University of Udine

Faculty Member, Department of Human Sciences

Assistant Professor in Cognitive Neuroscience

Faculty of Educational Science

About

1+1 YEAR POST-DOCTORAL POSITION IN COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE

We offer one (1) post-Doctoral Fellowship to perform research concerning the Plasticity of anticipatory perception of body actions in motor experts and novice players: Behavioral and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation studies.

We seek someone who is interested in developing collaborative projects on action prediction in sport using behavioural, eye tracking and TMS methods. The applicant will join a newly established group at the University of Udine and Scientific Institute E. Medea. The lab facilities comprise single- and paired-pulse and repetitive TMS and tDCS equipment, systems for the recording of EMG and other electrophysiological measures, neuronavigation system for TMS target localization and high-sensitivity infrared eye tracking system. Applicants should be able to work independently as well as to co-operate with other members of the research team (PI, other post-doc fellows and PhD students).

Prior experience with TMS/tDCS and/or eye tracking is very much appreciated. 
Candidates must hold a PhD in areas related to cognitive neuroscience, social and cultural neuroscience, or cognitive neuropsychology. A sound knowledge of experimental design and statistical methods is expected. Programming experience is very desirable.

The appointment, which will be available from June 2012, will be offered for a period of one year, with the possibility of a further one year renewal. Salary is 22,625 Euro gross per year (about 13% taxes).
Deadline: 15th April 2012 or until the position is filled.
Contact: Initial scientific enquiries and further details concerning the position may be directed to or Cosimo Urgesi (cosimo.urgesi@uniud.it; webpage: http://people.uniud.it/node/301

Applications should include: a detailed CV together with a list of publications, summary of research experience and research interests and two letters of reference.

Udine March 27, 2012





I'm a cognitive neuroscientist interested in the brain correlates of complex cognitive funxtions. I was educated in Experimental Psychology at the University of Rome La Sapienza and got a PhD in Neuroscience at the Univesity of Verona under the supervision of Giovanni Berlucchi and Salvatore M Aglioti. My major expertise is in single pulse and repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) of body and action representation. In a series of studies, I and my colleagues have demonstrated for the first time ever that transitory ‘lesion’ of extrastriate body area (EBA), which is selectively activated by pictures of human body and parts of it, impaired the visual processing of body-related, non facial stimuli (Urgesi et al., 2004). Furthermore, we demonstrated the causative role played by two different neural systems, extrastriate visual areas and premotor cortex, in extracting morphology- or action-related features from pictures of body parts (Urgesi et al., 2007a; 2007b). The TMS studies in healthy individuals have been conducted in parallel with the neuropsychological study of brain lesion patients, describing the existence of new forms of selective visual recognition disorders, namely body form and body action agnosia (Moro et al., 2008). In recent years, I have translated the results of my basic neuroscience researches on the neuropsychological and neurophysiologic evaluation of mental disorders, and in particular of eating disorders. Furthermore, I serve as Scientific Consultant at the Scientific Institute “E. Medea”, a research child hospital specialized for neurodevelopmental disorders, where I coordinated, with Prof. Fabbro Franco, the Italian standardization of the NEPSY-II, a neuropsychological battery of tests for children aged 3-16 years.
Presently, I coordinate the TMS Laboratory at the Hospital Gervasutta of Udine, in collaboration with the University of Udine and with the Scientific Institute (IRCCS) “E. Medea”, where clinical-rehabilitative and basic research studies are conducted.
My research interests include the study of:
-the neural basis and development of corporeal knowledge;
-the neural mechanisms involved in action prediction and anticipation,
-the neural and cognitive correlates of elite sport performance and sport learning;
-the neural bases of spiritual and religious experiences.

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