Giuseppe Vallar

CURRICULUM

Giuseppe Vallar (GV), MD, neurologist, is Full Professor of Psychobiology and Physiological Psychology in the Department of Psychology of the University of Milan-Bicocca, since 1999. GV teaches Neuropsychology and Neurofunctional Methods in Psychology in the 2nd level course of Clinical Psychology, Development and Neuropsychology, and is Director of the Specialty School of Neuropsychology. GV has been Full and Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology of “La Sapienza” University of Rome (1992-1999), and Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurology of the University of Milan (1980-1992). In the early 1980s GV made research in the MRC Applied Psychology Unit (Cambridge, UK). GV is author/coauthor of over 200 scientific publications, (H-index: 52, ISI web of Science; 70 Google Scholar).

http://www.psicologia.unimib.it/03_persone/scheda_personale.php?personId=92

 RESEARCH INTERESTS

  • Spatial attention and representation: functional aspects and neural bases
  • Unilateral spatial neglect after damage to the right cerebral hemisphere.
  • Sensorimotor plasticity, as investigated by the paradigm of prism adaptation in healthy participants and brain-damaged patients.
  • Unawareness of motor, sensory and cognitive deficits (e.g., spatial neglect, aphasia)
  • Non-invasive brain stimulation (TMS, tES, including tDCS): effects on cognitive (e.g., spatial attention), perceptual, and sensorimotor processes.
  • Neuropsychological rehabilitation of unilateral spatial neglect, and aphasia.
  • Neuropsychological diagnosis: collection, analysis, and computation of normative data for psychometric tests, mainly concerned with spatial cognition.

 RESEARCH PROGRAMS

Illustrative lines of research include the following:

  • The relationships between spatial reference frames and homeostatic parameters (body temperature, heart rate, respiratory rate), as assessed by prism adaptation and non-invasive brain stimulation paradigms.
  • The sensorimotor adaptation to prisms displacing the visual scene laterally: role of multisensory stimulation, effects of non-invasive brain stimulation; investigation of the role of brain damage in disrupting prism adaptation and aftereffects.
  • The role of music in the temporary recovery and rehabilitation of unilateral spatial neglect
  • The role of the posterior parietal, premotor and motor cortices in movement planning and execution.
  • Unilateral spatial neglect and perseveration behavior after right brain damage.

Neuropsychological Laboratory, IRCCS Istituto Italiano Auxologico, Via Mercalli 32, 20122-Milano (MI) http://www.auxologico.it/

 MAIN RECENT PUBLICATIONS

  1. Effect of prism adaptation on thermoregulatory control in humans. Calzolari E, Gallace A, Moseley GL, Vallar G. Behav Brain Res. 2016 Jan 1;296:339-50.
  2. Improving ideomotor limb apraxia by electrical stimulation of the left posterior parietal cortex. Bolognini N, Convento S, Banco E, Mattioli F, Tesio L, Vallar G. Brain. 2015 Feb;138(Pt 2):428-39.
  3. Italian neuropsychology in the second half of the twentieth century. Vallar G, Boller F, Grossi D, Gainotti G. Neurol Sci. 2015 Mar;36(3):361-70.
  4. Improving left spatial neglect through music scale playing. Bernardi NF, Cioffi MC, Ronchi R, Maravita A, Bricolo E, Zigiotto L, Perucca L, Vallar G. J Neuropsychol. 2015 Jul 6.
  5. Combining language and space: sentence bisection in unilateral spatial neglect. Veronelli L, Guasti MT, Arduino LS, Vallar G. Brain Lang. 2014 Oct;137:1-13.

 COLLABORATIONS WITH FOREIGN UNIVERSITIES

  • ImpAct (Integrative, Multisensory, Perception, Action and Cognition Team) , INSERM (U1028), with CNRS (UMR 5292), and with Claude Bernard University, Lyon 1, and the Lyon Hospitals (Prof. Gilles Rode, Prof. Yves Rossetti)
  • Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, UK (Dr. Flavia Mancini)
  • EPFL | École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne  (Dr. Roberta Ronchi)
  • Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck College, London, UK (Prof. Mattew Longo)