Author name cluster

Romina Romaniello

Possible papers associated with this exact author name in Arrow. This page groups case-insensitive exact name matches and is not a full identity disambiguation profile.

3 papers

1 author row

YNIMG Journal 2025 Journal Article

Unveiling the alterations of action processing and mu rhythm in Williams Syndrome

Viola Oldrati
Niccolò Butti
Elisabetta Ferrari
Caterina Piazza
Romina Romaniello
Chiara Gagliardi
Alessandra Finisguerra
Cosimo Urgesi

Williams syndrome (WS) is a neurodevelopmental disorder marked by social difficulties, which may stem from atypical action processing. We investigated whether individuals with WS show impaired action processing as indexed by electroencephalographic (EEG) mu suppression, a biomarker of action processing. 17 individuals with WS, 17 healthy controls (HC) and 17 individuals with intellectual and developmental disability (IDD) participated in the study. During EEG recording, participants performed a task requiring to predict actions under perceptual ambiguity. In a preceding learning phase, the probability of actions co-occurring with contextual cues was manipulated to establish varying association strengths: high informativeness from very frequent or rare pairings, and moderate informativeness from intermediate ones. A control task required to use contextual cues for predicting moving shapes. HC and WS groups, but not the IDD group, utilized contextual cues to predict action/shape unfolding. EEG data revealed distinct patterns of mu event-related desynchronization (mu-ERD) across groups. In the HC group, mu-ERD was stronger during action than shape prediction and varied with the cue probability, with greater mu-ERD in low vs. high probability trials. In WS and IDD, mu-ERD was attenuated compared to HC. Notably, WS participants exhibited greater mu-ERD for low- than high-probability actions in moderately informative contexts; no modulation was observed in highly informative contexts in either task. In IDD, mu-ERD was not modulated by task or cues predictability. The attenuation and distinct contextual modulation of mu-ERD in WS may reflect anomalies in perception-action mechanisms, potentially linked to impaired simulation of observed actions.

Details DOI

YNIMG Journal 2025 Journal Article

Visuo-spatial functions mediate the association between cortical thickness of fronto-parietal areas and social processing abilities in congenital atypical development

Viola Oldrati
Elisabetta Ferrari
Niccolò Butti
Chiara Gagliardi
Romina Romaniello
Renato Borgatti
Denis Peruzzo
Cosimo Urgesi

Different theoretical perspectives emphasize the significance of sensorimotor and visuospatial functions in shaping social perception, including theory of mind (ToM) and affect recognition (AR) abilities. This study aimed to investigate where in the brain cortical thickness (CT) predicts social perception, and which cognitive functions mediate such relationship. To these aims, we used a hierarchical analytical plan: Step 1 identified brain areas' CT that correlate with cognitive measures; Step 2 used stepwise regression to predict social perception outcomes (ToM and AR) from brain areas' CT; Step 3 assessed whether cognitive measures mediate the link between CT and social perception outcomes. The results showed that the CT of the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG; pars triangularis) predicted both ToM and AR, while the CT of the right superior parietal gyrus (SPL) and of the right anterior occipital sulcus (AOcs) predicted only AR. Mediation models unveiled that visuo-constructive abilities and visual attention mediated the relationship between CT in these areas and social perception outcomes. These findings align with the role of the IFG in mentalizing abilities and underscore the involvement of SPL in visuospatial functions, including mental object rotation and spatial perspective-taking, which are essential for advanced social skills; the role of the AOcs in face processing was also highlighted. Importantly, the findings suggest that fronto-parietal areas are indirectly involved in social perception thorough their involvement in visuo-constructive abilities and visual attention.

Details DOI

YNICL Journal 2024 Journal Article

Neurorestorative effects of cerebellar transcranial direct current stimulation on social prediction of adolescents and young adults with congenital cerebellar malformations

Viola Oldrati
Niccolò Butti
Elisabetta Ferrari
Sandra Strazzer
Romina Romaniello
Renato Borgatti
Cosimo Urgesi
Alessandra Finisguerra

BACKGROUND: Converging evidence points to impairments of the predictive function exerted by the cerebellum as one of the causes of the social cognition deficits observed in patients with cerebellar disorders. OBJECTIVE: We tested the neurorestorative effects of cerebellar transcranial direct current stimulation (ctDCS) on the use of contextual expectations to interpret actions occurring in ambiguous sensory sceneries in a sample of adolescents and young adults with congenital, non-progressive cerebellar malformation (CM). METHODS: We administered an action prediction task in which, in an implicit-learning phase, the probability of co-occurrence between actions and contextual elements was manipulated to form either strongly or moderately informative expectations. Subsequently, in a testing phase, we probed the use of these contextual expectations for predicting ambiguous (i.e., temporally occluded) actions. In a sham-controlled, within-subject design, participants received anodic or sham ctDCS during the task. RESULTS: Anodic ctDCS, compared to sham, improved patients' ability to use contextual expectations to predict the unfolding of actions embedded in moderately, but not strongly, informative contexts. CONCLUSIONS: These findings corroborate the role of the cerebellum in using previously learned contextual associations to predict social events and document the efficacy of ctDCS to boost social prediction in patients with congenital cerebellar malformation. The study encourages the further exploration of ctDCS as a neurorestorative tool for the neurorehabilitation of social cognition abilities in neurological, neuropsychiatric, and neurodevelopmental disorders featured by macro- or micro-structural alterations of the cerebellum.

Details DOI