Research

In humans and other mammals there are evolutionarily preserved brain systems responsible for defending the organism against potential injury and death. These systems are involved in defensive states like fear, anxiety and stress. 

My research aims to understand the role those systems play on caregiving behaviours towards others, from offspring care to altruism for strangers. We have found evidence that brain responses responsible for triggering fast avoidance from self-directed threats (e.g., fight-or-flight) may also be activated when deciding to help others under threat.

We are currently investigating how caregiving needs (e.g., through parenthood) in turn shape how one defends oneself from threats. 

Deciding whether to approach or avoid others in social contexts is an essential and fairly automatic behaviour in humans. This is expressed, for example, in how we regulate physical distance from others (i.e., interpersonal distance). I am interested in the neural systems that coordinate decisions to approach or avoid others. Our research has thus far shown how the brain regulates distance from others based on the emotional context of the interaction, and as a function of individual differences in personality triats (e.g. psychopathy). We have also uncovered a role of defensive brain systems on setting the physical distance from others. 

Psychopathy is a collection of personality traits highly associated with engagement in antisocial and sometimes criminal behaviours. Over the past decades, research has uncovered a series of social and affective processes that are disrupted in psychopathy.  Among these processes are the ability to process fear and to develop empathy for others. I am interested in uncovering the brain systems that are responsible for these dysfunctions.