Ongoing projects

The interplay between perception and executive functions

Executive functions are those abilities that allow us to dynamically adapt to the environment, tuning our perceptual, motor, and emotional processes to optimize our behavior. Among these functions, we are mainly interested in the ability to ignore irrelevant information. We're constantly flooded with heavy streams of information: how does the brain select what's important, and discard what's not? To answer this question, we are investigating the relationship between attention and perception in the tactile modality of rats. Our goal is to unravel the neuronal mechanisms of selective and temporal attention through a combination of behavioral methods and in-vivo electrophysiology.

Team: Marlen Gironimi, Tatiana Potracov.

Perceptual decision-making of nonequilibrium fluctuations

How does the brain use the stochastic sensory signal in order to make effective decisions? We try to uncover this question by using a novel mathematical model that defines the relationship between the entropy production of the stimuli and decision parameters. We conduct behavioral experiments with human participants and match their decision outcomes with the model’s predictions. This approach helps us form strong connections between the local statistics of the stimuli dynamics and how the human participants use this information to make optimal decisions. 

Team: Aybüke Durmaz, co-supervision by Domenica Bueti (Time Perception Lab at SISSA ), and Edgar Roldán (Statistical Physics at ICTP).

Perceptual and non-perceptual decision-making in a gambling task

How do living organisms combine the sensory information they receive from the external world with their inner understanding of the functioning of the environment itself? To answer this question, we test humans and rats with a non-perceptual probability task where informed gambling can maximize rewards. The behavioral results help us understand the strategies subjects employ, such as how wins and losses influence their future choices, or how they react to sudden fluctuations in the probabilistic structure. We are currently developing novel behavioral experiments where the probability task is combined with our usual perceptual tasks, and electrophysiological studies to gain insights from the neuronal activity of rats.

Team: Maria Ravera, Khushi Jain, Romina Sollazzo

Task-independent perceptual memory

Within this project, we investigate how both relevant and irrelevant perceptual memories affect decision-making processes, and whether different perceptual memory components are task independent. We teach rats and humans different decision-making task, which require different cognitive resources, and assess how those resources interact with the perceptual information processing required by the task. We also investigate how perceptual memories correlate with the activity of cortical networks in rats, via extracellular neuronal recordings and optogenetic manipulation. 

Team: Davide Giana, Lilith Filaferro.

Methodology and techniques


We conduct experiments on rats (Rattus norvegicus, Wistar). All researchers in the animal Lab must complete the appropriate courses and undergo extensive training (compliant with Italian and European legislation) to be allowed to handle the rats. We care deeply about the animals' well-being: they are pair-housed when possible, and we provide environmental enrichment and daily playground time. A Vet routinely checks the animals. 

Our rats' life expectancy is higher than the natural life expectancy of the species. After arriving in the Lab at approximately 2 months old, rats undergo a familiarization and handling phase, before starting the training. While all animals undergo behavioral experiments, only some of them undergo electrophysiological and/or optogenetic experiments. Training is done with 1-hour long daily sessions, and testing is usually performed for months/years. They usually die naturally or are euthanized at approximately 2.5/3 years old.

Behavioral experiments - animals

All our studies are approved by the Sissa ethical committee. Our custom-made animal setups allow us to conduct several different behavioral experiments. The animals are freely moving, the tasks are self-paced, and they mostly consist of two alternative forced choice (2AFC). Via custom-made software, we can deliver stimuli (tactile and acoustic) and register the rats' responses and reaction times. A maximum of 2 rats are trained/tested by the same researcher in parallel, to guarantee focus and care during the procedures.

Behavioral experiments - humans

All our studies are approved by the Sissa ethical committee. We conduct behavioral experiments on volunteer human participants, whose monetary compensation depends on their performance in the task. We mostly test two alternative forced choice (2AFC) tasks with a custom-made apparatus. Tactile stimuli are delivered to the fingertip, equivalent to the rodents' vibrissae. Participants communicate their choices and receive feedback via a computer interface. Experiments that do not involve tactile stimuli delivery are conducted online.

Electrophysiology and optogenetics

We perform chronic implants to both record and interfere with the neuronal activity while the rats perform the behavioral tasks. The technology we have consists of: