specifically, we tested if the two sites are selectively involved in the processing of facial expressions conveying high or low arousal emotions. Based on the Arousal Hypothesis we expected to find a modulation of high and low arousal emotions by cathodal tDCS of the r-IFO and the l-IFO, respectively. METHODS First, we validated an Emotional Faces Discrimination Task (EFDT). Then, we targeted the r-IFO and the l-IFO with cathodal tDCS (i.e. the cathode was placed over the right or left IFO, while the anode was placed over the contralateral supraorbital area) during facial emotions...
J. Cogn. Neurosci., 2016
Recent studies show that motor responses similar to those present in one'... more Recent studies show that motor responses similar to those present in one's own pain (freezing effect) occur as a result of observation of pain in others. This finding has been interpreted as the physiological basis of empathy. Alternatively, it can represent the physiological counterpart of an embodiment phenomenon related to the sense of body ownership. We compared the empathy and the ownership hypotheses by manipulating the perspective of the observed hand model receiving pain so that it could be a first-person perspective, the one in which embodiment occurs, or a third-person perspective, the one in which we usually perceive the others. Motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) by TMS over M1 were recorded from first dorsal interosseous muscle, whereas participants observed video clips showing (a) a needle penetrating or (b) a Q-tip touching a hand model, presented either in first-person or in third-person perspective. We found that a pain-specific inhibition of MEP amplitude (a significantly greater MEP reduction in the “pain” compared with the “touch” conditions) only pertains to the first-person perspective, and it is related to the strength of the self-reported embodiment. We interpreted this corticospinal modulation according to an “affective” conception of body ownership, suggesting that the body I feel as my own is the body I care more about.