We use a combination of techniques including functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and behavioural measurements to study how we use and integrate the senses of vision and touch to perceive objects and guide actions. The fascinating aspect of hand actions is that we can perform a movement within a few hundred milliseconds from the moment we decide to move. Yet, in this very short time we need to process a myriad of information that span the perceptual, cognitive and motor domain. Complex and adaptable movements are important not only for satisfying our basic needs, but also to shape and affect the world around us. My main research topic is aimed to examine the neural mechanisms involved in the cascade of events that leads from the conception to the execution of a movement. 

Lab news and recent publications

Sabrina Fagioli at the University of Rome and I have been awarded a grant funded by the Italian Ministry of University and Research! We have started the project TABID, which is aimed at exploring attentional biases in depression in a longitudinal neuroimaging study.

Our project PrefAcE has been awarded a grant funded by the European Union and the Italian Ministry of University and Research! 

Congratulations to Samantha for her master's thesis work recently published in Current Research in Neurobiology!

Sartin S, Ranzini M, Scarpazza C; Monaco S. (2023). Cortical areas involved in grasping and reaching actions with and without visual information: an ALE meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies. Current Research in Neurobiology.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crneur.2022.100070.