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Department of Psychology "Renzo Canestrari"

MoDel - Neuroscience of Motivation, Decision and Learning

We study the neural and functional mechanisms underlying reinforcement learning and decision-making. Head: Giuseppe di Pellegrino

Areas: Cognitive neuroscience

Research lines of the group documented by publications in the period 2019-2023

We study the neural and cognitive processes underlying human motivation, reinforcement learning and decision-making. These processes allow the flexible adaptation of human behavior to specific environments, in order to maximize rewards, avoid punishments and ultimately ensure survival.

In our studies, we use electrophysiological (EEG) and psychophysiological (SCR, ECG) measures, behavioral evidence and noninvasive neurostimulation (TMS, tDCS), both in healthy participants and in patients with neurological or psychiatric disorders.

Head:

Giuseppe di Pellegrino, Full Professor

Members

Sara Borgomaneri

Associate Professor

Daniela Dalbagno

PhD Student

Francesco Di Gregorio

Adjunct professor

Research fellow

Giuseppe Di Pellegrino

Full Professor

Sara Garofalo

Senior assistant professor (fixed-term)

Francesca Starita

Junior assistant professor (fixed-term)

ERC Sectors

SH4 The Human Mind and Its Complexity

  • SH4_4 Neurocognitive psychology
  • SH4_5 Attention, perception, action, consciousness
  • SH4_6 Learning, memory; cognition in ageing
  • SH4_7 Reasoning, decision-making; intelligence

 

LS5 Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System

  • LS5_5 Neural networks and plasticity
  • LS5_7 Sensory systems, sensation and perception, including pain
  • LS5_8 Neural basis of behaviour (e.g. sleep, consciousness, addiction)
  • LS5_9 Neural basis of cognition (e.g. learning, memory, attention, emotions, speech
  • LS5_12 Mental disorders
  • LS5_16 Systems and computational neuroscience (e.g. modelling, simulation, brain oscillations, connectomics

Scientific Disciplinary Sector: M-PSI/02

Selected publications of the group for the period 2019-2023

  1. Starita, F., Pirazzini, G., Ricci, G., Garofalo, S., Dalbagno, D., Degni, L. A., ... di Pellegrino, G. & Ursino, M. (2023). Theta and alpha power track the acquisition and reversal of threat predictions and correlate with skin conductance response. Psychophysiology, e14247. https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.14247
  2. Degni, Luigi A E; Dalbagno, Daniela; Starita, Francesca; Benassi, Mariagrazia; di Pellegrino, Giuseppe; Garofalo, Sara, General Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer in humans: Evidence from Bayesian inference, «FRONTIERS IN BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE», 2022, 16, pp. 1 - 12 [articolo]. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2022.945503
  3. Garofalo, S., Battaglia, S., Starita, F., & di Pellegrino, G. (2021). Modulation of cue-guided choices by transcranial direct current stimulation. Cortex, 137, 124–137. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2021.01.004
  4. Battaglia, S., Garofalo, S., di Pellegrino, G., & Starita, F. (2020). Revaluing the Role of vmPFC in the Acquisition of Pavlovian Threat Conditioning in Humans. The Journal of Neuroscience, 40(44), 8491–8500. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0304-20.2020
  5. Borgomaneri, S., Battaglia, S., Garofalo, S., Tortora, F., Avenanti, A., & di Pellegrino, G. (2020). State-Dependent TMS over Prefrontal Cortex Disrupts Fear-Memory Reconsolidation and Prevents the Return of Fear. Current Biology, 30(18), 3672-3679.e4. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2020.06.091
  6. Garofalo, S., Battaglia, S., di Pellegrino, G., Individual differences in working memory capacity and cue-guided behavior in humans, (2019) Scientific Reports, 9 (1), art. no. 7327. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-43860-w

Funding for the period 2019-2023

 International Projects

  •  2021-2024 BIAL Foundation Grant, “Fear in action: how Pavlovian fear learning shapes goal-directed motor responses” (PI: Francesca Starita)
  • 2019-2023 FLAG-ERA JTC 2019, “MoDeM - The "Motor-way" to Decision-Making: how the motor system drives cue-triggered decisions” – Project Coordinator (PI: Giuseppe di Pellegrino)
  • 2016-2020 HORIZON 2020, “CASTLE - CAbin Systems design Toward passenger welLbEing” (Grant Agreement n. CS2-AIR 2016-2017)
  • Leverhulme Visiting Professorship at the School of Psychology, Bangor University, UK

 

National Projects

  • 2023-2025 MIUR, PRIN. Decision-making through the lens of the motor system: a neurocomputational perspective (PI: Giuseppe di Pellegrino)
  • 2023-2025 MIUR, PRIN PNRR. Individual variations in resisting temptation: the balance between motivational and inhibitory control (PI: Sara Garofalo).
  • Fondi Ricerca Fondamentale Orientata (RFO), Università di Bologna

Active National and International Collaborations documented by publications/ funding/ scientific agreements for the period 2019-2023

 International collaborations

  • Angela Sirigu, Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, France
  • Valeria Gazzola, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, The Netherlands
  • Patrick Haggard, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College of London, UK
  • Martin Maier, Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Eichstätt, Germany

 National collaborations

  • Mirta Fiorio, Università di Verona
  • Giovanni Mirabella, Università degli Studi di Brescia
  • Gianluca Baldassarre, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche
  • Sonia Betti, Università di Padova

 Unibo collaborations

  • Mauro Ursino, Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell'Energia Elettrica e dell'Informazione "Guglielmo Marconi", Università di Bologna
  • Elisa Magosso, Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell'Energia Elettrica e dell'Informazione "Guglielmo Marconi", Università di Bologna
  • Francesca De Crescenzio, Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale, Università di Bologna

Editorial activities in the period 2019-2023

  • Academic Editor for PLoSOne, Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience
  • Editorial Board of Frontiers in Cognition
  • Research Topic Editor for Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience
  • Associate Editor for Collabra: Psychology, BMC Neuroscience

Linked Research Centre