Alessandro D'Ausilio

Bio: Alessandro D'Ausilio is an academic researcher from Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia. The author has contributed to research in topics: Motor control & Speech production. The author has an hindex of 29, co-authored 94 publications receiving 3190 citations. Previous affiliations of Alessandro D'Ausilio include Econa & University of Tübingen.

Arduino: a low-cost multipurpose lab equipment.

Abstract: Typical experiments in psychological and neurophysiological settings often require the accurate control of multiple input and output signals. These signals are often generated or recorded via computer software and/or external dedicated hardware. Dedicated hardware is usually very expensive and requires additional software to control its behavior. In the present article, I present some accuracy tests on a low-cost and open-source I/O board (Arduino family) that may be useful in many lab environments. One of the strengths of Arduinos is the possibility they afford to load the experimental script on the board’s memory and let it run without interfacing with computers or external software, thus granting complete independence, portability, and accuracy. Furthermore, a large community has arisen around the Arduino idea and offers many hardware add-ons and hundreds of free scripts for different projects. Accuracy tests show that Arduino boards may be an inexpensive tool for many psychological and neurophysiological labs.

Broca's Area in Language, Action, and Music

Abstract: The work of Paul Broca has been of pivotal importance in the localization of some higher cognitive brain functions. He first reported that lesions to the caudal part of the inferior frontal gyrus were associated with expressive deficits. Although most of his claims are still true today, the emergence of novel techniques as well as the use of comparative analyses prompts modern research for a revision of the role played by Broca's area. Here we review current research showing that the inferior frontal gyrus and the ventral premotor cortex are activated for tasks other than language production. Specifically, a growing number of studies report the involvement of these two regions in language comprehension, action execution and observation, and music execution and listening. Recently, the critical involvement of the same areas in representing abstract hierarchical structures has also been demonstrated. Indeed, language, action, and music share a common syntactic-like structure. We propose that these areas are tuned to detect and represent complex hierarchical dependencies, regardless of modality and use. We speculate that this capacity evolved from motor and premotor functions associated with action execution and understanding, such as those characterizing the mirror-neuron system.

Encoding of human action in Broca's area.

Abstract: Broca's area has been considered, for over a century, as the brain centre responsible for speech production. Modern neuroimaging and neuropsychological evidence have suggested a wider functional role is played by this area. In addition to the evidence that it is involved in syntactical analysis, mathematical calculation and music processing, it has recently been shown that Broca's area may play some role in language comprehension and, more generally, in understanding actions of other individuals. As shown by functional magnetic resonance imaging, Broca's area is one of the cortical areas activated by hand/mouth action observation and it has been proposed that it may form a crucial node of a human mirror-neuron system. If, on the one hand, neuroimaging studies use a correlational approach which cannot offer a final proof for such claims, available neuropsychological data fail to offer a conclusive demonstration for two main reasons: (i) they use tasks taxing both language and action systems; and (ii) they rarely consider the possibility that Broca's aphasics may also be affected by some form of apraxia. We administered a novel action comprehension test--with almost no linguistic requirements--on selected frontal aphasic patients lacking apraxic symptoms. Patients, as well as matched controls, were shown short movies of human actions or of physical events. Their task consisted of ordering, in a temporal sequence, four pictures taken from each movie and randomly presented on the computer screen. Patient's performance showed a specific dissociation in their ability to re-order pictures of human actions (impaired) with respect to physical events (spared). Our study provides a demonstration that frontal aphasics, not affected by apraxia, are specifically impaired in their capability to correctly encode observed human actions.

Cross-modal plasticity of the motor cortex while listening to a rehearsed musical piece.

Abstract: Learning a musical piece requires the development of a strong linkage between sensory and motor representations. Audition plays a central role and a tight cortical auditory-motor corepresentation is a characteristic feature of music processing. Recent works have indicated the establishment of a functional connection between auditory and motor cortices during the learning of a novel piece, although no causal relation has yet been demonstrated. Here transcranial magnetic stimulation of the cortical motor representation involved in musical performance was used to test excitability changes in piano players during auditory presentation of a rehearsed and a non-rehearsed piece. Results showed an increased motor excitability for the rehearsed but not for the non-rehearsed piece. Moreover, we observed an increase of excitability over time as intracortical facilitation was already present after 30 min of training whereas cortico-spinal facilitation increased after a longer training period (5 days).

打磨Using Language,倡导新理念

Abstract: 人教版高中英语新课程教材中,语言运用（Using Language）是每个单元必不可少的部分,提供了围绕单元中心话题的听、说、读、写的综合性练习,是单元中心话题的延续和升华.如何设计Using Language部分的教学,使自己的教学模式既不落俗套,又能真正体现新课程标准所倡导的教学理念,正是广大一线英语教师一直努力探索的问题.