Lucia Amoruso

Research

Deputy Scientific Director. Group Leader. Ikerbasque Research Associate Professor 2024-2029 - Ramón y Cajal Fellow 2024-2029

Research line: Bilingualism, Neuroplasticity in language and social cognition networks.

Keywords: Cognitive Neuroscience, M/EEG, TMS, Machine Learning, Language, Neuroplasticity

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Global Fellow (2021-2024), Juan de la Cierva Fellow (Incorporation, 2019-2021), Gipuzkoa Talent Attraction Fellow (2018-2019), Marie Skłodowska-Curie Incoming Fellow (2014-2017), PhD Fellow (National Council of Scientific and Technical Research of Argentina, CONICET, 2010-2014).
Previous research experience at the Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience (University of Udine, Italy), the Laboratory of Experimental Psychology & Neuroscience (LPEN, Buenos Aires, Argentina) and the Laboratory for Behavioral Neurology and Imaging of Cognition (Geneva, Switzerland).
PhD in Psychology (Summa Cum Laude) from the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina (2014).

Research group: Neurobiology of language

l.amoruso@bcbl.eu

+34 943 309 300 Ext.: 231

In press

Sterpin, L.F., Avendaño Avello, C., Inchauspe, J., Pérez, G.N., Ferrante, F.J., Birba, A., Gattei, C.A., Abusamra, L., Sampedro, B., Abusamra, V., Amoruso, L., & García, A.M. (In press). Digital language measures capture episodic memory disruptions in people with human immunodeficiency virus: A machine learning study. Clinical Neuropsychologist. Doi:10.1080/13854046.2025.2545943

2025

Amoruso, L., Hernandez, H., Santamaria-Garcia, H., Moguilner, S., Legaz, A., Prado, P., Cuadros, J., Gonzalez, L., Gonzalez-Gomez, R., Migeot, J., Coronel-Oliveros, C., Cruzat, J., Carreiras, M., Medel, V., Maito, M.A., Duran-Aniotz, C., Tagliazucchi, E., Baez, S., García, A.M., & Ibanez, A. (2025). Multilingualism protects against accelerated aging in cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of 27 European countries. Nature Aging, 5(11), 2340-2354. Doi:10.1038/s43587-025-01000-2

Amoruso, L., Moguilner, S., Castillo, E.M., Kleineschay, T., Geng, S., Ibáñez, A., & García, A.M. (2025). Neural dynamics of social verb processing: an MEG study. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 20(1). Doi:10.1093/scan/nsae066

Coronel-Oliveros, C., Migeot, J., Lehue, F., Amoruso, L., Kowalczyk-Grębska, N., Jakubowska, N., Mandke, K.N., Seabra, J.P., Orio, P., Campbell, D., Gonzalez-Gomez, R., Prado, P., Cuadros, J., Tagliazucchi, E., Cruzat, J., Legaz, A., Medel, V., Hernandez, H., Fittipaldi, S., Altschuler, F., Moguilner, S., Baez, S., Santamaria-Garcia, H., González-Hernández, A., Bonilla-Santos, J., Güntekin, B., Babiloni, C., Abasolo, D., Di Caterina, G., Yener, G.G., Escudero, J., Ochoa-Gómez, J.F., Soto-Añari, M., Bruno, M.A., Valdes-Sosa, P.A., Anghinah, R., Gonzalez-Montealegre, R.A., Clark, R.A., García, A.M., Kaltwasser, L., Schürmann, M., Meier, J.M., Brzezicka, A., Whelan, R., Lawlor, B., Robertson, I.H., Bailey, C., Melloni, L., Sajnani, N., & Ibanez, A. (2025). Creative experiences and brain clocks. Nature Communications, 16(1), 8336. Doi:10.1038/s41467-025-64173-9

da Cunha, P.L., Selser, A., Amoruso, L., Garcia, A.M., & Caro, I. (2025). Biomarkers. Alzheimer S Dementia the Journal of the Alzheimer S Association, 21, e099136. Doi:10.1002/alz70856_099136

Ferrante, F.J., Escobar Grisales, D., López, M.F., Lopes da Cunha, P., Sterpin, L.F., Vonk, J.M.J., Chaná Cuevas, P., Estienne, C., Hesse, E., Amoruso, L., Orozco Arroyave, J.R., & García, A.M. (2025). Cognitive Phenotyping of Parkinson's Disease Patients Via Digital Analysis of Spoken Word Properties. Movement Disorders, 40(11), 2354-2366. Doi:10.1002/mds.70005

Kogan, B., Agulla, L., Dottori, M., Amoruso, L., Vivas, L., & García, A.M. (2025). Do we mean the same? Semantic native-likeness in highly proficient second language users. International Journal of Bilingualism, 29(5), 1163-1180. Doi:10.1177/13670069241267136

Quiñones, I., Gisbert-Muñoz, S., Bermudez, G., Pomposo, I., Robles, S.G., Carreiras, M., & Amoruso, L. (2025). Transient selective aphasia in highly proficient bilinguals triggered by electrical stimulation of the left superior temporal gyrus. Acta Neurochirurgica, 167(1). Doi:10.1007/s00701-025-06508-5

2024

Amoruso, L., García, A.M., Pusil, S., Timofeeva, P., Quiñones, I., & Carreiras, M. (2024). Decoding bilingualism from resting-state oscillatory network organization. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1534(1), 106-117. Doi:10.1111/nyas.15113

Díaz Rivera, M.N., Amoruso, L., Bocanegra, Y., Suárez, J.X., Moreno, L., Muñoz, E., Birba, A., & García, A.M. (2024). Electrophysiological alterations during action semantic processing in Parkinson's disease. Neurobiology of Aging, 136, 78-87. Doi:10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2024.01.001

Ferrante, F.J., Migeot, J., Birba, A., Amoruso, L., Pérez, G., Hesse, E., Tagliazucchi, E., Estienne, C., Serrano, C., Slachevsky, A., Matallana, D., Reyes, P., Ibáñez, A., Fittipaldi, S., Campo, C.G., & García, A.M. (2024). Multivariate word properties in fluency tasks reveal markers of Alzheimer's dementia. Alzheimer S and Dementia, 20(2), 925-940. Doi:10.1002/alz.13472

Quiñones, I., Gisbert-Muñoz, S., Amoruso, L., Manso-Ortega, L., Mori, U., Bermudez, G., Robles, S.G., Pomposo, I., & Carreiras, M. (2024). Unveiling the neuroplastic capacity of the bilingual brain: insights from healthy and pathological individuals. Brain Structure and Function, 229(9), 2187-2205. Doi:10.1007/s00429-024-02846-9

Timofeeva, P., Finisguerra, A., D’Argenio, G., García, A.M., Carreiras, M., Quiñones, I., Urgesi, C., & Amoruso, L. (2024). Switching off: disruptive TMS reveals distinct contributions of the posterior middle temporal gyrus and angular gyrus to bilingual speech production. Cerebral Cortex, 34(5). Doi:10.1093/cercor/bhae188

2023

Amoruso, L., Finisguerra, A., & Urgesi, C. (2023). “Left and right prefrontal routes to action comprehension”. Cortex, 163, 1-13. Doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2023.01.015

Bermúdez, G., Quiñones, I., Carrasco, A., Gil-Robles, S., Amoruso, L., Mandonnet, E., Carreiras, M., Catalán, G., & Pomposo, I. (2023). A novel cognitive neurosurgery approach for supramaximal resection of non-dominant precuneal gliomas: a case report. Acta Neurochirurgica, 165(10), 2747-2754. Doi:10.1007/s00701-023-05755-8

Geng, S., Quiñones, I., Gil-Robles, S., Pomposo Gastelu, I.C., Bermudez, G., Timofeeva, P., Molinaro, N., Carreiras, M., & Amoruso, L. (2023). “Neural dynamics supporting longitudinal plasticity of action naming across languages: MEG evidence from bilingual brain tumor patients”. Neuropsychologia, 181. Doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2023.108494

Klimovich-Gray, A., Di Liberto, G., Amoruso, L., Barrena, A., Agirre, E., & Molinaro, N. (2023). Increased top-down semantic processing in natural speech linked to better reading in dyslexia. Neuroimage, 273. Doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.120072

Timofeeva, P., Quiñones, I., Geng, S., de Bruin, A., Carreiras, M., & Amoruso, L. (2023). Behavioral and oscillatory signatures of switch costs in highly proficient bilinguals. Scientific Reports, 13(1). Doi:10.1038/s41598-023-34895-1

2022

Amoruso, L., Pusil, S., García, A.M., & Ibañez, A. (2022). Decoding motor expertise from fine-tuned oscillatory network organization. Human Brain Mapping, 43(9), 2817-2832. Doi:10.1002/hbm.25818

Betti, S., Finisguerra, A., Amoruso, L., & Urgesi, C. (2022). Contextual Priors Guide Perception and Motor Responses to Observed Actions. Cerebral Cortex, 32(3), 608-625. Doi:10.1093/cercor/bhab241

Cervetto, S., Birba, A., Pérez, G., Amoruso, L., & García, A.M. (2022). Body into Narrative: Behavioral and Neurophysiological Signatures of Action Text Processing After Ecological Motor Training. Neuroscience, 507, 52-63. Doi:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2022.10.024

Geng, S., Molinaro, N., Timofeeva, P., Quiñones, I., Carreiras, M., & Amoruso, L. (2022). Oscillatory dynamics underlying noun and verb production in highly proficient bilinguals. Scientific Reports, 12(1). Doi:10.1038/s41598-021-04737-z

Pérez, G., Hesse, E., Dottori, M., Birba, A., Amoruso, L., Martorell Caro, M., Ibáñez, A., & García, A.M. (2022). The Bilingual Lexicon, Back and Forth: Electrophysiological Signatures of Translation Asymmetry. Neuroscience, 481, 134-143. Doi:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2021.11.046

2021

Amoruso, L., Geng, S., Molinaro, N., Timofeeva, P., Gisbert-Muñoz, S., Gil-Robles, S., Pomposo, I., Quiñones, I., & Carreiras, M. (2021). Oscillatory and structural signatures of language plasticity in brain tumor patients: A longitudinal study. Human Brain Mapping, 42(6), 1777-1793. Doi:10.1002/hbm.25328

Gisbert-Muñoz, S., Quiñones, I., Amoruso, L., Timofeeva, P., Geng, S., Boudelaa, S., Pomposo, I., Gil-Robles, S., & Carreiras, M. (2021). MULTIMAP: Multilingual picture naming test for mapping eloquent areas during awake surgeries. Behavior Research Methods, 53(2), 918-927. Doi:10.3758/s13428-020-01467-4

Quiñones, I., Amoruso, L., Pomposo Gastelu, I.C., Gil‐robles, S., & Carreiras, M. (2021). What can glioma patients teach us about language (Re)organization in the bilingual brain: Evidence from fmri and meg. Cancers, 13(11). Doi:10.3390/cancers13112593

2020

Amoruso, L., Finisguerra, A., & Urgesi, C. (2020). Spatial frequency tuning of motor responses reveals differential contribution of dorsal and ventral systems to action comprehension. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 117(23), 13151-13161. Doi:10.1073/pnas.1921512117

Lizarazu, M., Gil-Robles, S., Pomposo, I., Nara, S., Amoruso, L., Quiñones, I., & Carreiras, M. (2020). Spatiotemporal dynamics of postoperative functional plasticity in patients with brain tumors in language areas. Brain and Language, 202. Doi:10.1016/j.bandl.2019.104741

2019

Amoruso, L., Narzisi, A., Pinzino, M., Finisguerra, A., Billeci, L., Calderoni, S., Fabbro, F., Muratori, F., Volzone, A., & Urgesi, C. (2019). Contextual priors do not modulate action prediction in children with autism. Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences, 286(1908). Doi:10.1098/rspb.2019.1319

Amoruso, L., & Finisguerra, A. (2019). Low or High-Level Motor Coding? The Role of Stimulus Complexity. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 13. Doi:10.3389/fnhum.2019.00332

2018

Amoruso, L., Finisguerra, A., & Urgesi, C. (2018). Autistic traits predict poor integration between top-down contextual expectations and movement kinematics during action observation. Scientific Reports, 8(1). Doi:10.1038/s41598-018-33827-8

Amoruso, L., Finisguerra, A., & Urgesi, C. (2018). Contextualizing action observation in the predictive brain: Causal contributions of prefrontal and middle temporal areas. Neuroimage, 177, 68-78. Doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.05.020

Finisguerra, A., Amoruso, L., Makris, S., & Urgesi, C. (2018). Dissociated representations of deceptive intentions and kinematic adaptations in the observer's motor system. Cerebral Cortex, 28(1), 33-47. Doi:10.1093/cercor/bhw346

2017

Amoruso, L., Ibáñez, A., Fonseca, B., Gadea, S., Sedeño, L., Sigman, M., García, A.M., Fraiman, R., & Fraiman, D. (2017). Variability in functional brain networks predicts expertise during action observation. Neuroimage, 146, 690-700. Doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.09.041

2016

Amoruso, L., Finisguerra, A., & Urgesi, C. (2016). Tracking the time course of top-down contextual effects on motor responses during action comprehension. Journal of Neuroscience, 36(46), 11590-11600. Doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4340-15.2016

Amoruso, L., & Urgesi, C. (2016). Contextual modulation of motor resonance during the observation of everyday actions. Neuroimage, 134, 74-84. Doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.03.060

Amoruso, L., & Urgesi, C. (2016). Familiarity modulates motor activation while other species' actions are observed: A magnetic stimulation study. European Journal of Neuroscience, 43(6), 765-772. Doi:10.1111/ejn.13154

2014

Amoruso, L., Sedeño, L., Huepe, D., Tomio, A., Kamienkowski, J., Hurtado, E., Cardona, J.F., Álvarez González, M.A., Rieznik, A., Sigman, M., Manes, F., & Ibáñez, A. (2014). Time to Tango: Expertise and contextual anticipation during action observation. Neuroimage, 98, 366-385. Doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.05.005

Cardona, J.F., Kargieman, L., Sinay, V., Gershanik, O., Gelormini, C., Amoruso, L., Roca, M., Pineda, D., Trujillo, N., Michon, M., García, A.M., Szenkman, D., Bekinschtein, T., Manes, F., & Ibáñez, A. (2014). How embodied is action language? Neurological evidence from motor diseases. Cognition, 131(2), 311-322. Doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2014.02.001

Cardona, J.F., Sinay, V., Amoruso, L., Hesse, E., Manes, F., & Ibáñez, A. (2014). The impact of neuromyelitis optica on the recognition of emotional facial expressions: A preliminary report. Social Neuroscience, 9(6), 633-638. Doi:10.1080/17470919.2014.935474

2013

Barttfeld, P., Amoruso, L., Ais, J., Cukier, S., Bavassi, L., Tomio, A., Manes, F., Ibanez, A., & Sigman, M. (2013). Organization of brain networks governed by long-range connections index autistic traits in the general population. Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders, 5(1). Doi:10.1186/1866-1955-5-16

Ibáñez, A., Cardona, J.F., Dos Santos, Y.V., Blenkmann, A., Aravena, P., Roca, M., Hurtado, E., Nerguizian, M., Amoruso, L., Gómez-Arévalo, G., Chade, A., Dubrovsky, A., Gershanik, O., Kochen, S., Glenberg, A., Manes, F., & Bekinschtein, T. (2013). Motor-language coupling: Direct evidence from early Parkinson's disease and intracranial cortical recordings. Cortex, 49(4), 968-984. Doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2012.02.014

Amoruso, L., Gelormini, C., Aboitiz, F., Alvarez González, M., Manes, F., Cardona, J., & Ibanez, A. (2013). N400 ERPs for actions: Building meaning in context. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience(FEB). Doi:10.3389/fnhum.2013.00057

Cardona, J.F., Gershanik, O., Gelormini-Lezama, C., Houck, A.L., Cardona, S., Kargieman, L., Trujillo, N., Arévalo, A., Amoruso, L., Manes, F., & Ibáñez, A. (2013). Action-verb processing in Parkinson's disease: New pathways for motor-language coupling. Brain Structure and Function, 218(6), 1355-1373. Doi:10.1007/s00429-013-0510-1

2012

Ibáñez, A., Riveros, R., Hurtado, E., Gleichgerrcht, E., Urquina, H., Herrera, E., Amoruso, L., Reyes, M.M., & Manes, F. (2012). The face and its emotion: Right N170 deficits in structural processing and early emotional discrimination in schizophrenic patients and relatives. Psychiatry Research, 195(1-2), 18-26. Doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2011.07.027

Amoruso, L., Cardona, J., Melloni, M., Sedeño, L., & Ibanez, A. (2012). Contextual impairments in schizophrenia and the FN400. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 6. Doi:10.3389/fnhum.2012.00191

2011

Amoruso, L., Couto, B., & Ibáñez, A. (2011). Beyond extrastriate body area (EBA) and fusiform body area (FBA): Context integration in the meaning of actions. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 5. Doi:10.3389/fnhum.2011.00124

2025

LOROITU: Gogoratzeko, lo egin: Hitzak finkatzeko garun-dinamikak loaldian zehar [Sleep to remember: Neural dynamics of word consolidation during sleep]

Program: RED I+D 2025, 2025-CIE4-000046-01
Funding agency: Diputación Foral de Gipuzkoa
10/2025- 09/2026
Funding: 84.558 €
PIs: Lucia Amoruso & Efthymia Kapnoula
BRAINVOICE: Using automated speech and language analysis to predict postoperative outcomes and disease progression in patients with brain tumors

Program: Plan Nacional 2024, PID2024-160664OB-I00
Funding agency: Spanish Ministry
09/2025- 08/2028
Funding: 150.000 €
PI:Lucia Amoruso

2022

SCANCER: Beyond language preservation: Mapping social cognition in brain tumor patients using a multimethod approach

Program: Plan nacional 2021, PID2021-123575OB-I00
Funding agency: Spanish Ministry
09/2022- 08/2025
Funding: 138.908 €
PI:Lucia Amoruso

2019

MEGLIOMA: Oscillatory markers of language plasticity in brain tumor patients: A longitudinal MEG study

Program: RTI2018-096216-A-I00
Funding agency: Spanish Ministry
01/2019- 12/2021
Funding: 60.000 €
PI: Lucia Amoruso

In progress

Beyond language preservation: Mapping social cognition in brain tumor patients using a multimethod approach University of the Basque Country (UPV) (2024 - 2034)

Mapping the mirror neuron system in patients with gliomas: Preoperative and intraoperative insights from fMRI, MEG and direct electrical stimulation University of the Basque Country (UPV) (2024 - 2034)

Defended

Neural and behavioral signatures of language control in highly proficient bilinguals: Evidence from healthy individuals and brain tumor patients University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU (2019 - 2023)

Neural dynamics underlying object and action naming across languages: Insights from health and disease University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU (2019 - 2023)

2020

Oscillatory markers of language preservation in brain tumor patients: The role of the right hemisphere University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU

2019

Functional and structural biomarkers of cognitive outcomes after brain tumor resection University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU