Department of Psychology and Centro studi e ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Cesena, University of Bologna, Italy

Supervisors: E. Ladavas, F. Frassinetti

This Institution has a long-standing tradition of studying higher mental abilities in the human brain and their disruption following brain damage of various pathologies. The ultimate goal of this section of the program is to train graduate students in deeply understanding the relationship between normal and pathological cognitive functions, so that theory-informed approaches of rehabilitative intervention can be developed. A large variety of cognitive functions are examined, including perceptual and attentional abilities, space representation and multisensory integration, body schema, memory, cognitive and affective control of behaviour, action understanding, social cognition and empathy. These topics are addressed by using a variety of behavioural approaches mainly from a neuropsychological perspective. PhD students will also access diverse techniques, including behavioural and anatomical analysis of neurological patients, eye movement recording, elecroencephalography (EEG) recording and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS).