Simone Gastaldon

SIMONE GASTALDON

Graduate Student

Telephone: 0498276402
Via Venezia, 8 – Room 01.013
simone.gastaldon@phd.unipd.it

Research Areas

Research project title: Does language production support prediction in comprehension? Electrophysiological insights from typical speech and stuttering

Research in language comprehension showed that the listener/reader does not passively attend to linguistic stimuli, but uses the available information to actively predict what is likely to be encountered. Some lines of research suggested that these predictions are generated by engaging the production system. During language production concepts to express are mapped onto lexical items, phonological forms, and articulatory programs. People may use these processes for prediction. However, it is still unclear whether and to what extent this is true. Do we internally simulate utterances and use the production system to predict other people’s words? Do we predict just abstract linguistic information or also sensory information? Are motor-speech processes relevant for prediction and for attending to speech?

My PhD project aims at studying the mechanisms involved in predictive processing during speech comprehension and whether there are links with processes of speech production. To do so, I use electroencephalography to study neural oscillations (time-frequency modulations), event-related potentials (ERPs), and speech-brain entrainment in both adults with typically-developed language and adults with persistent developmental stuttering. I actively collaborate with researchers at the IRCCS Ospedale San Camillo (Venice, Italy) and the BCBL – Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language (Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain).

Other research interests: the language faculty and the language-ready brain, language and numerical cognition interface, cognitive biology and evolution of cognition, evolutionary linguistics.

Selected Publications

2020

Gastaldon, Simone ; Arcara, Giorgio ; Navarrete, Eduardo ; Peressotti, Francesca

Commonalities in alpha and beta neural desynchronizations during prediction in language comprehension and production Journal Article Forthcoming

Cortex, Forthcoming, ISSN: 00109452.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Publications

2020
Gastaldon, Simone ; Arcara, Giorgio ; Navarrete, Eduardo ; Peressotti, Francesca Commonalities in alpha and beta neural desynchronizations during prediction in language comprehension and production Journal Article Forthcoming Cortex, Forthcoming, ISSN: 00109452. Abstract \| Links \| BibTeX @article{Gastaldon2020, title = {Commonalities in alpha and beta neural desynchronizations during prediction in language comprehension and production}, author = {Gastaldon, Simone and Arcara, Giorgio and Navarrete, Eduardo and Peressotti, Francesca}, url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0010945220303701 http://colab.psy.unipd.it/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Gastaldon_et_al_2020_Cortex.pdf}, doi = {10.1016/j.cortex.2020.09.026}, issn = {00109452}, year = {2020}, date = {2020-10-01}, journal = {Cortex}, publisher = {Elsevier}, abstract = {We recorded EEG from participants performing both a comprehension and a production task in two separate blocks. Participants listened to high and low constraint incomplete sentences and were asked either to name a picture to complete it (production) or to simply listen to the final word (comprehension). We found that in a silent gap before the final stimulus, predictable stimuli elicited alpha and beta desynchronization in both tasks, signaling the pre-activation of linguistic information. Source estimation highlighted the involvement of left-lateralized language areas and temporo-parietal areas in the right hemisphere. Furthermore, correlations between the desynchronizations in comprehension and production showed spatiotemporal commonalities in language- relevant areas of the left hemisphere. As proposed by prediction-by-production models, our results suggest that comprehenders engage the production system while predicting upcoming words. Keywords: language prediction, language production, alpha–beta oscillations, internal model}, keywords = {}, pubstate = {forthcoming}, tppubtype = {article} } Close We recorded EEG from participants performing both a comprehension and a production task in two separate blocks. Participants listened to high and low constraint incomplete sentences and were asked either to name a picture to complete it (production) or to simply listen to the final word (comprehension). We found that in a silent gap before the final stimulus, predictable stimuli elicited alpha and beta desynchronization in both tasks, signaling the pre-activation of linguistic information. Source estimation highlighted the involvement of left-lateralized language areas and temporo-parietal areas in the right hemisphere. Furthermore, correlations between the desynchronizations in comprehension and production showed spatiotemporal commonalities in language- relevant areas of the left hemisphere. As proposed by prediction-by-production models, our results suggest that comprehenders engage the production system while predicting upcoming words. Keywords: language prediction, language production, alpha–beta oscillations, internal model Close https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0010945220303701 http://colab.psy.unipd.it/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Gastaldon_et_al_2020_Cortex[...] doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2020.09.026 Close
2019
Arcara, Giorgio; Franzon, Francesca; Gastaldon, Simone; Brotto, Silvia; Semenza, Carlo; Peressotti, Francesca; Zanini, Chiara One can be some but some cannot be one: ERP correlates of numerosity incongruence are different for singular and plural Journal Article Cortex, 116 , pp. 104-121, 2019. Abstract \| Links \| BibTeX @article{Arcara2018, title = {One can be some but some cannot be one: ERP correlates of numerosity incongruence are different for singular and plural}, author = {Giorgio Arcara and Francesca Franzon and Simone Gastaldon and Silvia Brotto and Carlo Semenza and Francesca Peressotti and Chiara Zanini}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2018.10.022}, year = {2019}, date = {2019-07-00}, journal = {Cortex}, volume = {116}, pages = {104-121}, abstract = {Humans can communicate information on numerosity by means of number words (e.g. one hundred, a couple), but also through Number morphology (e.g. through the singular vs. the plural forms of a noun). Agreement violations involving Number morphology (e.g. one apples) are well known to elicit specific ERP components such as the Left Anterior Negativity (LAN); yet, the relationship between a morphological Number value (e.g. singular vs. plural) and its referential numerosity has been scantly considered in the literature. Moreover, even if agreement violations have been proved very useful, they do not typically characterise the everyday language usage, thus narrowing the scope of the results. In this study we investigated Number morphology from a different perspective, by focusing on the ERP correlates of congruence and incongruence between a depicted numerosity and noun phrases. To this aim we designed a picture–phrase matching paradigm in Italian. In each trial, a picture depicting one or four objects was followed by a grammatically well-formed phrase made up of a quantifier and a content noun inflected either in the singular or in the plural. When analysing ERP time-locked to the content noun, plural phrases after pictures presenting one object elicited a larger negativity, similar to a LAN effect. No significant congruence effect was found in the case of the phrases whose morphological Number value conveyed a numerosity of one. Our results suggest that 1) incongruence elicits a negativity (LAN-like) independently from the grammaticality of the utterances and irrespective the P600 component; 2) the reference to a numerosity can be partially encoded in an incremental way when processing Number morphology; and, most importantly, 3) the processing of the morphological Number value of plural is different from that of singular as the former shows a narrower interpretability than the latter.}, keywords = {}, pubstate = {published}, tppubtype = {article} } Close Humans can communicate information on numerosity by means of number words (e.g. one hundred, a couple), but also through Number morphology (e.g. through the singular vs. the plural forms of a noun). Agreement violations involving Number morphology (e.g. one apples) are well known to elicit specific ERP components such as the Left Anterior Negativity (LAN); yet, the relationship between a morphological Number value (e.g. singular vs. plural) and its referential numerosity has been scantly considered in the literature. Moreover, even if agreement violations have been proved very useful, they do not typically characterise the everyday language usage, thus narrowing the scope of the results. In this study we investigated Number morphology from a different perspective, by focusing on the ERP correlates of congruence and incongruence between a depicted numerosity and noun phrases. To this aim we designed a picture–phrase matching paradigm in Italian. In each trial, a picture depicting one or four objects was followed by a grammatically well-formed phrase made up of a quantifier and a content noun inflected either in the singular or in the plural. When analysing ERP time-locked to the content noun, plural phrases after pictures presenting one object elicited a larger negativity, similar to a LAN effect. No significant congruence effect was found in the case of the phrases whose morphological Number value conveyed a numerosity of one. Our results suggest that 1) incongruence elicits a negativity (LAN-like) independently from the grammaticality of the utterances and irrespective the P600 component; 2) the reference to a numerosity can be partially encoded in an incremental way when processing Number morphology; and, most importantly, 3) the processing of the morphological Number value of plural is different from that of singular as the former shows a narrower interpretability than the latter. Close doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2018.10.022 Close
2017
Theofanopoulou, Constantina; Gastaldon, Simone; O’Rourke, Thomas; Samuels, Bridget D; Martins, Pedro Tiago; Delogu, Francesco; Alamri, Saleh; Boeckx, Cedric Self-domestication in Homo sapiens: Insights from comparative genomics Journal Article PLoS One, 12 (10), pp. e0185306, 2017. Abstract \| Links \| BibTeX @article{theofanopoulou2017self, title = {Self-domestication in Homo sapiens: Insights from comparative genomics}, author = { Constantina Theofanopoulou and Simone Gastaldon and Thomas O’Rourke and Bridget D Samuels and Pedro Tiago Martins and Francesco Delogu and Saleh Alamri and Cedric Boeckx}, url = {http://colab.psy.unipd.it/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Theofanopoulou-et-al.-2017.-Self-domestication-in-Homo-sapiens.-Insights-from-comparative-genomics.pdf}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0185306}, year = {2017}, date = {2017-10-18}, journal = {PLoS One}, volume = {12}, number = {10}, pages = {e0185306}, publisher = {Public Library of Science}, abstract = {This study identifies and analyzes statistically significant overlaps between selective sweep screens in anatomically modern humans and several domesticated species. The results obtained suggest that (paleo-)genomic data can be exploited to complement the fossil record and support the idea of self-domestication in Homo sapiens, a process that likely intensified as our species populated its niche. Our analysis lends support to attempts to capture the “domestication syndrome” in terms of alterations to certain signaling pathways and cell lineages, such as the neural crest.}, keywords = {}, pubstate = {published}, tppubtype = {article} } Close This study identifies and analyzes statistically significant overlaps between selective sweep screens in anatomically modern humans and several domesticated species. The results obtained suggest that (paleo-)genomic data can be exploited to complement the fossil record and support the idea of self-domestication in Homo sapiens, a process that likely intensified as our species populated its niche. Our analysis lends support to attempts to capture the “domestication syndrome” in terms of alterations to certain signaling pathways and cell lineages, such as the neural crest. Close http://colab.psy.unipd.it/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Theofanopoulou-et-al.-2017.[...] doi:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0185306 Close
2016
Gastaldon, Simone; Zanini, Chiara; Arcara, Giorgio; Peressotti, Francesca; Franzon, Francesca Referential numerosity and morphosyntactic number agreement: A psycholinguistic study on Italian Qualche/Alcuni Journal Article Research in Generative Grammar, 38 , pp. 105–113, 2016. Abstract \| Links \| BibTeX @article{gastaldon2016referential, title = {Referential numerosity and morphosyntactic number agreement: A psycholinguistic study on Italian Qualche/Alcuni}, author = { Simone Gastaldon and Chiara Zanini and Giorgio Arcara and Francesca Peressotti and Francesca Franzon}, url = {http://colab.psy.unipd.it/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/09.-Gastaldon-1.pdf}, doi = {http://hdl.handle.net/11707/5674}, year = {2016}, date = {2016-01-01}, journal = {Research in Generative Grammar}, volume = {38}, pages = {105--113}, abstract = {The present study aims at shedding new light on the relationship between morphological Number and the numerosity of the referent(s). Previous studies exploiting agreement violations suggested a possible involvement of numerosity processing in the encoding of morphological Number (Carreiras et al., 2010). By employing the two Italian quantifiers qualche and alcuni, and exploiting their diverging requirements for Number agreement, we developed a picture–phrase matching paradigm. This minimal pair enabled us to test the hypothesis that when the morphological information of Number is incongruent with the numerosity encoded on the whole expression, more processing time is needed. The results are consistent with previous studies, and add evidence to a relationship between certain aspects of language and numerical cognition. Notably, contrary to previous literature, our results were obtained by exploiting well-formed expressions only.}, keywords = {}, pubstate = {published}, tppubtype = {article} } Close The present study aims at shedding new light on the relationship between morphological Number and the numerosity of the referent(s). Previous studies exploiting agreement violations suggested a possible involvement of numerosity processing in the encoding of morphological Number (Carreiras et al., 2010). By employing the two Italian quantifiers qualche and alcuni, and exploiting their diverging requirements for Number agreement, we developed a picture–phrase matching paradigm. This minimal pair enabled us to test the hypothesis that when the morphological information of Number is incongruent with the numerosity encoded on the whole expression, more processing time is needed. The results are consistent with previous studies, and add evidence to a relationship between certain aspects of language and numerical cognition. Notably, contrary to previous literature, our results were obtained by exploiting well-formed expressions only. Close http://colab.psy.unipd.it/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/09.-Gastaldon-1.pdf doi:http://hdl.handle.net/11707/5674 Close

Conferences

2020

Gastaldon, Simone; Lizarazu, Mikel; Peressotti, Francesca; Molinaro, Nicola

Speech-brain entrainment is reduced in adults who stutter when listening for speaking Conference

Poster at the IMPRS Conference 2020: Interdisciplinary Approaches in the Language Sciences, 3-5 June 2020, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, 2020.

Links | BibTeX

2019

Gastaldon, Simone; Arcara, Giorgio; Navarrete, Eduardo; Peressotti, Francesca

Anticipatory mechanisms at beta frequency in language comprehension and production Conference

Poster at the 21st Conference of the European Society for Cognitive Psychology (ESCOP), September 25–28, Tenerife, Spain, 2019.

BibTeX

Gastaldon, Simone; Arcara, Giorgio; Navarrete, Eduardo; Natarelli, Giulia; Busan, Pierpaolo; Peressotti, Francesca

Predizione e produzione: Processi anticipatori nell’elaborazione del linguaggio in parlanti fluenti e con balbuzie Conference

Mini-talk at the XXV Congresso dell’Associazione Italiana di Psicologia – Sezione sperimentale, September 18-20, Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milano, Italy, 2019.

BibTeX

Gastaldon, Simone; Arcara, Giorgio; Navarrete, Eduardo; Natarelli, Giulia; Busan, Pierpaolo; Peressotti, Francesca

Do I produce to predict? Brain oscillations in language anticipation in fluent speech and stuttering Conference

Talk at the 6th European Student Conference on Behaviour and Cognition (ESCBC), September 4-7, University of Padova, Padova, Italy., 2019.

BibTeX

Gastaldon, Simone; Navarrete, Eduardo; Arcara, Giorgio; Peressotti, Francesca

Patterns of alpha and beta oscillations in language prediction and production Conference

Poster at the 7th Cognitive Science Arena 2019, February 15-16, 2019, Bressanone-Brixen, Italy, 2019.

BibTeX

Gastaldon, Simone; Navarrete, Eduardo; Arcara, Giorgio; Peressotti, Francesca

Oscillazioni neurali α e β in predizione e produzione linguistica: Caratteristiche comuni e distintive Conference

Poster at the Giornate di Studi Scientifici sul Linguaggio 2019, February 11-12, 2019, Rovereto, Italy, 2019.

BibTeX

2018

Gastaldon, Simone; Navarrete, Eduardo; Peressotti, Francesca

Producing, comprehending, and predicting: Project outline on spoken and signed language electrophysiology Conference

Poster at the 6th Cognitive Science Arena 2018, February 23–25, 2018, Bressanone-Brixen, Italy, 2018.

BibTeX

2017

Zanini, Chiara; Franzon, Francesca; Semenza, Carlo; Peressotti, Francesca; Gastaldon, Simone; Brotto, Silvia; Arcara, Giorgio

Referential numerosity in quantification expressions. An ERP study on Italian Conference

Poster at the 55th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Aphasia, November 5–7, 2017, Baltimore, Maryland, USA, 2017.

BibTeX

Zanini, Chiara; Franzon, Francesca; Semenza, Carlo; Peressotti, Francesca; Brotto, Silvia; Gastaldon, Simone; Giorgio, Arcara

The encoding of numerosity in quantification expressions. Insight from an ERP study Conference

Poster at the 18th Science of Aphasia, September 11–14, 2017, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland, 2017.

BibTeX

Arcara, Giorgio; Franzon, Francesca; Gastaldon, Simone; Brotto, Silvia; Semenza, Carlo; Peressotti, Francesca; Zanini, Chiara

Encoding Numerosity into Number Morphology: An ERP Study Conference

Poster at the 10th International Morphological Processing Conference (MoProc), June 22–24, SISSA (International School for Advanced Studies), Trieste, Italy, 2017.

BibTeX

Theofanopoulou, Constantina; Messner, Angela; O'Rourke, Thomas; Gastaldon, Simone; Martins, Pedro Tiago; Alamri, Saleh; Samuels, Bridget; Boeckx, Cedric

Paleogenomic evidence for self-domestication in Homo sapiens Conference

Talk at the Conference of the European Human Behaviour and Evolution Association (EHBEA), April 6–8, École Normale Supérieure, Paris, France, 2017.

BibTeX

2015

Gastaldon, Simone; Zanini, Chiara; Arcara, Giorgio; Peressotti, Francesca; Franzon, Francesca

Referential Numerosity and Morphosyntactic Number Agreement: a Psycholinguistic Study on Italian qualche/alcuni Conference

Poster at the 41° Incontro di Grammatica Generativa (IGG41) [41st Generative Grammar Meeting], February 26–28, 2015, Università per Stranieri di Perugia, Perugia, Italy, 2015.

BibTeX

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