CristoforiTeam

Lab News

Recent Research work & Publications

Explore our latest scientific contributions, highlighting our ongoing work in social cognition and behavior.

Together, these publications reflect our commitment to advancing research at the intersection of neuroscience, psychology, and social behavior.

“Developmental trajectory of the prefrontal operculum and the consequences of premature birth“

“Contrasting the classic effect of reward on attentional priority maps: behavioral evidence for an attentional gating of spatially-specific reward signals.”

“Revisiting our primate roots in infants grooming | Scientific Reports”

“Overt attention to social signals during social exclusion: a pre-registered study: Cognition and Emotion: Vol 0, No 0”

OHBM Conference – 2026

Our research team was delighted to participate in the Organization for Human Brain Mapping (OHBM) 2026 Annual Meeting, held from June 21–26, 2026 in Bordeaux, France. OHBM is an international conference dedicated to advancing the understanding of the anatomical and functional organization of the human brain through neuroimaging approaches.

OHBM brings together researchers from around the world to promote scientific exchange, education, and collaboration across diverse fields of human brain research, including MRI, fMRI, PET, EEG/MEG, and other cutting-edge methodologies.

At this year’s meeting, Daniele Spica presented the poster entitled “Contribution of the Left Prefrontal Operculum to Rehearsal in Inner Speech: Insights from Lesion-Symptom Mapping.” This work, co-authored with C. Amiez, P. A. Beuriat, J. Grafman, H. Lœvenbruck, and I. Cristofori, investigates the role of the left prefrontal operculum in inner speech rehearsal using lesion-symptom mapping approaches, contributing to a better understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying language and internal speech processes.

ESCAN Conference – Rome, Italy (June 3–6, 2026)

Our research team was delighted to participate in the 8th European Society for Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience (ESCAN) Meeting, held from June 3–6, 2026 at the Department of Economics, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy.

ESCAN brings together researchers from across Europe and beyond to promote collaboration and scientific exchange in the fields of cognitive, affective, and social neuroscience. This year’s edition was the largest ESCAN meeting to date, gathering more than 900 participants and featuring over 750 scientific contributions.

We were proud to contribute to the symposium:

S3-9: Minds in Contact: Perception, Alignment, and Social Pain in Human Interaction
Thursday, June 4, 2026

During this symposium:

  • Irene Cristofori presented:
    “Overt Attention to Social Signals during Social Exclusion: a Pre-registered Study”
  • Zahra Zareei presented:
    “Implicit Effects of the Cyberball Paradigm: Towards a Validation of the Needs-Threat Model of Social Exclusion? A Systematic Review”

In addition, Daniele Spica had a poster entitled:
“Causal Evidence on the Neural Underpinnings of Happiness”

NeuroDay – Lyon, France (December 4, 2025)

On December 4th, 2025, the annual NeuroDay event took place in Lyon, bringing together researchers to share and discuss advances in neuroscience. We are proud to announce that two members of our team — Bertrand Beffera (Postdoctoral Researcher) and Zahra Zareei (Research Intern) — participated and presented a poster showcasing their ongoing project on neuromodulation and its effects on reducing social pain.

They had the opportunity to present their preliminary findings, exchange ideas with the scientific community, and respond to insightful questions from attendees.

We congratulate Bertrand and Zahra for their excellent contribution and thank them for representing our team at this important event!