Advanced methods and instrumentation to examine brain-body interactions in real-world contexts
“The illustrated research line can be considered as a pioneer study with respect to the state of art not only in terms of technological developments, but also in terms of expanding the knowledge on brain signal recording during dynamics and related experimental aspects”, says Doctoral Researcher Alessandra Giangrande from her joint PhD Program between Ģֱ (Finland) and Politecnico di Torino (Italy).
Research introduction
The relevance of studying brain-body interactions in all human actions has encouraged researchers over decades to investigate how the brain combines the received information by analyzing the cascade of events within the brain-periphery pathway not only in lab-controlled environments, but also in real-life settings. However, the recording of brain signals outside laboratory environments is limited by technological constraints related to the need of wireless, miniaturized and portable devices allowing to simultaneously record artifact-free physiological signals. Thus, the comprehensive study of the signal properties and characteristics in naturalistic conditions is still unexplored. This dissertation delved into the investigation of the human neocortex functions to a new minimally restricted level.
Research findings
An innovative system to wireless record brain signals was designed and fully validated to overcome the current technological barriers and to allow the recording of cortical signals during unconstrained conditions.
Innovative design considerations on electrodes systems were proposed to deepen the characterization of the motion artifacts affecting brain signals during dynamic tasks.
Brain-body interactions were investigated during both static and dynamic conditions revealing promising results to extend brain research to wide contexts, opening new frontiers to examine the physiological and pathological human sensorimotor system during naturalistic conditions.
Public examination event
Alessandra Giangrande (MSc, Biomedical Engineer) will defend her doctoral dissertation “Advanced methods and instrumentation to examine sensorimotor integration and corticomuscular coupling” on 16.01.2025 at 12:00 in the Seminarium assembly hall S212. The Custos of the session is Professor Harri Piitulainen (Ģֱ). The Opponent is Professor Klaus Gramann (Technical University of Berlin).
More information:
Alessandra Giangrande
alessandra.x.giangrande@jyu.fi | alessandra.giangrande@polito.it
Ģֱ | Politecnico di Torino
