Eleonora Arrigoni

I obtained my Master’s Degree in Clinical Psychology and Neuropsychology across the Lifespan in 2020 at the University of Milano-Bicocca, discussing a thesis investigating the electrophysiological spatio-temporal profile of cortical networks related to motor preparation by means of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and Electroencephalography (TMS-EEG) co-registration.
Since my master’s degree, I have been training under the supervision of Prof. Alberto Pisoni with a focus on the application of non-invasive brain stimulation (NiBS) techniques as a tool to study cortical dynamics underlying sensorimotor and cognitive processing in healthy participants. I have been developing my expertise in the use of TMS-EEG integrated system in different settings, namely during the execution of behavioural tasks or in combination with other NiBS, such as transcranial electrical stimulation (tES).

In 2021, I completed my post-lauream internship at Villa Beretta Rehabilitation Hospital, Costa Masnaga (LC), where I received clinical training on neuropsychological evaluation and functional rehabilitation of patients with acquired brain injuries and neurodegenerative disorders.

Currently, I am a PhD candidate in Clinical Neuroscience at the School of Medicine and Surgery of the University of Milano-Bicocca. My research project is aimed at investigating the cortical dynamics underpinning action preparation by means of TMS-EEG. In particular, the project aims to shed light on how network interactions during action preparation contribute to the behavioral performance.
As a side project, I am collaborating with Prof. Nadia Bolognini and Dr. Giacomo Guidali on a TMS-EEG study aimed at deepening the neurofunctional mechanisms underlying motor resonance during the observation of actions.

Moreover, I am involved in TMS-EEG studies that sought to evaluate the effectiveness of NiBS protocols, such as tES and Paired Associative Stimulation (PAS).

PhD research project

Exploring the functional role of cortical networks underlying action preparation: a TMS-EEG investigation

Action preparation involves multiple stages of processing, in which multimodal representations about the external world and internal representations are processed together, biasing the activity of the sensorimotor system to ensure the selection and execution of the most appropriate motor plan (Bestmann and Duque, 2016, Neige et al., 2018). However, how preparatory brain activity relates to different aspects of the subsequent behaviour requires further investigation.

Brain oscillations play a crucial role in supporting brain functions, by temporally orchestrating the information processing within widespread neuronal networks (Fries, 2015; Palva & Palva, 2012). Possibly, pre-movement activity reflects functional changes in the organization of distributed networks occurring during preparatory stages of movement and related to action anticipation processes. However, how network dynamics support the processing of such information in relation to the forthcoming action is still unclear.

The combined use of transcranial magnetic stimulation and electrophysiological recordings (TMS-EEG) can contribute to identifying distributed networks supporting excitatory and inhibitory processes and their modulation across different experimental conditions (Miniussi & Thut, 2010). Indeed, TMS-EEG proved to be a useful tool to investigate the cortical dynamics underlying sensory and cognitive processing during task performance by means of TMS-evoked potentials (TEPs) analysis (Pisoni et al., 2018).

The present PhD project aims to investigate the functional role of distributed networks during action preparation, focusing on both qualitative and quantitative aspects of inter-areal communication. In particular, the project will explore whether and how pre-movement network interactions in different frequency bands contribute to the specification of motor behavior.

The project has the final goal to assess the role of functional networks during action preparation in the specification of motor and cognitive aspects of the forthcoming action in healthy participants.  To this aim, I will perform TMS-EEG recordings on healthy subjects during the performance of visuomotor tasks in which motor and cognitive aspects will be modulated across experimental conditions, eliciting and recording cortical activity and functional connectivity at different stages of action preparation over the premotor cortex. This will allow testing whether specific cortical connectivity patterns can predict different aspects of the behavioral performance.

Further details

• Scopus Author ID: 57901235400;
• ResearchGate
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• Unimib Website