Alessandro D’Ausilio
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aledaus.bsky.social
Alessandro D’Ausilio
@aledaus.bsky.social
-Full Professor of Physiology @ University of Ferrara
-Researcher @ Italian Institute of Technology

-Motor Neurophysiology, Action-Perception Coupling, [interpersonal] Sensorimotor Communication, Speech Perception/Production, Brain stimulation
Sure, we do have upcoming PhD positions. Please send me your CV via email. Thanks!
March 12, 2025 at 4:23 PM
The third is on how interpersonal motor coordination is regulated via neurophysiological #inhibition. Here we confirm a dissociation between fast and slow inhibition and provide evidence that dorsal #premotor areas are key for motor co-adaptations. t.ly/EJStV
The role of dorsal premotor cortex in joint action inhibition - Scientific Reports
Scientific Reports - The role of dorsal premotor cortex in joint action inhibition
t.ly
February 29, 2024 at 12:23 PM
The second is on the multiple time-scales of #interpersonal #motor coordination. Here we demonstrate that submovement coordination is a potentially fundamental mechanism that participates in interpersonal motor coordination regardless of the sensory domain mediating the interaction. t.ly/szd0h
Submovement interpersonal coupling is associated to audio-motor coordination performance - Scientific Reports
Scientific Reports - Submovement interpersonal coupling is associated to audio-motor coordination performance
t.ly
February 29, 2024 at 12:21 PM
The first is on how motor processes in speech perception. We studied neural encoding (#EEG) of articulatory #synergies during speech listening. With partial information decomposition we described unique #motor information in the theta and delta bands and its dependence on task difficulty. t.ly/9ocuu
Speech perception difficulty modulates theta-band encoding of articulatory synergies | Journal of Neurophysiology
The human brain tracks available speech acoustics and extrapolates missing information such as the speaker’s articulatory patterns. However, the extent to which articulatory reconstruction supports speech perception remains unclear. This study explores the relationship between articulatory reconstruction and task difficulty. Participants listened to sentences and performed a speech-rhyming task. Real kinematic data of the speaker’s vocal tract were recorded via electromagnetic articulography (EMA) and aligned to corresponding acoustic outputs. We extracted articulatory synergies from the EMA data with principal component analysis (PCA) and employed partial information decomposition (PID) to separate the electroencephalographic (EEG) encoding of acoustic and articulatory features into unique, redundant, and synergistic atoms of information. We median-split sentences into easy (ES) and hard (HS) based on participants’ performance and found that greater task difficulty involved greater encoding of unique articulatory information in the theta band. We conclude that fine-grained articulatory reconstruction plays a complementary role in the encoding of speech acoustics, lending further support to the claim that motor processes support speech perception. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Top-down processes originating from the motor system contribute to speech perception through the reconstruction of the speaker’s articulatory movement. This study investigates the role of such articulatory simulation under variable task difficulty. We show that more challenging listening tasks lead to increased encoding of articulatory kinematics in the theta band and suggest that, in such situations, fine-grained articulatory reconstruction complements acoustic encoding.
t.ly
February 29, 2024 at 12:20 PM
This one has a similar vibe, yet with a tiny bit more "evolutionary" and "vintage" flavour ;))
"The great end of life is not knowledge but action"
by Thomas H. Huxley
(found here: tinyurl.com/2p98w2kd )
December 14, 2023 at 3:36 PM
Indeed! I thought you referred to "intra-effector" synergies, but I totally see your point now, and it partially resonates with other stuff we're doing (e.g., tinyurl.com/42a9dwvh ). Thanks for the useful suggestion! I'll let you know if something interesting pops out!
December 13, 2023 at 1:48 PM
Unfortunately not, but very interesting indeed! …here we only measured the FDI during an index finger ad/abduction. To do that we would probably need a more “complex” task…
Rather, we’re working on cortico-muscle (or better force) coherence in alpha range with great satisfaction ;)
December 13, 2023 at 11:26 AM
Sad but very true. As for the Italian case, there's one clear reason: the National Scientific Habilitation, introduced in 2012, filters applications based on 3 thresholds (different for each area) on #pub last 5Y, #citations last 10Y, h-index last 10Y.
Classic example of Goodhart's law.
December 13, 2023 at 10:06 AM
We suggest this may reflect a non-linear mapping between corticospinal excitability and multiscale movement oscillations, potentially linked to the hierarchical organization of descending motor pathways.
December 12, 2023 at 5:47 PM
Surprisingly, unlike motor output oscillations, which decrease in amplitude as their frequency increases, corresponding changes in corticospinal excitability maintain a similar magnitude across different timescales.
December 12, 2023 at 5:47 PM
We delivered #TMS over M1 while participants were performing a visuomotor task involving isometric force production and assessed #corticospinal excitability modulation time-locked to task-instructed force modulation, as well as to #submovements and #tremor in the motor output.
December 12, 2023 at 5:46 PM
this is a cool one!
December 11, 2023 at 5:26 PM