Biology subjects

Novembre, G.

Publications and source records attributed to Novembre, G..

13 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Neural and behavioural manifold dynamics align across interacting individuals

Coordinating actions with others is fundamental for social behaviour, requiring the nervous system to continuously adapt motor output to a partner's evolving behaviour. Yet the neural population principles supporting such coordination remain poorly understood. To address this, we investigated interpersonal coordination across two dual-EEG studies comprising 44 dyads (88 participants) engaged in either instructed finger movement synchronization or spontaneous face-to-face interaction. Combining kinematics-informed deep contrastive learning with dynamical-systems modelling, we identified low-dimensional neural manifolds. These manifolds aligned geometrically and temporally across interacting partners, mirrored their coordinated behaviour, and uncovered interpersonal alignment not captured by traditional synchrony measures. Importantly, these manifolds exhibited flexible attractor-like organization consistent with a synergistic, dynamical account of motor control, with attractor properties that were co-regulated across partners. Collectively, we propose a novel mechanism in which interpersonal coordination emerges through the intermittent updating of internally organized dynamics by a partner's movements. More broadly, our results establish movement-informed latent-space modeling as a framework for uncovering the low-dimensional population dynamics linking neural activity, neuromuscular control and interpersonal coordination.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2026

The e-Music Box Roma: an open research tool for accessible joint music making

Joint music making offers an ecologically powerful framework for investigating human social interaction and synchronization. Yet, experimental paradigms often rely on traditional instruments that limit accessibility, reproducibility, and experimental control. In parallel, the use of music for therapy and rehabilitation is expanding, motivating the development of digital musical instruments that can serve research, educational, and clinical purposes. Here, we introduce the e-Music Box Roma (eMB Roma), an open, reproducible digital musical instrument designed to study music making behavior regardless of musical training. The eMB Roma plays preregistered music with tempo controlled by hand rotary movements. Building on the original e-Music Box (Novembre et al., 2015), the eMB Roma retains its intuitive rotary hand control while introducing major innovations: a fully open and 3D-printable design, modular hardware with integrated slider and button controls, polyphonic output with multiple simultaneous instruments, and MIDI compatibility. Additionally, a dedicated graphical user interface allows real-time monitoring, experiment control, device synchronization (like neuroimaging or motion capture devices), and both solo and joint music-making paradigms. The eMB Roma provides a flexible and accessible platform for research contexts, allowing experimental control, reproducibility, and future extensions. Its open design and modularity make it suitable not only for research but also for therapeutic, rehabilitation, and educational applications, where it can support personalized interventions and quantitative assessment of motor performance.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2025

Development of Auditory and Spontaneous Movement Responses to Music over the First Year of Life

Humans across cultures not only share the ability to recognise music but also respond to it through movement. While the sensory encoding of music is well-studied, when and how infants naturally start moving to music is largely unexplored. This study simultaneously investigates infants neural (auditory) responses and spontaneous movements to music during the first postnatal year. Neural activity (EEG) and body kinematics (markerless pose estimation) were recorded from 79 infants (aged 3, 6, and 12 months) listening to refrains of childrens music, along with shuffled, high-pitched, and low-pitched versions of the same songs. Neural data revealed that, across all ages, infants exhibit enhanced auditory responses to music compared to shuffled music, indicating that auditory encoding of music emerges early in development. Movement data revealed a different outcome. While coarse auditory-motor coupling is present at all ages, more complex structured movement patterns emerge in response to music only by 12 months. Notably, no age group demonstrated evidence of coordinated movements to music. Additionally, enhanced auditory responses to high vs low pitch were only evident at 6 months, while infants movements were better predicted by high-pitched compared to low-pitched music at all ages. This study provides initial insights into how the developing brain gradually transforms music into spontaneous movements of increasing complexity.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2025

Human newborns form musical predictions based on rhythmic but not melodic structure

The ability to anticipate rhythmic and melodic structures in music is considered a fundamental human trait, present across all cultures and predating linguistic comprehension in human development. Yet, it remains unclear the extent to which this ability is already developed at birth. Here, we used temporal response functions to assess rhythmic and melodic neural encoding in newborns (N = 49) exposed to classical monophonic musical pieces (real condition) and control stimuli with shuffled tones and inter-onset intervals (shuffled condition). We computationally quantified context-based rhythmic and melodic expectations and dissociated these high-level processes from low-level acoustic tracking, such as local changes in timing and pitch. We observed encoding of probabilistic rhythmic expectations only in response to real but not shuffled music. This proves newborns ability to rely on rhythmic statistical regularities to generate musical expectations. We found no evidence for the tracking of melodic information demonstrating a downweighing of this dimension compared to the rhythmic one. This study provides neurophysiological evidence that the capacity to track statistical regularities in music is present at birth and driven by rhythm. Melodic tracking, in contrast, may receive more weight through development with exposure to signals relevant to communication, such as speech and music. SignificancePerception and appreciation of music stem from humans universal ability to track sequential pitch and timing variations, forming musical melodies and rhythms. To investigate the neurobiological origins of this capacity, we measured neural encoding of rhythm and melody in newborns listening to naturalistic music. We demonstrate a precocious ability to track high-level rhythmic statistical regularities beyond low-level acoustic features. Conversely, melodic tracking is virtually absent at birth, likely emerging with later exposure to pitch-varying signals such as speech and music. This reveals that newborns gradually rely on different sound dimensions to start making sense of the auditory environment. While rhythm and melody are both universal components of music, they do not emerge in parallel but instead develop along distinct timelines.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2024

Imaging the dancing brain: Decoding sensory, motor and social processes during dyadic dance

Real-world social cognition requires processing and adapting to multiple dynamic information streams. Interpreting neural activity in such ecological conditions remains a key challenge for neuroscience. This study leverages advancements in de-noising techniques and multivariate modeling to extract interpretable EEG signals from pairs of participants (male-male, female-female, and male-female) engaged in spontaneous dyadic dance. Using multivariate temporal response functions (mTRFs), we investigated how music acoustics, self-generated kinematics, other-generated kinematics, and social coordination uniquely contributed to EEG activity. Electromyogram recordings from ocular, face, and neck muscles were also modeled to control for artifacts. The mTRFs effectively disentangled neural signals associated with four processes: (I) auditory tracking of music, (II) control of self-generated movements, (III) visual monitoring of partner movements, and (IV) visual tracking of social coordination. We show that the first three neural signals are driven by event-related potentials: the P50-N100-P200 triggered by acoustic events, the central lateralized movement-related cortical potentials triggered by movement initiation, and the occipital N170 triggered by movement observation. Notably, the (previously unknown) neural marker of social coordination encodes the spatiotemporal alignment between dancers, surpassing the encoding of self-or partner-related kinematics taken alone. This marker emerges when partners can see each other, exhibits a topographical distribution over occipital areas, and is specifically driven by movement observation rather than initiation. Using data-driven kinematic decomposition, we further show that vertical bounce movements best drive observers EEG activity. These findings highlight the potential of real-world neuroimaging, combined with multivariate modeling, to uncover the mechanisms underlying complex yet natural social behaviors. Significance statementReal-world brain function involves integrating multiple information streams simultaneously. However, due to a shortfall of computational methods, laboratory-based neuroscience often examines neural processes in isolation. Using multivariate modeling of EEG data from pairs of participants freely dancing to music, we demonstrate that it is possible to tease apart physiologically established neural processes associated with music perception, motor control, and observation of a partners movement. Crucially, we identify a previously unknown neural marker of social coordination that encodes the spatiotemporal alignment between dancers, beyond self- or partner-related kinematics alone. These findings highlight the potential of computational neuroscience to uncover the biological mechanisms underlying real-world social and motor behaviors, advancing our understanding of how the brain supports dynamic and interactive activities.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2023

A cortical mechanism linking saliency detection and motor reactivity in rhesus monkeys

Sudden and surprising sensory events trigger neural processes that swiftly adjust behavior. To study the phylogenesis and the mechanism of this phenomenon, we trained two rhesus monkeys to keep a cursor inside a visual target by exerting force on an isometric joystick. We examined the effect of surprising auditory stimuli on exerted force, scalp electroencephalographic (EEG) activity, and local field potentials (LFP) recorded from the dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex. Auditory stimuli elicited (1) a biphasic modulation of isometric force: a transient decrease followed by a corrective tonic increase, and (2) EEG and LFP deflections dominated by two large negative-positive waves (N70 and P130). The EEG potential was maximal at the scalp vertex, in all respects similar to the human vertex potential. Electrocortical potentials and force were tightly coupled: the P130 amplitude predicted the magnitude of the corrective force increase, particularly in the EEG electrodes contralateral to the limb exerting force, and in the LFP recorded from deep rather than superficial cortical layers, suggesting a direct effect of the vertex potential on the motor output determining the behavior. These results disclose a phylogenetically-preserved cortico-motor mechanism supporting adaptive behavior in response to salient sensory events.

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bioRxiv2022

Measuring the non-selective effects of motor inhibition using isometric force recordings

Inhibition is a key cognitive control mechanism. When rapidly exerted, inhibitory control has broad, non-selective motor effects, typically demonstrated using cortico-spinal excitability measurements (CSE) elicited by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). For example, during rapid action-stopping, CSE is suppressed at both stopped and task-unrelated muscles. While such TMS-based CSE measurements provide crucial insights into the fronto-basal ganglia circuitry underlying non-selective inhibition, they have several downsides. TMS is contraindicated in many populations (e.g., epilepsy, deep-brain stimulation patients), has limited temporal resolution, produces distracting auditory and haptic stimulation, is difficult to combine with other imaging methods, and necessitates expensive, immobile equipment. Here, we attempted to measure the non-selective motor effects of inhibitory control using a method unaffected by these shortcomings. 30 participants exerted isometric force on a hand-held force transducer while performing a foot-response stop-signal task. Indeed, when foot movements were stopped, force output at the task-irrelevant hand was suppressed as well. Moreover, this non-selective reduction of isometric force was highly correlated with stop-signal performance and showed frequency dynamics similar to established inhibitory signatures typically found in neural and muscle recordings. Together, we demonstrate that isometric force recordings capture the non-selective effects of motor inhibition, enabling many applications that are impossible with TMS.

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bioRxiv2021

Prediction and action in cortical pain processing

Predicting that a stimulus is painful facilitates action to avoid harm. But how distinct are the neural processes underlying the prediction of upcoming painful events, and those taking action to avoid or prevent them? In this fMRI experiment, we addressed this by investigating brain activity as a function of current and predicted painful or nonpainful thermal stimulation, and the ability of voluntary action to affect the duration of the upcoming stimulation. Participants (n = 30) performed a task which involved the administration of a painful or nonpainful stimulus (S1), which predicted an immediately subsequent very painful or nonpainful stimulus (S2). On action-effective trials, pressing a response button within a specified time window during S1 reduced the duration of the upcoming stimulation in S2. On action-ineffective trials, pressing the button had no effect on upcoming stimulation. Predicted pain increased activation in regions including anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), midcingulate cortex (MCC), and insula; however, activation in ACC and MCC depended on whether a meaningful action was performed, with MCC activation showing a direct relationship with motor output. Region-of-interest analyses revealed that insulas responses for predicted pain were also modulated by potential action consequences, especially in the left hemisphere, albeit without a direct relationship with motor output. Taken together, these findings suggest that cortical pain processing is not specifically tied to the sensory stimulus, but instead depends on the consequences of that stimulus for sensorimotor control of behavior. Significance statementDuring acute pain, the processing of an acute sensory event likely occurs in parallel with predictive processing about its relevance for current and upcoming voluntary behavior. Here, we temporally separated the functional processes underlying current and predicted pain and found that activation in regions typically implicated in acute pain is modulated both by the noxious nature of upcoming events and by the possibility to affect those events via voluntary action (a button press). Our findings suggest that cortical pain processing is not specifically tied to the sensory stimulus, but instead is processed in "consequence-level" terms based on what the stimulus implies for sensorimotor control of behavior.

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bioRxiv2021

Human endogenous oxytocin and its neural correlates show adaptive responses to social touch based on recent social context

Both oxytocin (OT) and touch are key mediators of social attachment. In rodents, tactile stimulation elicits endogenous release of OT, potentially facilitating attachment and other forms of prosocial behavior, yet the relationship between endogenous OT and neural modulation remains unexplored in humans. Using serial sampling of plasma hormone levels during functional neuroimaging across two successive social interactions, we show that contextual circumstances of social touch facilitate or inhibit not only current hormonal and brain responses, but also calibrate later responses. Namely, touch from a male to his female romantic partner enhanced subsequent OT release for touch from an unfamiliar stranger, yet OT responses to partner touch were dampened following stranger touch. Hypothalamus and dorsal raphe activation reflected plasma OT changes during the initial interaction. In the subsequent social interaction, time- and context-dependent OT changes modulated precuneus and parietal-temporal cortex pathways, including a region of medial prefrontal cortex that also covaried with plasma cortisol. These findings demonstrate that hormonal neuromodulation during successive human social interactions is adaptive to social context, and point to mechanisms that flexibly calibrate receptivity in social encounters.

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bioRxiv2020

Lateral prefrontal cortex as a hub for music production with gradation from structural rules to movement sequences

Complex sequential behaviours, such as speaking or playing music, often entail the flexible, rule-based chaining of single acts. However, it remains unclear how the brain translates abstract structural rules into concrete series of movements. Here we demonstrate a multi-level contribution of anatomically distinct cognitive and motor networks to the execution of novel musical sequences. We combined functional and diffusion-weighted neuroimaging to dissociate high-level structural and low-level motor planning of musical chord sequences executed on a piano. Fronto-temporal and fronto-parietal neural networks were involved when sequences violated pianists structural or motor plans, respectively. Prefrontal cortex is identified as a hub where both networks converge within an anterior-to-posterior gradient of action control linking abstract structural rules to concrete movement sequences.

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bioRxiv2019

Improving Social Interactive Learning through Dual Brain Stimulation

Social interactive learning denotes the ability to acquire new information from a conspecific - a prerequisite for cultural evolution and survival. As inspired by recent neurophysiological research, here we tested whether social interactive learning can be augmented by exogenously synchronizing oscillatory brain activity across an instructor and a learner engaged in a naturalistic song-learning task. We used a dual brain stimulation protocol entailing the trans-cranial delivery of synchronized electric currents in two individuals simultaneously. When we stimulated inferior frontal brain regions, with 6 Hz alternating currents being in-phase between the instructor and the learner, the dyad exhibited spontaneous and synchronized body movement. Remarkably, this stimulation also led to enhanced learning performance. A mediation analysis further disclosed that interpersonal movement synchrony acted as a partial mediator of the effect of dual brain stimulation on learning performance, i.e. possibly facilitating the effect of dual brain stimulation on learning. Our results provide a causal demonstration that inter-brain synchrony is a sufficient condition to improve real-time information transfer between pairs of individuals.\n\nSignificanceThe study of social behavior, including but not limited to social learning, is undergoing a paradigm shift moving from single- to multi-person brain research. Yet, nearly all evidence in this area is purely correlational: inter-dependencies between brains signals are used to predict success in social behavior. For instance, inter-brain synchrony has been shown to be associated with successful communication, cooperation, and joint attention. Here we took a radically different approach. We stimulated two brains simultaneously, hence manipulating inter-brain synchrony, and measured the resulting effect upon behavior in the context of a social learning task. We report that frequency- and phase-specific dual brain stimulation can lead to the emergence of spontaneous synchronized body movement between an instructor and a learner. Remarkably, this can also augment learning performance.

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bioRxiv2019

Ultra-low frequency neural entrainment to pain

Nervous systems exploit regularities in the sensory environment to predict sensory input and adjust behavior, and thereby maximize fitness. Entrainment of neural oscillations allows retaining temporal regularities of sensory information, a prerequisite for prediction. Entrainment has been extensively described at the frequencies of periodic inputs most commonly present in visual and auditory landscapes (e.g. >1 Hz). An open question is whether neural entrainment also occurs for regularities at much longer timescales. Here we exploited the fact that the temporal dynamics of thermal stimuli in natural environment can unfold very slowly. We show that ultra-low frequency neural oscillations preserved a long-lasting trace of sensory information through neural entrainment to periodic thermo-nociceptive input as low as 0.1 Hz. Importantly, revealing the functional significance of this phenomenon, both power and phase of the entrainment predicted individual pain sensitivity. In contrast, periodic auditory input at the same ultra-low frequency did not entrain ultra-low frequency oscillations. These results demonstrate that a functionally-significant neural entrainment can occur at temporal scales far longer than those commonly explored. The non-supramodal nature of our results suggests that ultra-low frequency entrainment might be tuned to the temporal scale of the statistical regularities characteristic of different sensory modalities.

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bioRxiv2018

Bodily sensations in social scenarios: Where in the body?

Bodily states are fundamental to emotions emergence and are believed to constitute the first step in the chain of events that culminate in emotional awareness. Recent works have given fresh support to this view by showing that distinct topographical maps can be derived to describe how basic and more complex emotions are represented in the body. However, it is still unclear whether these bodily maps can also extend to emotions experienced specifically within social interactions and how these representations relate to basic emotions. To address this issue, we used the emBODY tool to obtain high-resolution bodily maps that represent the body activation and deactivation experienced by healthy participants in social scenarios depicting establishment or loss of social bonds. We show that clear patterns of activation/deactivation across the body emerge depending on the valence and on the characteristics of the single social scenarios, but also a common activation of head, chest and limbs across scenarios. Furthermore, we showed that maps related to complex social scenarios are strongly correlated with bodily states experienced in basic emotions, suggesting that the patterns of body activation/deactivation found for social scenarios might represent a combination of different basic emotions these experiences elicit. Our data tackle conscious emotional experiences and show for the first time how painful social events are felt on the body, providing findings that complement verbal reports and neuroimaging data on social rejection. Furthermore, they show that bodily feelings related to complex social scenarios, despite referring to unified independent emotional states, are also related to bodily correlates of basic emotions.

neuroscience↗