My field of interest lies in the neuropsychology of motor cognition, with a particular focus on Limb Apraxia—a neuropsychological deficit in the execution of voluntary manual actions. Voluntary manual actions encompass "Actual tool use," Pantomimes (the miming of tool use), and Intransitive (communicative, symbolic) gestures. My approach involves investigating the processing of these gestures using various methodologies, including fMRI, fNIRS, physiological measures, and behavioral studies. I explore these aspects in diverse populations, including brain-damaged patients, individuals with autism, and healthy controls.

My studies aimed to understand the link between gestures and other aspects of cognition. Specifically, I explore the relationship between gestures and action semantics, gestures and language, gestures and social cognition, as well as gestures and spatial cognition.

A multidisciplinary project in collaboration with Mohamed Daoudi aim to create a virtual agent capable of interacting (action and reaction) with human beings. This challenge is undertaken with the contribution of our PhD students.

Hajra ANWAR BEG (2024 - ) : Generative Models for Natural Interactions between Humans and AI-powered Virtual Agents (GenInterHuman) - Co-direction: Mohamed Daoudi. Thèse financée par : PEPR eNSEMBLE

Fabrizia GALLO (2019 - 2023) : Étude de la relation entre les gestes et les processus socio-émotionnels à l'aide de l'IRMf et de mesures physiologiques. Thèse financée

Baptiste CHOPIN (2019 - 2023) : Nouvelle approches pour la prédiction et la génération de mouvement humain utilisant des squelettes 3D : application aux interactions non-verbales en réalité virtuelle - Co-direction: Mohamed Daoudi. Thèse financée : Projet 80/Prime CNRS.

Maria Francesca GIGLIOTTI (2018 - 2022) : Peripersonal space representation and exploitation in relation to motor and social factors: towards a functional construction of the spce around the body - Co-direction: Yann Coello. Thèse financée

Cynthia COLLETTE (2014-2018) : Étude des connaissances de Fonction et de Manipulation associées aux objets dans une perspective vie-entière et en imagerie cérébrale. Thèse financée

Post doc

Francesco RUOTOLO (2017-2019)

In doc

Angelica SCUDERI (March - September 2024), Università La Sapienza di Roma, Italy (PhD Advisor: Mariella PAZZAGLIA)