The Body-B lab is devoted to the study of the interactions between the body and the mind by studying both healthy participants and neuropsychological patients presenting with deranged body representation, or pain syndromes.
Current research activity ranges the study of body representation, peripersonal space, embodiment effects, multisensory integration, pain processing, up to the effects of hypnosis and mental imagery on the processing of bodily stimuli.
We collaborate with several centers in Milano, Verona, Roma and Torino to evaluate patients, with which we have fruitful collaborations on several research and rehabilitative projects.
Experiments involving healthy participants are usually conducted in the Depertment of Psychology of the University of Milan-Bicocca.
The room U6/3102 is the lab directed by Prof. Maravita and it is dedicated to behavioural studies on healthy participants. It is a multifunctional big room that can be arranged to the specific requirements of different experiments. The lab is equipped with several computers, systems to measure autonomous nervous system responses like SCR and ECG (Biopac, and Bioderm UFI), fixed and portable, equipment for Rubber Hand Illusion and Mirror Box Illusion, and visuo-tactile stimulators.
Moreover we take advantage of TMS, tDCS, combined TMS/EEG facilities for neurostimulation as well as a SMART system for motion capture available in the Department of Psychology.
Expert technicians and programmers (Carlo Toneatto) program most of our experiments and build custom-made electronic devices.
Body Representation
- Deranged Body Representation in clinical conditions
- Manipulation of the sense of Ownership in healthy participants by means of experimental paradigms such as the Rubber Hand/ full body Illusion; Mirror Box; Robotic Hands
- Neuromodulation of the embodiment illusions
- Rehabilitation of body representation disorders by means of Mirror Box paradigms, Neurostimulation, Hypnosis
- Standard representation of the body
Pain Processing
​- Pain anticipation and sensation in healthy individuals and patients with deranged body representation
- Interactions between body representation, awareness and pain
- Modulation of pain processing by means of hypnosis, placebo, neuromodulation and biofeedback
- Personality determinants of Chronic Pain
Peripersonal Space
- Modulation of arousal responses in the peripersonal space following tool use training.
- Dynamic modulation of the peripersonal space in post-stroke patients
- Reward/ punishment effects on peripersonal space
- Investigation of working PPS and defensive PPS
- Modulation of PPS by the valence of stimuli
- Neuromodulation of PPS
Advanced Statistical Analysis
- Network analysis for the study of embodiment and chronic pain
- Multidimensional scaling for the mapping of body representation
- Multilevel analysis in perceptual and motor learning
- Bayesian approach in Neuropsychology