Neuroscience and Behaviour Laboratory led by Giandomenico Iannetti based at the Italian Institute of Technology and University College London | @IITalk and @UCL

Rome, Italy
Joined September 2021
1/ Thrilled to share our latest publication in @NatureNeuro – and huge congratulations to @RoryBufacchi who led this work (first at @UCL and then @IITalk) with extraordinary insight and fastidiousness. Free full text: rdcu.be/eo3G3
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1/ Excited to share our latest work on how the extralemniscal system affects somatosensory processing, published in the October issue of @JNeurosci – and congratulations to Sofija Perovic @pick_your_brains on her first-but-not-last PhD paper! Full text: shorturl.at/i3Oj4
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7/ We observed that the amplitude of somatosensory responses did change as a function of the Vertex Potential phase! Thus, a large VP may reflect the rapid alternation of periods of depressed and enhanced cortical excitability, as it occurs during #sleep slow waves.
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8/ So we demonstrate that #surprise interferes with ongoing cortical functions across different #brain systems - i.e., not only at the level of the motor output but already at the sensory input - and thereby influences global brain dynamics.
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Our work on egocentric value maps, recently published in @NatureNeuro, has been highlighted in a Nature Research Briefing Have a look for a clear, accessible summary of the study key ideas, plus some behind the scenes insights (link at the end)
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So-called peripersonal neurons (responding to stimuli near the body) were long thought to encode space Our study shows they actually encode action value: how good or bad it would be to interact with objects nearby
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These egocentric value maps explain and unify peripersonal responses across species and empirical techniques (ephys, EEG, fMRI, behaviour) Full text: iannettilab.net/pdfs/buf2025… #RoryBufacchi #Neuroscience #PeripersonalSpace #ComputationalNeuroscience
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I had the pleasure of mentoring @RoryBufacchi - a rising star in #neuroscience who will be soon a leader in the field! To start your research career doing creative and rigorous science, missing the chance of joining his team at @embl @EMBLRome would be a *big* mistake!
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7/ These ANNs also naturally separate into sub-networks specialised for avoidance and interception, mirroring the modularity of both the macaque brain and the egocentric value map that we proposed.
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8/ This framework unites decades of fragmented data — from monkey neurophysiology to human EEG — into a single, testable theory. Just as hippocampal place cells map the world for navigation, peripersonal neurons map value around the body — for action.
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