I am a developmental cognitive neuroscientist and my research focuses on understanding how both the infant's and the caregivers' brain and mind develop and change during the first years of a baby's life, with a particular interest on social development and neurodiversity. To address questions in this research topic, I use a combination of interdisciplinary methodologies that include behavioural observations, cognitive tests, fMRI, EEG, and computational modelling.

I graduated summa cum laude in Psychology-Neuroscience from the University of Trento (Italy) in 2015, followed by a PhD in Cognitive Science. My PhD project, carried out half at the University of Trento and half at RIKEN Centre for Brain Science (Japan), investigated how the interplay between genetic and environmental factors influenced early caregivers-infant interactions and their long-term effects in both humans and other primates. Following this I worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Trinity College Dublin (Ireland) where I collaborated in the FOUNDCOG project which aimed to collected awake infant fMRI data at 2 and 9 months of age to study the emergence of concepts. Our team successfully scanned the largest, youngest, and first longitudinal cohort of awake infants to date, achieving the highest success rates internationally.

In 2024 I joined the School of Psychology at Queen’s University Belfast as a Senior Lecturer in Psychology (Neuroscience).

Beyond academy, I am a passionate active contributor in science communication. I believe sharing cutting-edge knowledge with everybody is entrenched in our research mission and is essential in achieving significant practical impact as well as societal improvement.

The overarching goal of my research is to understand the cognitive and neurobiological mechanisms driving the development of the mind and the brain. 

Infant development is the result of an extremely complex interaction between variables at several levels such as behavioural, physiological, genetic, and environmental. The study of development therefore requires an interdisciplinary perspective and the application of a multi-method approach. In my research I combine methods from psychology – behavioural observation, eye tracking, questionnaires, psychophysiology – neuroscience, and biology – fMRI, EEG, genetic testing, animal models – as well as the application of computational modelling. 

In addition, when investigating human infants development, particular importance needs to be given to caregiver-infant interactions as well as how the mind and brain of new parents changes. Infants do not develop in a vacuum and since humans are highly social animals, accounting for caregivers' behaviours and mental states is pivotal to understanding how give everyone their best start in life as well as how to best support new families.