SACHELI LUCIA MARIA

Main research interests

My research activity revolves around the psychophysiology of social and motor interactions, the impact of social and personality variables on these mechanisms, and their development throughout the life-span, from early childhood to aging.

I address these topics in behavioral studies including neurophysiological measures (obtained with non-invasive brain stimulation techniques or functional magnetic resonance imaging) and/or the measurment of movement kinematics (with motion capture techniques), and by studying motor interactions in neurological (for example, patients with Parkinson's disease) and psychiatric populations (for example, patients with schizophrenia) and in atypical development (for example, autism spectrum disorder).

I have also carried out studies aimed at exploring experience-dependent plasticity by investigating the impact of motor experience (for example, in musicians) and of learned non-use (for example, in orthopedic patients) on motor planning and on the ability to predict others' actions, and the potential of rehabilitation protocols based on motor imagery and imitation for the recovery of motor deficits.

Other research interests

- aesthetic appreciation and creativity

- developmental dyslexia and specific learning disorders