Stefano Anzellotti, PhD


stefano

Project

Investigating the dynamic interactions between brain regions involved in social cognitive processes

Laboratories

Rebeca Saxe, Ph.D., Emery N. Brown, M.D., Ph.D.

Biographical information

Stefano Anzellotti studied Mathematics at the University of Trento, Italy with the support of a scholarship from the Italian Institute for Advanced Mathematics (INDAM). In 2007, he completed a degree in Clarinet performance at the Conservatory of Trento (2007). In 2008, he graduated cum laude in Mathematics with a thesis on the isoperimetric problem on the Heisenberg group. He then proceeded to obtain a Master’s degree (2010) and a Ph.D (2014) in Psychology at Harvard University, under the guidance of Prof. Alfonso Caramazza. During his time at Harvard, Stefano used machine learning methods applied to the analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data to investigate the neural mechanisms at the basis of the human ability to recognize person identity from perceptual stimuli like faces and voices. In his current work, he is using fMRI and developing new analysis methods to study the neural mechanisms through which socially relevant information such as emotions and beliefs is extracted from perceptual stimuli, and to ask whether and how these mechanisms differ between neurotypical and ASD participants.