MARIA GIULIA TULLO

PhD Graduate

PhD program:: XXXIII



Thesis title: The causality of complexity: understanding higher human cognitive functions through dynamic interactions among brain regions

The human brain may be considered as a complex system composed of regions interacting with each other in a way as to form a network of connections. As a set of elements, the brain regions are ordered in a specific way so that the position in the structure predicts the degree of connectivity with the other areas. Despite an apparent static architecture, which is the brain anatomy, the functional abilities of the human brain are massive. Indeed, to respond to the outside world demands, the brain flexibly adapts and behaves as a coherent whole network. Concurrently, although the structural architecture and the functional profiles of brain regions are quite stable, the dynamic interactions among brain areas are not fully understood. For instance, different tasks such as visual perception and visual imagery recruit partially overlapping circuits but the interplays among regions involved in these tasks are noteworthy. This is also the case of motor execution and motor imagery. These pieces of evidence lead to the understanding of how neuronal activity in a region affects the activity in another region, and thus to figure out the direction and the strength of the brain signal. In other words, which is the effect, in terms of excitation and inhibition, of a brain region on another especially during higher cognitive functions? In my doctoral work, I addressed these questions by studying the causal influence, termed effective connectivity, among regions involved in perceptual tasks, such as during visual perception and motor execution, and during imagery tasks. I took advantage of the newest techniques that allow assessing the connectivity in terms of inhibition and excitation starting from brain activation detected using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). The overall results presented in this work support the idea that preferred signal routes branch off in the human brain and these pathways are strictly dependent on both the task performed and the intrinsic individual variability.

Research products

11573/1682912 - 2023 - Whole brain surface-based morphometry and tract-based spatial statistics in migraine with aura patients: difference between pure visual and complex auras
Abagnale, Chiara; Di Renzo, Antonio; Sebastianelli, Gabriele; Casillo, Francesco; Tinelli, Emanuele; Giuliani, Giada; Tullo, Maria Giulia; Serrao, Mariano; Parisi, Vincenzo; Fiorelli, Marco; Caramia, Francesca; Schoenen, Jean; Di Piero, Vittorio; Coppola, Gianluca - 01a Articolo in rivista
paper: FRONTIERS IN HUMAN NEUROSCIENCE (Lausanne : Frontiers Research Foundation) pp. 1146302- - issn: 1662-5161 - wos: WOS:000979717600001 (5) - scopus: 2-s2.0-85159880233 (6)

11573/1681266 - 2023 - Interhemispheric interplay between the left and right premotor cortex during grasping as assessed by dynamic causal modelling
Bencivenga, F.; Tullo, M. G.; Sulpizio, V.; Galati, G. - 01a Articolo in rivista
paper: SCIENTIFIC REPORTS (London: Springer Nature London: Nature Publishing Group) pp. 4958- - issn: 2045-2322 - wos: WOS:000984110600064 (1) - scopus: 2-s2.0-85150964115 (1)

11573/1690693 - 2023 - Too busy to mind: neural mechanisms driving future remembering in a working memory task
Bencivenga, Federica; Conti, Desirée; Tullo, Maria Giulia; Lorenzini, Luigi; Galati, Gaspare - 04f Poster
conference: Organization for Human Brain Mapping (Montréal; Canada)
book: OHBM 2023 Book of Abstracts - ()

11573/1681261 - 2023 - Effect of optic flow on spatial updating: insight from an immersive virtual reality study
Cardelli, L.; Tullo, M. G.; Galati, G.; Sulpizio, V. - 01a Articolo in rivista
paper: EXPERIMENTAL BRAIN RESEARCH (Heidelberg ; Berlin : Springer) pp. 865-874 - issn: 1432-1106 - wos: WOS:000934372000001 (1) - scopus: 2-s2.0-85147917066 (1)

11573/1685027 - 2023 - Sex differences in trigeminal neuralgia: a focus on radiological and clinical characteristics
De Stefano, Gianfranco; Litewczuk, Daniel; Mollica, Cristina; Di Pietro, Giuseppe; Galosi, Eleonora; Leone, Caterina; Falco, Pietro; Tullo, Maria Giulia; Caramia, Francesca; Truini, Andrea; Di Stefano, Giulia - 01a Articolo in rivista
paper: NEUROLOGICAL SCIENCES (-Springer-Verlag Italia -Masson SPA:via Flli Bressan 2, I 20126 Milan Italy:011 39 02 27074286, EMAIL: aboonamenti@masson.it, INTERNET: http://www.masson.it, Fax: 011 39 02 27074210) pp. - - issn: 1590-1874 - wos: WOS:001028466400001 (5) - scopus: 2-s2.0-85164503659 (4)

11573/1680524 - 2023 - Adoption of AI-based technologies in the food supplement industry. An italian start-up case study
Rapa, Mattia; Ciano, Salvatore; Orsini, Francesca; Tullo, Maria Giulia; Giannetti, Vanessa; Boccacci Mariani, Maurizio - 01a Articolo in rivista
paper: SYSTEMS (Basel : MDPI) pp. 1-14 - issn: 2079-8954 - wos: WOS:001018009100001 (1) - scopus: 2-s2.0-85163674781 (1)

11573/1681260 - 2023 - Preferential signal pathways during the perception and imagery of familiar scenes: An effective connectivity study
Tullo, Maria Giulia; Almgren, Hannes; Van De Steen, Frederik; Boccia, Maddalena; Bencivenga, Federica; Galati, Gaspare - 01a Articolo in rivista
paper: HUMAN BRAIN MAPPING (John Wiley & Sons Incorporated:Customer Service, 111 River Street:Hoboken, NJ 07030:(800)225-5945, (201)748-6000, EMAIL: societyinfo@wiley.com, INTERNET: http://www.wiley.com, Fax: (212)748-6551) pp. - - issn: 1065-9471 - wos: WOS:000991685100001 (1) - scopus: 2-s2.0-85159888542 (2)

11573/1679938 - 2023 - The Spectrum of Neurological and Sensory Abnormalities in Gaucher Disease Patients: A Multidisciplinary Study (SENOPRO)
Tullo, Maria Giulia; Cerulli Irelli, Emanuele; Caramia, Francesca; Tessari, Gianmarco; Di Bonaventura, Carlo; Turchetta, Rosaria; Giallonardo, Anna Teresa; Palumbo, Giovanna; Bianchi, Simona; Atturo, Francesca; Nebbioso, Marcella; Mancini, Patrizia; Guariglia, Cecilia; Giona, Fiorina - 01a Articolo in rivista
paper: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES (Basel: MDPI Center) pp. 1-15 - issn: 1422-0067 - wos: WOS:001033227500001 (5) - scopus: 2-s2.0-85160378806 (5)

11573/1648845 - 2022 - Effector-selective modulation of the effective connectivity within frontoparietal circuits during visuomotor tasks
Bencivenga, Federica; Tullo, Maria Giulia; Maltempo, Teresa; Von Gal, Alessandro; Serra, Chiara; Pitzalis, Sabrina; Galati, Gaspare - 01a Articolo in rivista
paper: CEREBRAL CORTEX (New York, NY : Oxford University Press, c1991-) pp. - - issn: 1047-3211 - wos: WOS:000811797100001 (2) - scopus: 2-s2.0-85165532068 (2)

11573/1651079 - 2022 - INVESTIGATING STRUCTURAL BRAIN CHANGES IN GAUCHER DISEASE TYPE 1: A MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING STUDY
Tullo, M. G.; Caramia, F.; Tessari, G.; Cerulli Irelli, E.; Di Bonaventura, C.; Monaco, N.; Bianchi, S.; Mancini, P.; Guariglia, C.; Giona, F. - 04d Abstract in atti di convegno
conference: 1st IWGGD Symposium (Leiden)
book: n.a. - ()

11573/1657198 - 2022 - Preferential signal pathways during the perception and the imagery of familiar places: a DCM study
Tullo, Maria Giulia; Almgren, Hannes; Van De Steen, Frederik; Boccia, Maddalena; Bencivenga, Federica; Galati, Gaspare - 04f Poster
conference: Organization for human brain mapping 2022 annual meeting (Glasgow)
book: Organization for human brain mapping - ()

11573/1649717 - 2022 - Individual differences in mental imagery modulate effective connectivity of scene-selective regions during resting state
Tullo, Maria Giulia; Almgren, Hannes; Van De Steen, Frederik; Sulpizio, Valentina; Marinazzo, Daniele; Galati, Gaspare - 01a Articolo in rivista
paper: BRAIN STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION (Springer) pp. 1831-1842 - issn: 1863-2653 - wos: WOS:000771316500001 (2) - scopus: 2-s2.0-85126792005 (4)

11573/1524808 - 2021 - Assessing the effective connectivity of premotor areas during real vs imagined grasping: a DCM-PEB approach
Bencivenga, F.; Sulpizio, V.; Tullo, M. G.; Galati, G. - 01a Articolo in rivista
paper: NEUROIMAGE (Academic Press Incorporated:6277 Sea Harbor Drive:Orlando, FL 32887:(800)543-9534, (407)345-4100, EMAIL: ap@acad.com, INTERNET: http://www.idealibrary.com, Fax: (407)352-3445) pp. - - issn: 1053-8119 - wos: WOS:000639115800026 (19) - scopus: 2-s2.0-85100603933 (20)

11573/1575491 - 2021 - Effector-selective modulation of the effective connectivity within frontoparietal circuits during visuomotor tasks
Bencivenga, Federica; Tullo, Maria Giulia; Maltempo, Teresa; Von Gal, Alessandro; Serra, Chiara; Pitzalis, Sabrina; Galati, Gaspare - 04f Poster
conference: XXIX Congresso Società Italiana di Psicofisiologia e Neuroscienze Cognitive. Beyond the lockdown of the brain (Palermo; Italy)
book: XXIX Congresso SIPF Palermo 2021. Book of Abstracts - ()

11573/1551551 - 2021 - Evaluating bridges across hemispheres: DCM reveals an interhemispheric interplay between premotor cortices during grasping
Bencivenga, Federica; Tullo, Maria Giulia; Sulpizio, Valentina; Galati, Gaspare - 04f Poster
conference: Second Edition of the Summer School on "Bayesian statistical analyses for the human, social and cognitive sciences" (Verona; Italy)
book: The BayesHSC 2021 Summer School. Book of Abstracts - ()

11573/1650723 - 2021 - Brain Volume Alterations Using 3tesla Magnetic Resonance and Neuropsychological Findings in Gaucher Disease Patients
Tullo, Maria Giulia; Caramia, Francesca; Tessari, Gianmarco; Di Bonaventura, Carlo; Turchetta, Rosaria; Cerulli Irelli, Emanuele; Giallonardo, Anna Teresa; Plateroti, Rocco; Palumbo, Giovanna; Monaco, Nicola; Filipponi, Valeria; Nebbioso, Marcella; Mancini, Patrizia; Guariglia, Cecilia; Giona, Fiorina - 01h Abstract in rivista
paper: BLOOD (New York: Elsevier Inc. [Washington DC etc.]: American Society of Hematology) pp. 2060-2060 - issn: 0006-4971 - wos: WOS:000736413900061 (0) - scopus: (0)

11573/1410092 - 2020 - Tolerability of palmitoylethanolamide in a pediatric population suffering from migraine. A pilot study
Papetti, Laura; Sforza, Giorgia; Tullo, Giulia; Alaimo Di Loro, Pierfrancesco; Moavero, Romina; Ursitti, Fabiana; Ferilli, Michela Ada Noris; Tarantino, Samuela; Vigevano, Federico; Valeriani, Massimiliano - 01a Articolo in rivista
paper: PAIN RESEARCH & MANAGEMENT (Oakville, Ont.: Pulsus Group for the Canadian Pain Society.) pp. 1-7 - issn: 1203-6765 - wos: WOS:000531600700001 (18) - scopus: 2-s2.0-85084406419 (19)

11573/1190270 - 2018 - Individual differences in mental imagery are predicted by the intrinsic functional architecture of scene-selective regions
Tullo, Maria Giulia; Sulpizio, Valentina; Boccia, Maddalena; Guariglia, Cecilia; Galati, Gaspare - 04f Poster
conference: Congress of the SEPEX, SEPNECA and AIP experimental (Madrid)
book: . - ()

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