BIOGRAPHY
Vincenzo Romei studied Psychology at the University of Rome "La Sapienza" where he also obtained his Ph.D. He then worked in Boston (Harvard Medical School), Geneva (Department of Neurology), Glasgow (Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging) and London (WTCN and ICN at UCL) before joining the department of Psychology and the Centre for Brain Science in 2013.
RESEARCH OVERVIEW
Vincenzo’s research focuses on visual cognition, sensory processing and attentional mechanisms, crossmodal and multisensory interactions, motor control, brain oscillatory activity, state-dependency and their manipulation through 'rhythmic stimulation'.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
Romei V, Murray MM, Cappe C and Thut G. (in press). The contributions of sensory dominance and attentional bias to crossmodal enhancement of visual cortex excitability. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.
de Haas B, Cecere R, Cullen H, Driver J, Romei V (2013) The duration of a co-occurring sound modulates visual detection performance in humans. PLoS ONE 8(1): e54789. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0054789
Romei V, Gross J and Thut G. (2012) Sounds reset visual alpha phase and corresponding human visual perception. Current Biology. 22:807-813.
Comments in: Sauseng P. (2012) Brain Oscillations: Phase locked EEG alpha controls perception. Current Biology 22: R306-R308. Highlights in the Research Highlights of Current Biology
Romei V, Thut G, Mok RM, Schyns P and Driver J. (2012) Causal implication by rhythmic TMS of alpha frequency in feature-based local versus global attention. European Journal of Neuroscience. 35:968-974.
Cappe C, Thelen A, Romei V, Thut G and Murray MM. (2012) Looming signals reveal synergistic principles of multisensory interactions. Journal of Neuroscience. 32:1171-1182.
Murray MM, Cappe C, Romei V, Martuzzi R and Thut G. (2012). Auditory-Visual Multisensory Interactions in Human Primary Cortices: Synthesis and Controversies. Book chapter in The New handbook of multisensory processes edited by Barry E.Stein (MIT press).
Romei V, de Haas B, Mok RM, Driver J. (2011) Auditory stimulus timing influences the perceived duration of co-occurring visual stimuli. Frontiers in Perception Science. 2:215.
Thut G, Veniero D, Romei V, Miniussi C, Schyns P, Gross J. Rhythmic (2011) TMS causes local entrainment of natural oscillatory signatures. Current Biology. 21:1176-1185.
Highlights in the Research Highlights of Current Biology
Leo F, Romei V, Freeman E, Làdavas E. and Driver J. (2011). Looming sounds enhance orientation sensitivity for visual stimuli on the same side as the sound. Exp Brain Research. Special Issue on Multisensory processing. 213:193-201.
Romei V, Driver J, Schyns PG and Thut G. (2011) Rhythmic TMS over right parietal cortex causally links distinct brain frequencies to global versus local visual processing. Current Biology 21:334-337.
Cappe C, Thut G, Romei V and Murray MM. (2010) Auditory-visual multisensory interactions in humans: timing, directionality, topography, and sources. Journal of Neuroscience. 30:12572-12580.
Romei V, Gross J and Thut G. (2010) On the role of pre-stimulus brain rhythms in the alpha-band in perception: Correlation versus causation. Journal of Neuroscience 30:8692-8697.
Brodbeck V, Thut G, Spinelli L, Romei V, Tyrand R, Michel CM, and Seek M. (2010) Effects of repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation on spike pattern and topography in patients with focal epilepsy. Brain Topography 22:267-280.
Hoogenboom N and Romei V. (2010) Probing different time scales of neuronal fluctuations in visual awareness: from behavior to phase. General Commentary in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.
Romei V, Murray MM, Cappe C, and Thut G. (2009) Pre-perceptual and stimulus-selective enhancement of low-level human visual cortex excitability by sounds. Current Biology 19:1799-1805.
Romei V, Thut G, Ramos-Estebanez C. and Pascual-Leone A. (2009) M1 contributes to the intrinsic but not the extrinsic movement components of motor skills. Special Issue of Cortex: The Contribution of TMS to Structure-Function Mapping in the Human Brain. Action Perception and Higher Functions. 45:1058-1064.
Cappe C, Thut G, Romei V, and Murray MM. (2009) Selective integration of auditory-visual looming cues by humans. Neuropsychologia. 47:1045-1052.
Romei V, Brodbeck V, Michel C, Amedi A, Pascual-Leone A, and Thut G. (2008) Spontaneous fluctuations in alpha-band EEG activity predict awareness for stimulation-induced visual percepts. Cerebral Cortex 18:20010-200108.
Romei V, Rihs T, Brodbeck V, and Thut G. (2008) Resting electroencephalogram alpha-power over posterior sites indexes baseline visual cortex excitability. Neuroreport. 19:203-208.
Romei V, De Gennaro L, Fratello F, Curcio G, Ferrara M, Pascual-Leone A, and Bertini M. (2008) Interhemispheric Transfer Deficit in Alexithymia: a Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) study. Psychotherapy and Psychosomathics 77:175-181.
Romei V, Murray MM, Merabet LB, and Thut G. (2007) Occipital TMS has opposing effects on visual and auditory stimulus detection: implication for multisensory interactions. Journal of Neuroscience 27: 11465-11472.
Comments in: Doehrmann O. Listen to your visual cortex: effects of occipital transcranial magnetic stimulation on auditory stimulus detection. Journal of Neuroscience. (2008) 28:1-2.
Ramos-Estebanez C, Merabet LB, Machii K, Fregni F, Thut G, Wagner TA, Romei V, Amedi A, and Pascual-Leone A. (2007) Visual phosphene perception modulated by subthreshold crossmodal sensory stimulation. Journal of Neuroscience 27:4178:4181.
Comments in: Chapman A. Seeing with your fingers: a transcranial magnetic stimulation investigation of multimodal sensory perception. Journal of Neuroscience. (2007) 27:7081-7082.
Bertini M, De Gennaro L, Ferrara M, Curcio G, Romei V, Fratello F, Cristiani R, Pauri F, and Rossini PM. (2004) Transcallosal inhibition upon awakening from REM and NREM sleep as assessed by Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS). Sleep 27:875-882.
De Gennaro L, Bertini M, Ferrara M, Curcio G, Cristiani R, Romei V, Fratello F, Pauri F, and Rossini PM. (2004) Intracortical inhibition and facilitation upon awakening from different sleep stages: a transcranial magnetic stimulation study. European Journal of Neuroscience. 19:3099-3104.
De Gennaro L, Cristiani R, Bertini M, Curcio G, Ferrara M, Fratello F, Romei V, and Rossini PM. (2004) Handedness is mainly associated with an asymmetry of corticospinal excitability and not of transcallosal inhibition. Clinical Neurophysiology. 115:1305-1312.
Bertini M, Ferrara M, De Gennaro L, Curcio G, Fratello F, Romei V, Pauri F, and Rossini PM. (2004) Corticospinal excitability and sleep: a motor threshold assessment by transcranial magnetic stimulation after awakenings from REM and NREM sleep. Journal of Sleep Research. 13:31-36.
De Gennaro L, Ferrara M, Bertini M, Pauri F, Cristiani R, Curcio G, Romei V, Fratello F, and Rossini PM. (2003) Reproducibility of callosal effects of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) with interhemispheric paired pulses. Neuroscience Research. 46:219-227.
