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Participants had to determine the orientation of a segment inside a target color circle among other gray distractor circles. The target circle was either red or green and was accompanied in the display by a distractor in the other color.... more
Participants had to determine the orientation of a segment inside a target color circle among other gray distractor circles. The target circle was either red or green and was accompanied in the display by a distractor in the other color. To dissociate event-related potentials of target and distractor processing, one of them was on the vertical meridian and the other in a lateral position. In Experiment 1, the target color was indicated on a per-trial basis and, in Experiment 2, on a per-block basis. The results revealed the N2pc elicited by red targets had an earlier latency relative to the N2pc elicited by green targets. Contralateral responses of positive polarity linked to distractor inhibition were found only with red lateral distractors. The results suggest that the choice of colors to distinguish targets from distractors may play a role in visual search performance and in the functional characterization of event-related lateralizations.
Publication Date: 2013
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Acqua, " Long-term continuous monitoring of the preterm brain with diffuse optical tomography and electroencephalography: a technical note on cap manufacturing, " Neurophoton. Abstract. Diffuse optical tomography (DOT) has recently proved... more
Acqua, " Long-term continuous monitoring of the preterm brain with diffuse optical tomography and electroencephalography: a technical note on cap manufacturing, " Neurophoton. Abstract. Diffuse optical tomography (DOT) has recently proved useful for detecting whole-brain oxygenation changes in preterm and term newborns' brains. The data recording phase in prior explorations was limited up to a maximum of a couple of hours, a time dictated by the need to minimize skin damage caused by the protracted contact with optode holders and interference with concomitant clinical/nursing procedures. In an attempt to extend the data recording phase, we developed a new custom-made cap for multimodal DOT and electroen-cephalography acquisitions for the neonatal population. The cap was tested on a preterm neonate (28 weeks gestation) for a 7-day continuous monitoring period. The cap was well tolerated by the neonate, who did not suffer any evident discomfort and/or skin damage. Montage and data acquisition using our cap was operated by an attending nurse with no difficulty. DOT data quality was remarkable, with an average of 92% of reliable channels , characterized by the clear presence of the heartbeat in most of them.
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Diffuse optical tomography (DOT) has recently proved useful for detecting whole-brain oxygenation changes in preterm and term newborns' brains. The data recording phase in prior explorations was... more
Diffuse optical tomography (DOT) has recently proved useful for detecting whole-brain oxygenation changes in preterm and term newborns' brains. The data recording phase in prior explorations was limited up to a maximum of a couple of hours, a time dictated by the need to minimize skin damage caused by the protracted contact with optode holders and interference with concomitant clinical/nursing procedures. In an attempt to extend the data recording phase, we developed a new custom-made cap for multimodal DOT and electroencephalography acquisitions for the neonatal population. The cap was tested on a preterm neonate (28 weeks gestation) for a 7-day continuous monitoring period. The cap was well tolerated by the neonate, who did not suffer any evident discomfort and/or skin damage. Montage and data acquisition using our cap was operated by an attending nurse with no difficulty. DOT data quality was remarkable, with an average of 92% of reliable channels, characterized by the clear presence of the heartbeat in most of them.
Publication Date: 2016
Publication Name: Neurophotonics
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by Paola Sessa and Roberto Dell'Acqua
Publication Date: 2010
Research Interests:
Psychology, Cognitive Science, Perception, Selective Attention, Electrophysiology, and 23 moreVisual attention, Cognition, Attention, Electroencephalography, Visual Search, Brain Mapping, Vision, Evoked Potentials, Humans, Cues, Orientation, Female, Male, Reaction Time, Young Adult, Adult, Analysis of Variance, Neuropsychologia, Visual Memory, Short Term Memory, Visual Short Term Memory, Neurosciences, and Functional Laterality
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Visual short-term memory has a very limited storage capacity of about three objects. Some stages of categorization and decision making appear also to have very sharp capacity limitations, sometimes as low as one representation. Early... more
Visual short-term memory has a very limited storage capacity of about three objects. Some stages of categorization and decision making appear also to have very sharp capacity limitations, sometimes as low as one representation. Early visual processing, on the other ...
Publication Date: 2007
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by Paola Sessa and Roberto Dell'Acqua
Publication Date: 2010
Publication Name: Frontiers in Psychology
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Publication Date: 2007
Publication Name: Brain Research
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Publication Date: 2007
Publication Name: Brain Research
Research Interests:
Cognitive Science, Attention, Electroencephalography, Color Perception, Space perception, and 14 moreSpatial Attention, Brain, Evoked Potentials, Humans, Attentional Blink, Female, Male, Adult, Analysis of Variance, Time Factors, Short Term Memory, Visual Short Term Memory, Neurosciences, and Functional Laterality
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by Paola Sessa and Roberto Dell'Acqua
Publication Date: 2010
Publication Name: Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
Research Interests:
Psychology, Cognitive Science, Research Methodology, Cognitive Neuroscience, Color Perception, and 13 moreEvoked Potentials, Humans, Cerebral Cortex, Change detection, Reaction Time, Comparative Analysis, Task analysis, Stimuli, Cognitive processes, Neuronal Activity, Short Term Memory, Visual Short Term Memory, and Neurosciences
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Publication Date: 2006
Publication Name: European Journal of Cognitive Psychology
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A neuropsychological assessment of dual-task costs in closed-head injury patients using Cohen’s effect size estimation methodmore
by Paola Sessa and Roberto Dell'Acqua
Publication Date: 2006
Publication Name: Psychological Research
Research Interests:
Psychology, Cognitive Science, Psychometrics, Attention, Adolescent, and 19 moreColor Perception, Humans, Effect size, Psychological, Neuropsychological Assessment, Female, Male, Reaction Time, Verbal behavior, Task Performance, Dual Task, Middle Aged, Adult, Reference Values, Estimation Method, Choice Behavior, Functional Laterality, Psychomotor Performance, and Neuropsychological Tests
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Publication Date: 2006
Publication Name: European Journal of Cognitive Psychology
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Publication Date: 2006
Publication Name: Psychophysiology
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by Paola Sessa and Roberto Dell'Acqua
Early event-related potential (ERP) hemispheric asymmetries recorded at occipitoparietal sites are usually observed following the sudden onset of a lateral peripheral stimulus. This is usually reflected in an onset-locked larger N1 over... more
Early event-related potential (ERP) hemispheric asymmetries recorded at occipitoparietal sites are usually observed following the sudden onset of a lateral peripheral stimulus. This is usually reflected in an onset-locked larger N1 over the posterior contralateral hemisphere relative to the ipsilateral hemisphere, an early ERP asymmetry labeled N1pc. When the peripheral sudden onset is followed by a central stimulus, or by a bilaterally balanced visual array of stimuli, these events evoke a reversed N1pc, that is, a larger N1 over the hemisphere ipsilateral to the peripheral sudden onset. This N1pc reversal has been taken as evidence for a remapping of the visual space from an absolute, retinally based frame of reference to a relative, attentionally based frame of reference that codes the spatial positions of objects relative to the peripheral sudden onset, rather than relative to the fovea. Here, we pit the reference frame-remapping account against an alternative account based on reduced neural reactivity following the peripheral sudden onset. In three experiments, we varied the spatial location of an object relative to a preceding sudden onset, and tested the opposite predictions generated by the frame-remapping and the reduced neural reactivity accounts. Taken together, the results from the present experiments were consistent with the reduced neural reactivity account and inconsistent with the frame-remapping account.
Publication Date: 2013
Publication Name: Psychophysiology
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We used electrophysiological methods to track the deployment of visual spatial attention while observers were engaged in concurrent central attentional processing, using a variant of the attentional blink paradigm. Two visual targets (T1,... more
We used electrophysiological methods to track the deployment of visual spatial attention while observers were engaged in concurrent central attentional processing, using a variant of the attentional blink paradigm. Two visual targets (T1, T2) were presented at a stimulus onset asynchrony of either 200 ms or 800 ms. T1 was a white digit among white letters presented on a dark background using rapid serial visual presentation at fixation. T2 was another digit that was presented to the left or right of fixation simultaneously with a distractor digit in the opposite visual field, each followed by a pattern mask. In each T2 display, one digit was red and one was green. Half of the subjects reported the red digit and ignored the green one, whereas the other half reported the green digit and ignored the red one. T1 and T2 were reported in one block of trials, and only T2 in another block (order counterbalanced across subjects). Accuracy of report of T2 was lower at short SOA than at long SOA when both T1 and T2 were reported, but was similar across SOA when only T2 was reported. The electrophysiological results focused on the N2pc component, which was used as an index of the locus of spatial attention. N2pc was reduced in amplitude when subjects reported T1, and particularly so at the short SOA. The results suggest that attention to T1 interfered with the deployment of visual spatial attention to T2.
Publication Date: 2006
Publication Name: Psychological Research
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Look out for strangers! Sustained neural activity during visual working memory maintenance of other-race faces is modulated by implicit racial prejudicemore
by Paola Sessa and Roberto Dell'Acqua
Publication Date: 2012
Publication Name: Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
Research Interests:
Psychology, Cognitive Science, Prejudice, Electroencephalography, Face, and 14 moreSocial Cognitive Theory, Social Cognitive Affective Neuroscience, Brain Mapping, Humans, Male, Reaction Time, Parietal Lobe, Analysis of Variance, Short Term Memory, European Continental Ancestry Group, Visual Evoked Potentials, Neurosciences, Functional Laterality, and Neuropsychological Tests
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Publication Date: 2003
Publication Name: Vision Research
Research Interests:
Perception, Cognition, Visual perception, Attention, Masking, and 8 moreVision, Humans, Attentional Blink, Cues, Female, Male, Adult, and Blinking
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Publication Date: 2014
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Interhemispheric ERP asymmetries over inferior parietal cortex reveal differential visual working memory maintenance for fearful versus neutral facial identitiesmore
by Paola Sessa and Roberto Dell'Acqua
Publication Date: 2011
Research Interests:
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The distractor frequency effect in the colour-naming Stroop task: An overt naming event-related potential studymore
by Paola Sessa and Roberto Dell'Acqua
Publication Date: 2015
Publication Name: Journal of Cognitive Psychology
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The Attentional Blink Impairs Detection and Delays Encoding of Visual Information: Evidence from Human Electrophysiologymore
by Paola Sessa and Roberto Dell'Acqua
This article explores the time course of the functional interplay between detection and encoding stages of information processing in the brain and the role they play in conscious visual perception. We employed a multitarget rapid serial... more
This article explores the time course of the functional interplay between detection and encoding stages of information processing in the brain and the role they play in conscious visual perception. We employed a multitarget rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) approach and examined the electrophysiological P3 component elicited by a target terminating an RSVP sequence. Target-locked P3 activity was detected both at frontal and parietal recording sites and an independent component analysis confirmed the presence of two distinct P3 components. The posterior P3b varied with intertarget lag, with diminished amplitude and postponed latency at short relative to long lags-an electroencephalographic signature of the attentional blink (AB). Under analogous conditions, the anterior P3a was also reduced in amplitude but did not vary in latency. Collectively, the results provide an electrophysiological record of the interaction between frontal and posterior components linked to detection (P3a) and encoding (P3b) of visual information. Our findings suggest that, although the AB delays target encoding into working memory, it does not slow down detection of a target but instead reduces the efficacy of this process. A functional characterization of P3a in attentive tasks is discussed with reference to current models of the AB phenomenon.
Publication Date: 2014
Publication Name: Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
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Publication Date: 2006
Publication Name: Eur J Cogn Psychol
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P3 latency shifts in the attentional blink: Further evidence for second target processing postponementmore
by Paola Sessa and Roberto Dell'Acqua
Publication Date: Mar 16, 2007
Publication Name: Brain Research
Research Interests:
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Attentional control and capture in the attentional blink paradigm: Evidence from human electrophysiologymore
by Paola Sessa and Roberto Dell'Acqua
Publication Date: Feb 17, 2007
Publication Name: Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 09541440500423210
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Publication Date: 2008
Publication Name: Giornale Italiano Di Psicologia
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by Paola Sessa and Roberto Dell'Acqua
Publication Date: Jan 31, 2010
Publication Name: Neuropsychologia
Research Interests:
Psychology, Cognitive Science, Perception, Selective Attention, Electrophysiology, and 23 moreVisual attention, Cognition, Attention, Electroencephalography, Visual Search, Brain Mapping, Vision, Evoked Potentials, Humans, Cues, Orientation, Female, Male, Reaction Time, Young Adult, Adult, Analysis of Variance, Neuropsychologia, Visual Memory, Short Term Memory, Visual Short Term Memory, Neurosciences, and Functional Laterality
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A consolidated practice in cognitive neuroscience is to explore the properties of human visual working memory through the analysis of electromagnetic signals using cued change detection tasks. Under these conditions, EEG/MEG activity... more
A consolidated practice in cognitive neuroscience is to explore the properties of human visual working memory through the analysis of electromagnetic signals using cued change detection tasks. Under these conditions, EEG/MEG activity increments in the posterior parietal cortex scaling with the number of memoranda are often reported in the hemisphere contralateral to the objects' position in the memory array. This highly replicable finding clashes with several reported failures to observe compatible hemodynamic activity modulations using fMRI or fNIRS in comparable tasks. Here, we reconcile this apparent discrepancy by acquiring fMRI data on healthy participants and employing a cluster analysis to group voxels in the posterior parietal cortex based on their functional response. The analysis identified two distinct subpopulations of voxels in the intraparietal sulcus (IPS) showing a consistent functional response among participants. One subpopulation, located in the superior IPS, showed a bilateral response to the number of objects coded in visual working memory. A different subpopulation, located in the inferior IPS, showed an increased unilateral response when the objects were displayed contralaterally. The results suggest that a cluster of neurons in the inferior IPS is a candidate source of electromagnetic contralateral responses to working memory load in cued change detection tasks.
Publication Date: 2016
Publication Name: Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
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Publication Date: 2003
Publication Name: Psychophysiology
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Publication Date: 2011
Publication Name: Psychophysiology
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On the representation of words and nonwords in visual short-term memory: Evidence from human electrophysiologymore
by Martin Arguin and Roberto Dell'Acqua
Publication Date: 2009
Publication Name: Psychophysiology
Research Interests:
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Visual short-term memory has a very limited storage capacity of about three objects. Some stages of categorization and decision making appear also to have very sharp capacity limitations, sometimes as low as one representation. Early... more
Visual short-term memory has a very limited storage capacity of about three objects. Some stages of categorization and decision making appear also to have very sharp capacity limitations, sometimes as low as one representation. Early visual processing, on the other ...
Publication Date: 2007
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Publication Date: 2007
Publication Name: Brain Research
Research Interests:
Cognitive Science, Attention, Electroencephalography, Color Perception, Space perception, and 14 moreSpatial Attention, Brain, Evoked Potentials, Humans, Attentional Blink, Female, Male, Adult, Analysis of Variance, Time Factors, Short Term Memory, Visual Short Term Memory, Neurosciences, and Functional Laterality
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Publication Date: 2006
Publication Name: Psychophysiology
Research Interests:
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We used electrophysiological methods to track the deployment of visual spatial attention while observers were engaged in concurrent central attentional processing, using a variant of the attentional blink paradigm. Two visual targets (T1,... more
We used electrophysiological methods to track the deployment of visual spatial attention while observers were engaged in concurrent central attentional processing, using a variant of the attentional blink paradigm. Two visual targets (T1, T2) were presented at a stimulus onset asynchrony of either 200 ms or 800 ms. T1 was a white digit among white letters presented on a dark background using rapid serial visual presentation at fixation. T2 was another digit that was presented to the left or right of fixation simultaneously with a distractor digit in the opposite visual field, each followed by a pattern mask. In each T2 display, one digit was red and one was green. Half of the subjects reported the red digit and ignored the green one, whereas the other half reported the green digit and ignored the red one. T1 and T2 were reported in one block of trials, and only T2 in another block (order counterbalanced across subjects). Accuracy of report of T2 was lower at short SOA than at long SOA when both T1 and T2 were reported, but was similar across SOA when only T2 was reported. The electrophysiological results focused on the N2pc component, which was used as an index of the locus of spatial attention. N2pc was reduced in amplitude when subjects reported T1, and particularly so at the short SOA. The results suggest that attention to T1 interfered with the deployment of visual spatial attention to T2.
Publication Date: 2006
Publication Name: Psychological Research
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Publication Date: 2006
Publication Name: European Journal of Cognitive Psychology
Research Interests:
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Le figure PD/DPSS. Misure di accordo sul nome, tipicità, familiarità, età di acquisizione e tempi di denominazione per 266 figuremore
by Lorella Lotto and Roberto Dell'Acqua
Publisher: 147.162.129.76
Publication Date: 2001
Publication Name: Giornale italiano di psicologia
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Naming times and standardized norms for the italian PD/DPSS set of 266 pictures: Direct comparisons with American, English, French, and Spanish published databasesmore
by Lorella Lotto and Roberto Dell'Acqua
Publication Date: 2000
Publication Name: Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers
Research Interests:
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Spatial layout of letters in nonwords affects visual short-term memory load: Evidence from human electrophysiologymore
by Martin Arguin and Roberto Dell'Acqua
Publication Date: 2011
Research Interests:
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Publication Date: 2016
Publication Name: Psychophysiology
Research Interests:
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Publication Name: Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology
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In two experiments, we investigated whether visual field (VF) asymmetries of spatial cueing are involved in reading parafoveal Chinese characters. These characters are different from linearly arranged alphabetic words in that they are... more
In two experiments, we investigated whether visual field (VF) asymmetries of spatial cueing are involved in reading parafoveal Chinese characters. These characters are different from linearly arranged alphabetic words in that they are logograms that are confined to a constant, square-shaped area and are composed of only a few radicals. We observed a cueing effect, but it did not vary with the VF in which the Chinese character was presented, regardless of whether the cue validity (the ratio of validly to invalidly cued targets) was 1:1 or 7:3. These results suggest that VF asymmetries of spatial cueing do not affect the reading of parafoveal Chinese characters, contrary to the reading of alphabetic words. The mechanisms of spatial attention in reading parafoveal English-like words and Chinese characters are discussed.