Gianluca Esposito (Keynote)

PRESENTATION: “Brains in synch: Caregiver-Infant attachment across mammalianspecies”

Gianluca Esposito is a professor and Chair of the Ph.D. Program in Cognitive Science Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science (DiPSCo), University of Trento, Italy. He is a Developmental Clinical Psychologist qualified to advance the ongoing investigations on child socio-cognitive development contributing strengths in human electrophysiology and neuroimaging, complex data modeling, and comparative physiological assessment with the aim of studying Social Interaction. He has applied neuroimaging (fMRI; fNIRS, EEG) genetic, and behavioral protocols in the context of infant socio-cognitive development, often comparing typical and atypical trajectories. Furthermore, Esposito has experimentally explored caregiver-infant interaction across mammalian species (mice, marmosets and humans), and its implication to psychopathology. His work has produced publications, collaborations and has been recognized several times by a number of agencies from Europe, Singapore, Japan, USA and UAE. He is the main author (either first or corresponding) for the majority of his publications: 216 peer-review papers, 22 book chapters, and 1 co-edited book. His studies have been published in different fields (Clinical Psychology, Biology, Neuroscience, Education), using multiple technologies (e.g. fNIRS; EEG, fMRI, ECG, EMG, GSR, animal models; genetic assessments; pharmacological manipulations) reflecting strong independent thinking and attention to the bigger picture more than to the specific of a single research field.