Browsing by Author "Rusconi E"

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    Causal involvement of the left angular gyrus in higher functions as revealed by transcranial magnetic stimulation: a systematic review
    (Springer Nature, 2023-01-01) Wagner J; Rusconi E
    Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a non-invasive technique that can transiently interfere with local cortical functioning, thus enabling inferences of causal left AG involvement in higher functions from experimentation with healthy participants. Here, we examine 35 studies that measure behavioural outcomes soon after or during targeting TMS to the left AG, by design and as documented by individual magnetic resonance images, in healthy adult participants. The reviewed evidence suggests a specific causal involvement of the left AG in a wide range of tasks involving language, memory, number processing, visuospatial attention, body awareness and motor planning functions. These core findings are particularly valuable to inform theoretical models of the left AG role(s) in higher functions, due to the anatomical specificity afforded by the selected studies and the complementarity of TMS to different methods of investigation. In particular, the variety of the operations within and between functions in which the left AG appears to be causally involved poses a formidable challenge to any attempts to identify a single computational process subserved by the left AG (as opposed to just outlining a broad type of functional contribution) that could apply across thematic areas. We conclude by highlighting directions for improvement in future experimentation with TMS, in order to strengthen the available evidence, while taking into account the anatomical heterogeneity of this brain region.
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    Individual differences in visual search: A systematic review of the link between visual search performance and traits or abilities
    (Elsevier Ltd, London, United Kingdom, 2024-09) Wagner J; Zurlo A; Rusconi E
    Visual search (VS) comprises a class of tasks that we typically perform several times during a day and requires intentionally scanning (with or without moving the eyes) the environment for a specific target (be it an object or a feature) among distractor stimuli. Experimental research in lab-based or real-world settings has offered insight into its underlying neurocognitive mechanisms from a nomothetic point of view. A lesser-known but rapidly growing body of quasi-experimental and correlational research has explored the link between individual differences and VS performance. This combines different research traditions and covers a wide range of individual differences in studies deploying a vast array of VS tasks. As such, it is a challenge to determine whether any associations highlighted in single studies are robust when considering the wider literature. However, clarifying such relationships systematically and comprehensively would help build more accurate models of VS, and it would highlight promising directions for future research. This systematic review provides an up to date and comprehensive synthesis of the existing literature investigating associations between common indices of performance in VS tasks and measures of individual differences mapped onto four categories of cognitive abilities (short-term working memory, fluid reasoning, visual processing and processing speed) and seven categories of traits (Big Five traits, trait anxiety and autistic traits). Consistent associations for both traits (in particular, conscientiousness, autistic traits and trait anxiety - the latter limited to emotional stimuli) and cognitive abilities (particularly visual processing) were identified. Overall, however, informativeness of future studies would benefit from checking and reporting the reliability of all measurement tools, applying multiplicity correction, using complementary techniques, study preregistration and testing why, rather than only if, a robust relation between certain individual differences and VS performance exists.