Perception and Action Integration

Name: Alessandro Farnè
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Position: Researcher (INSERM)
Primary affiliation: “Espace et Action” U864, INSERM (Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale) and University Claude Bernard Lyon I
Postal address: “Espace et Action” U864, 16 avenue du doyen Lépine, 69500, Bron, France
Voice: (+33) 472 91 34 12
Facsimile: (+33) 472 91 34 01

RESEARCH INTERESTS
The research is mainly focused on the cognitive processes through which the brain acquire and integrate multi-sensory inputs (vision, touch, proprioception, hearing, vestibular) allowing to represent the body and its posture, the near or far space where a target object is located, and the relationships between the body and the goal of the action. The common feature is the study of 1) the phenomena of multisensory integration contributing to the construction of spatial representations and their plasticity induced by action 2) their neurophysiological mechanisms and 3) the diagnostic and therapeutic advantages of their implementation.

Key words: multisensory; space; body schema; tool-use; motor control; Kinematics; TMS.

CURRICULUM VITAE
Education:
- 1999  PhD in Experimental Psychology, University of Bologna, Italy.
- 1992 Experimental Psychology Degree, University of Padua, Italy.

Positions and Employment:
- 2005 Researcher INSERM CR1, U534 Espace et Action, Bron, France.
- 2001-2005 Assistant Professor, Faculty of Psychology, University of Bologna.

PhD PROJECTS
1) Multisensory role of FEF
The Frontal Eye Field (FEF) is involved in the spatial orienting of the ocular/attentional system. Its role in the spatial orienting of multisensory attention will be investigated, as well as its contribution to the conscious visual perception. A first step will consist in defining in normal subjects the spatial limits for orienting visual-tactile attention, imposed by physical constrains of the ocular system, in accordance with the pre-motor theory of attention. In a second step, single pulse TMS will be used to confirm the crucial role played by the FEF area in orienting (voluntary/automatic) spatial visual-tactile attention. In particular, TMS on FEF is expected to prevent the normal orienting of multisensory attention.

2) Multisensory coding of body schema
This project aims at exploring the multisensory contribution to the construction of the body representation. We will explore disorders of body-consciousness with a focus on the various levels of expression of self cognition, ranging from implicit to explicit knowledge. Healthy subjects and patients with brain lesions will be investigated for their ability to establish the basis of the sense of ownership of body parts and external objects (as prostheses or tools). Various multisensory interventions (prism adaptation, visual or kinaesthetic motion, altered sensory inputs, motor learning) and TMS will be the mainly used approaches and some studies will include brain imaging (fMRI, MEG) techniques thanks to new local and international collaborations.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
1. Brozzoli C, Ishihara M, Göbel SM, Salemme R, Rossetti Y, Farnè A (2008). Touch perception reveals the dominance of spatial over digital representation of numbers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences U.S.A. 105, 5644-5648.
2. Ro T, Farnè A, Johnson RM, Wedeen V, Chu Z, Wang ZJ, Hunter JV, Beauchamp MS (2007). Feeling sounds after a thalamic lesion. Annals of Neurology 62, 433-441.
3. Legrand D, Brozzoli C, Rossetti Y, Farnè A (2007). Close to me: multisensory space representations for action and pre-reflexive consciousness of oneself-in-the-world. Consciousness and Cognition 16, 687-699.
4. Farnè A, Serino A, Làdavas E (2007). Dynamic size-change of peri-hand space following tool-use: determinants and spatial characteristics revealed through cross-modal extinction. Cortex 43, 436-43.
5. Pisella L, Rode G, Farnè A, Tilikete C, Rossetti Y (2006). Prism adaptation in the rehabilitation of patients with visuo-spatial cognitive disorders. Current Opinion in Neurology 19, 534-542.
6. Brozzoli C, Dematte ML, Pavani F, Frassinetti F, Farne A (2006). Neglect and extinction: Within and between sensory modalities. Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience 24, 217-232.
7. Gobel SM, Calabria M, Farne A, Rossetti Y (2006). Parietal rTMS distorts the mental number line: simulating 'spatial' neglect in healthy subjects. Neuropsychologia 44, 860-868.
8. Farnè A, Iriki A, Làdavas E (2005). Shaping mutisensory action-space with tools: evidence from patients with cross-modal extinction. Neuropsychologia 43, 238-248.
9. Ro T, Wallace R, Hagedorn J, Farnè A, Pienkos E (2004). Visual enhancing of tactile perception in posterior parietal cortex. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 16, 24-30.
10. Jeannerod M, Farnè A. The visuomotor function of posterior parietal lobe. In: Siegel A, Andersen RA, Freund HJ & Spencer D (Eds.) The parietal lobe. Advances in Neurology. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia 2003 (93), pp. 205-217.