The present thesis investigates the effects of auditory deafferentation and reafferentation with a unimodal and multisensory perspective. Aim of the thesis is the understanding of issues concerning functional plasticity resulting from long-term auditory deprivation, and the effects of reafferentation through a cochlear implant (CI) on audition, vision, and their interaction. The thesis is divided into three parts: Part I explores the effects of auditory deafferentation on the visual modality to understand whether a long-term sensory deprivation leads one of the remaining senses to reorganise in a cross-modal fashion. In particular, Chapter 1 reviews animal and human findings on cross-modal plasticity after sensory deafferentation and introduces the particular case of deafness, focusing on the sensory modality that seems to reorganise the most after profound deafness: vision. In Chapter 2 I present the study we conducted to explore an underinvestigated issue of cross-modal reorganisation after long-term auditory deprivation. We investigated visual temporal processing in a group of profoundly deaf individuals by testing their ability to make temporal order judgments. Our results show comparable accuracy in processing visual temporal sequences in deaf individuals and hearing controls, but an enhanced reactivity in the deaf population particularly when responding to stimuli appearing towards the periphery of the visual field. Our findings suggest that long-term auditory deprivation does not alter temporal processing abilities, and that the reactivity observed in the deaf group may instead constitute a central aspect of the functional changes occurring after auditory deafferentation. Part II of the thesis addresses the effects of auditory reafferentation through a cochlear implant on the adult auditory system. Chapter 3 reviews findings that document plasticity in the adult brain and the role of experience in determining the extent for plasticity to occur. In addition, a review on auditory spatial hearing introduces the two studies we conducted to investigate the recovery of sound localisation abilities after bilateral and unilateral cochlear implantation (chapter 4 and 5, respectively). Results from the first study show that partial recovery of spatial hearing after bilateral implantation occur with different time course as a function of the recipient’s experience with auditory cues. Results from the second study show that some sound localisation abilities can emerge even in prelingually deafened adults fitted with a single implant, at least in a laboratory setting. Importantly, this ability appears to be constraint by the years of experience with the CI, and again as a function of previous auditory experience of the CI recipient. Part III addresses the question of the effects of auditory reafferentation on the visual system and its interaction with audition. Chapter 6 reviews the issue of cross-modal plasticity after auditory reafferentation. In particular, we investigated whether visual abilities are modified after cochlear implantation in a group of prelingual and postlingual deaf recipients (Chapter 7). In this study we found that prelingual deaf recipients, compared to postlingual deaf, had an advantage in detecting the onset of rapidly presented visual stimuli in the periphery of the visual field. In a further experiment (Chapter 8) we investigated whether auditory and visual information are integrated after cochlear implantation in prelingual and postlingual deaf recipients and found that their abilities are comparable to hearing controls. Finally, Chapter 9 summarises all the presented results and draws the major conclusions.

How humans perceive everyday reality is one of the most fascinating and enduring interest of different scientific disciplines. The aim of the present dissertation is to investigate - from both a theoretical and an empirical perspective - some aspects concerning the crossmodal interactions between hearing and vision. In the first part of the introduction special attention is given to the cortical and subcortical neural substrate involved in integrating different sensory modalities, and more specifically, audiovisual stimuli. Experimental studies in the literature designed to empirically investigate different aspects of audiovisual interaction and the potential existence of a sensory dominance between hearing and vision will be presented. In the last part, the introduction will be focalized to discuss some of the principal models aimed to predict the outcome of audiovisual integration and its relation with sensory dominance. The following chapters present the experimental studies designed to empirically investigate different aspects of audiovisual interactions and the role of eye movements in auditory cognition. In a first study, the effects of eye movements on auditory spatial representation will be explored. The aim is to disentangle controversial results in the literature emerged in two studies that used different type of sounds (i.e., free field sounds provided through loudspeakers vs. sounds provided intracranially through headphones) and different tasks. In a second study, the disputed relation between perception and action will be investigated in presence of a crossmodal audiovisual illusion. The aim is to verify whether participants’ visuo-motor behaviour might be biased by the visual illusion as emerged for perception, and eventually, whether perceptive and motor biases are correlated. The last study presented in this dissertation will explore the effects of crossmodal audiovisual stimulation in low vision patients and the relation between the visual pathology. More precisely, the possible visual detection enhancement provided by a sound coupled with a visual stimulus will be investigated. To this purpose, in a first experiment, the effect of spatial disparity between audiovisual stimuli will be deepened while the last two experiments will be focalized on the effects of temporal audiovisual disparities of crossmodal stimuli. The results of the studies described in the present dissertation provide evidence of an effect of eye movements in the auditory spatial cognition and a relation between the perceptive and visuo-motor systems in presence of an illusion induced by a sound. Moreover the presented findings report for the first time a significant crossmodal effect of audition on visual perception in low vision patients.

Numerosi studi considerano il sottotrattamento del dolore pediatrico uno dei problemi più critici associati alla cura e degenza ospedaliera (Schechter et al., 2002). La soluzione risiede in una valutazione accurata e sistematica dello stato di algesia del paziente (Reaney, 2007); tuttavia, vi è una notevole reticenza all’impiego costante e regolare di scale di valutazione del dolore nei reparti pediatrici (Zernikow et al., 2005). Questa tesi si propone due obiettivi: innanzitutto, osservare l’atteggiamento degli operatori sanitari circa l’impiego di scale di valutazione del dolore nelle Unità Operative pediatriche di due Ospedali del Trentino. In particolare, si vuole stabilire se a livello locale sussistono le medesime condizioni evidenziate dalla letteratura internazionale sull’argomento; quindi, indagare le cause del problema, e verificare l’effetto che una semplice restituzione con feedback costruttivo ha sulle modalità di valutazione del dolore pediatrico nelle U.U.O.O. così trattate.

Oscillatory neuronal activity in the alpha band has been associated with both conscious perception and attention. Firstly, conscious perception of a weak sensory stimulus is preceded by alpha power decreases. Secondly, attention to a sensory event reduces alpha activity in the corresponding sensory regions. According to the widely accepted functional inhibition hypothesis, oscillatory neural activity in the alpha band reflects cortical excitability; in other words, a sensory region with low alpha power levels is more excitable. Several questions regarding the relationship between conscious perception, attention and alpha band activity have not been addressed so far. Firstly, it remained unclear whether brain states predisposing consciousness only comprise local pre-stimulus alpha power decreases, or also global network states. Secondly, it remained unclear whether alpha power decreases prior to conscious perception are confounded by fluctuations of attention or not. The goal of the current thesis is to address these two open questions in the tactile modality with two magnetoencephalography studies. The first study explored brain states predisposing conscious tactile perception, with a particular focus on functional connectivity patterns in addition to alpha power modulations. To this end, a simple near-threshold detection paradigm was conducted, with weak tactile stimuli to the participants’ left index finger. Findings revealed that conscious perception is preceded by a) a relative alpha power decreases in the somatosensory cortex contralateral to stimulation, and b) a spectrally specific pattern of functional connectivity in the primary somatosensory cortex. Based on the first study, it can be concluded that brain states predisposing consciousness comprise local cortical excitability changes as well as frequency-specific network patterns. The second study focused on alpha power changes prior to conscious perception in the context of spatial attention. To this end, a near-threshold detection paradigm with a double-pulse target stimulus was combined with a spatial attention task. The results showed a) that spatial tactile attention modulates pre-stimulus alpha power, and b) that spontaneous alpha power fluctuations not explained by attention influence perception. These findings indicate that – while attention does affect pre-stimulus alpha power levels – spontaneous alpha power fluctuations predispose consciousness. Taken together, we conclude that brain states predisposing conscious perception comprise spectrally specific functional connectivity patterns, and alpha power fluctuations distinct from attention-induced alpha power modulations.

An observer who approaches a planar surface that rotates about the vertical axis (e.g. a flag hinging on a pole) generates the same Optic Flow (OF) that is produced by a planar surface that rotates about an horizontal axis viewed by a static observer. In spite of this ambiguity, perceived surface orientation by the active observer is usually veridical. This result is consistent with an interpretation of the OF that takes into account egomotion signals (1). Here, we suggest an alternative interpretation based on a computational model that ignores linear egomotion signals (2, 3). An implication of our model is that perceived orientation should flip by 90 degrees whenever the OF undergoes a translational motion in a direction orthogonal to the surface axis of rotation. OF translational motion is always present when an observer moves towards or away from a stimulus display, due to the natural rotations and translations of the head. Main conclusion: In the present experiments, we tested our alternative explanation by asking observers to judge surface orientation in three conditions: 1) when a random-dot planar surface is rotated about a stationary axis, 2) when the axis of rotation was tethered to a coordinate system centered on the observer’s head, so as to eliminate the translational components of the OF, and 3) when a translational component was added to the OF produced in 2). The results are consistent with the predictions of our model. Perceived surface orientation (i) was veridical in 1), (ii) was ambiguous in 2), and (iii) underwent a 90 degrees flip with respect to veridical in 3). A similar pattern of results was found when the same OFs, generated by the observer’s movements, were replayed to a static observer. Next steps: This is inconsistent with the idea that extra-retinal information resulting from head movements is used to extract a veridical interpretation of optic flow.

Although the literature on choice-supportive memory – remembering the items of chosen options as more preferential and those of non-chosen options as less preferential than they actually were – is scarce and scattered, it has widely been accepted as a solid phenomenon that could lead to biased future decisions. In the published studies to date, different types of such misremembering have been observed using rather dissimilar methods, with the large majority testing memory solely with source recognition. The characteristics of the material to be remembered have not been particularly varied and the effect of different delay levels has not been properly investigated. Thus, at the onset of this project, there was a lack of insight into the nature and robustness of the phenomenon and no systematic review of the relevant literature had been done to provide an integrative assessment of its status. The objectives and scope of the current project are the following: (1) to conduct a systematic literature review on the phenomenon of choice-supportive misremembering; (2) to propose a new comprehensive taxonomy of the different types of memory distortions after choice, and (3) to investigate the empirical support for the proposed taxonomy and explore the conditions necessary for the choice-supportive misremembering effect. The first experiment involved four choice scenarios and had a typical design for studies in the decision-making literature (information presented in tables with a low number of attributes and only the value of each one differing between the two options). Memory was tested with free and cued recall only, and the delay between the choice and the memory tests was manipulated on three levels (2 minutes, 20 minutes, and 2 days). The results fully supported the proposed taxonomy, but also highlighted the absence of choice-supportive misremembering despite the high statistical power of the tests. In the second experiment, the scenarios and options were more complex and verbose, with a higher number of items. Four different scenarios were used and presented in two different formats (‘narrative’ vs list) as well as in an alignable and an unalignable version. The narrative versions presented the items of the two options in blocks of text (Option A above Option B), whereas the list versions displayed each item on a separate line (Option A adjacent to Option B). In the alignable version, the items presented had corresponding items on the same dimension in both options, while there was no such correspondence in the unalignable version. This time, memory was tested with free and cued recall in addition to a source recognition test that has hitherto been more typical for studies on choice-supportive misremembering. In common with the first study, this second experiment provided full support for the proposed taxonomy, but it also demonstrated the existence of the choice-supportive misremembering effect regardless of the manipulated variables. Considered in unity, the results of the two experiments suggest that the type of stimuli used is a decisive factor and confirm that the phenomenon does not occur with the kind of materials typically used in the decision-making literature. Indeed, when participants are more likely to compare the options item by item rather than rely on gist-based processing, they do not seem to exhibit choice-supportive memory effects. This observation and the findings from the literature review and the two experiments are discussed in light of the various theories that have been proposed to explain misremembering. Finally, suggestions on how to further expand the knowledge through new research studies on specific populations are put forward.

In the last decade, neurobiological studies have focused efforts on investigating the biological substrates (i.e., cerebral structures, neurotransmitters, and hormones) underlying parental attuned behavior to salient infant stimuli (i.e., infant cries), that plays an important role in child affective, social, and cognitive development (Venuti, 2007; Bornstein, 2002). Both human and animal studies have primarily focused on the neurobiology of mothers and have shown that subcortical and cortical cerebral structures such as the prefrontal cortex, thalamocingulate network, hypothalamus, amygdala, and substantia nigra are important in maternal motivation and attuned behaviors (Barrett & Fleming, 2010; Swain, Lorberbaum, Kose, & Strathearn,2007). However, there is a lack of literature concerning gender differences and only a few studies have investigated the sensitivity of response to infant stimuli in non-parent adults (Caria, de Falco, Venuti, Lee, Esposito, Rigo, Birbaumer & Bornstein, 2012; Glocker, Langleben, Ruparel, Loughead, Gur & Sachser, 2009; Parsons, Young, Kumari, Stein & Kringelbach, 2011; Montoya, Landi, Kober, Worhunsky, Rutherford, Mencl, Mayes & Potenza, 2012). In this research project we focused our investigations on mechanisms in human adults (parents and non-parents) involved in parental care, and in specific: (a) on neural mechanisms underlie BOLD response to infant vocalizations, crying in particular; (b) on brain changes (grey matter volume) occurring during the early postpartum period in new fathers. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), in the first study (second chapter) we looked at gender differences in resting-state brain activation associated with the cry condition at the default mode network (DMN) level in a sample of healthy adults (parents and nonparents). The design was balanced by parental status and gender. The DMN is preferentially activated when individuals are not involved in externally oriented tasks, namely during the mind wandering and it is deactivated during external goal-oriented activities. In the second longitudinal study (third chapter) we investigated in new fathers the GM volumes change amongst 2-4 weeks and 3-4 months postpartum in brain areas responsible for parental behaviors over time during the early postpartum period. Anatomical changes and their relationships with parenting behaviors have never been examined in human fathers despite the importance of paternal care for child development. In the third study (fourth chapter) we investigated, using fMRI and behavioral (Response Time RT) techniques, how the pattern of cerebral activation when listening to infant cry modulates concomitant behavioral tasks, which could require or not require the attention toward the cry stimuli, and thus affecting parental responsiveness.

In literature there are large discrepancies about methods to assess cerebral lateralization in both human and nonhuman primate populations. This study aimed to allow valid comparisons across different primate species by employing a quantitative Multidimensional Method. A comprehensive range of interactions with both social and non-social targets were considered to verify which aspects might elicit the manifestation of lateralized behaviours underpinned by asymmetrical neuronal functions. Spontaneous activities were observed in two groups of zoo great apes, chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla), and a group of 3-4 year-old typical pre-school children. Results demonstrated a strong consistency in both human and non-human species for a right-hand/left hemisphere dominance during contact with inanimate targets (i.e. objects and environmental items), suggesting a evolutionary hemispheric specialization influenced by object animacy. Additionally, both great ape species significantly preferred to keep conspecifics closer than 3 metres to their left during manual activities, suggesting a right hemisphere specialization for emotion processing. Only the silverback gorilla (alpha male) manifested the opposite pattern, potentially related to his hierarchical role within the gorilla society. No side preference was found in typical children however, their young age may indicate that they are still undergoing hemispheric development for emotion processing. This study supports an evolutionary origin of hemispheric specialization underling manipulative and social asymmetric behaviours that occurred prior to the split of humans from great apes.

Developmental Dyslexia (DD) is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders across cultures. Children affected by DD struggle to read fluently and/or correctly, despite normal intelligence, the absence of other psychological or neurological symptoms, and standard reading education. Not only does this condition affect academic achievement, but it is also associated with a number of other negative consequences across the lifespan, such as an enhanced risk of psychological distress and mental health problems. Despite considerable efforts to identify the underlying cause of dyslexia, agreement on a single interpretation has not yet been reached. DD is commonly described as a languagerelated disorder, with compromised phonological abilities being considered as the core deficit. Nonetheless, a growing body of evidence supports multifactorial models: reading is a complex cognitive process, involving not only phonological skills, but also auditory sensory processes, visual-spatial abilities, attention and memory. In this regard, various studies have documented a relationship between dyslexia and deficits in the Executive Functions (hereafter EFs), which can be defined as a cluster of general-purpose control mechanisms that modulate various cognitive sub-processes. However, the relationship between cognitive correlates and reading impairments is still a controversial issue. The present project aims to analyse the fundamental characteristics and the efficacy of different rehabilitation methods for Developmental Dyslexia. Although the neurocognitive causes of DD are still hotly debated, researchers agree that the main challenge is the remediation, that is, how to improve children’s reading fluency and accuracy. The most common approach has been to devise sophisticated remediation programs that train sub-skills of reading, especially phonological skills and auditory perception. Despite the promising results, the improvements in these sub-skills do not automatically transfer in better reading abilities in all subjects (especially regarding reading fluency), thus giving rise to the issue related to "non-responders" or "poor responders". Since the present data gives firm indications of the need to individualize intervention based on neuropsychological testing, the aim of this project is to investigate the efficacy of new types of treatment based on a multifactorial, probabilistic, model of the disorder. Consequently, this project consisted of two parts: specifically, in the first study, we compared phonological-based treatment with computerized cognitive training of the executive functions (e.g., attention, working memory, planning, inhibition). The results of this study clearly pointed out an advantage both in terms of improvements in EFs and literacy skills for the group who undertook the Integrated training, i.e., the group that underwent 12 hours of Cognitive training prior to 12 hours of Phonological-based treatment. Next, the second study aimed to explore the efficacy of a video game Skies of Manawak purposefully designed to train several EFs. Indeed, it has been showed that the existing treatments are not sufficiently captivating and motivating and, thus, we developed a tool ex novo in order to obtain overall improvement and higher chances of transfer to untrained tasks. Our goal was to investigate whether playing this video game may enhance EFs following intervention, and whether these improvements transfer to important literacy skills in typically developing (Study 2 – Part A) and dyslexic children (Study 2 – Part B). All children underwent 12 hours of training, distributed over 6 weeks, either on Skies of Manawak or on a control computerized activity (Scratch). Assessments upon training completion indicated greater improvements in executive functioning and reading efficiency after Skies of Manawak than after the control training in both studies. Interestingly, the advantage in reading skills was maintained in a follow-up test 6 months later and seemed to generalize to academic performance (i.e., Italian marks). Overall findings highlighted promising effects of the training programs on children’s cognition, making way for future studies investigating the underlying brain mechanisms and the factors leading to treatment success.

Usamos as regras de soma da QCD para obter a massa dos pentaquarks \" \'teta\' POT.+\"(1540) e \"\'ksi\' POT.--\" (1862), a largura de decaimento da \"\'teta\' POT.+\" e a constante de acoplamento e fator de forma presentes no vertice J/ \'psi\' \"DD POT.*\". No estudo dos pentaquarks, usamos dois tipos de campos interpolantes contendo dois diquarks altamente correlacionados. Obtemos as massas consistentes com os dados experimentais, porém esta regra de soma têm uma grande contribuição do contínuo e a OPE não é muito boa. Obtivemos uma largura de decaimento compatível com os valores experimentais desde que sejam subtraídos diagramas que representam a \" \'teta\' POT.+\" como um estado ligado K - n. No estudo do vértice vertice J/ \'psi\' \"DD POT.*\" calculamos o fator de forma e a constante de acoplamento, considerando três casos: D off-shell, \"D POT.*\" off-shell e J/ \'psi\' off-shell. A constante de acoplamento é a mesma nesses três casos, porém o fator de forma depende da escolha da partícula off-shell, onde para a J/ \'psi\' off-shell o fator de forma é bem mais duro que o fator de forma obtido para os outros casos. Também comparamos os nossos resultados com outros métodos: o modelo de quark méson constituintes e o modelo de quarks relativísticos constituintes / We use the QCD sum rules to obtain the masses of the pentaquarks _+(1540) and _−−(1862), _+ decay width and the coupling constant and the form factor for the J/ DD* vertex.In the study of the pentaquarks, we use two kinds of interpolating fields, containing two highly correlated diquarks. We get the masses in a good agreement with the experimental value, but this sum rule has a large continuuum contribution and the OPE convergence is not so good. We get the decay width compatible with the experimental value, since we subtract the diagrams that represent _+ as a K − n bound state. In the study of J/ DD* vertex, we calculate the form factor and the coupling constant considering three cases: D off-shell, D* off-shell and J/ off-shell. The coupling constant is the same in those three cases, however the form factor depends on the choice of the particle off-shell, where for the J/ off-shell the form factor is much harder than the form factor obtained for the other cases. We also compare our results with other methods: the constituent quark meson model and the relativistic constituent quark model.