Director: Dr. Eraldo Palesu
Lucia Maria Sacheli, Ph.D.
Bio
Lucia Maria Sacheli is an experimental psychologist and neuroscientist. She works at the IRCCS Galeazzi in the fMRI Research Unit held by Prof Eraldo Paulesu, and at the University of Milano-Bicocca (Department of Psychology and Milan Center for Neuroscience).
Lucia did her PhD in Cognitive, Social and Affective Neuroscience at Sapienza University of Rome. She is interested in investigating the neurocognitive processes supporting interpersonal coordination during cooperative joint-actions, and the impact of social variables on these mechanisms, mainly using Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), functional MRI and kinematic data analysis. She is also interested in the development of the ability to interact with others during the entire life-spam, since early childhood.
Moreover, she is studying motor control both in individual and social contexts, and she is interested in investigating the impact of motor expertise on the predictive processes involved in action perception, by exploring how motor excellence (e.g. in musicians or athletes) on the one hand, and the misuse of a limb (e.g. caused by immobilization or chronic arthritis) on the other, may modulate motor representations.
Publications
Gandolfo M, Era V, Tieri G, Sacheli LM, Candidi M. Interactor’s body shape does not affect visuo-motor interference effects during motor coordination. Acta Psychol (Amst). 2019 Apr 12;196:42-50. doi: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2019.04.003.
Curioni A, Sacheli LM. The role of social learning and socio-cognitive skills in sensorimotor communication: Comment on “The body talks: Sensorimotor
communication and its brain and kinematic signatures” by Pezzulo et al. Phys Life
Rev. 2019 Jan 31. pii: S1571-0645(19)30029-6. doi: 10.1016/j.plrev.2019.01.021.
Sacheli LM, Zapparoli L, Preti M, De Santis C, Pelosi C, Ursino N, Zerbi A, Stucovitz E, Banfi G, Paulesu E. A functional limitation to the lower limbs affects the neural bases of motor imagery of gait. Neuroimage Clin. 2018 Jul 5;20:177-187. doi: 10.1016/j.nicl.2018.07.003.
Era V, Candidi M, Gandolfo M, Sacheli LM, Aglioti SM. Inhibition of left anterior intraparietal sulcus shows that mutual adjustment marks dyadic joint-actions in humans. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2018 May 1;13(5):492-500. doi:10.1093/scan/nsy022. Open Access
Sacheli LM, Arcangeli E, Paulesu E. Evidence for a dyadic motor plan in joint action. Sci Rep. 2018 Mar 22;8(1):5027. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-23275-9. Open Access
Sacheli LM, Tieri G, Aglioti SM, Candidi M. Transitory Inhibition of the Left Anterior Intraparietal Sulcus Impairs Joint Actions: A Continuous Theta-Burst Stimulation Study. J Cogn Neurosci. 2018 May;30(5):737-751. doi:10.1162/jocn_a_01227.
Candidi M, Sacheli LM, Era V, Canzano L, Tieri G, Aglioti SM. Come together: human-avatar on-line interactions boost joint-action performance in apraxic patients. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2017 Nov 1;12(11):1793-1802. doi:10.1093/scan/nsx114. Open Access
Sacheli LM, Meyer M, Hartstra E, Bekkering H, Hunnius S. How preschoolers and
adults represent their joint action partner’s behavior. Psychol Res. 2017 Oct 24.
doi: 10.1007/s00426-017-0929-8.
Sacheli LM, Zapparoli L, De Santis C, Preti M, Pelosi C, Ursino N, Zerbi A, Banfi G, Paulesu E. Mental steps: Differential activation of internal pacemakers in motor imagery and in mental imitation of gait. Hum Brain Mapp. 2017 Oct;38(10):5195-5216. doi: 10.1002/hbm.23725.
Curioni A, Minio-Paluello I, Sacheli LM, Candidi M, Aglioti SM. Autistic traits affect interpersonal motor coordination by modulating strategic use of role-based behavior. Mol Autism. 2017 Jun 9;8:23. doi: 10.1186/s13229-017-0141-0.