Maria Alessandra Umiltà

Università di Parma (Italy)

The embodied consequences of observed impossible movements: a multidisciplinary approach.

2022-2023: Fall and Spring

Prof. Maria Alessandra Umiltà, PhD, is a leading expert in social cognition and electrophysiology techniques on monkeys and humans. Her research interests include the mechanisms of inhibition of voluntary movement, the neural basis of emotion recognition in children and adults, the neural basis of social cognition, the role of the cortical sensory-motor system in the control of higher cognitive functions, and the role of the body in aesthetic experience.

She is Associate Professor of Physiology at the Department of Food and Drug, University of Parma. She is affiliated with the Unit of Neuroscience of the Department of Medicine & Surgery, University of Parma, where she leads the high-density EEG Lab. Since 2007, she has been a member of the board of the International PhD Program in Neuroscience, and she teaches Physiology and Neuroscience at the University of Parma.

She has been Honorary Research Associate Fellow with the Sobell Department of Neurophysiology, Institute of Neurology, University College London with Wellcome Trust. She also was an Adjunct Senior Research Scholar at the Department of Art History and Archeology of Columbia University from 2010 to 2022

For the Academic Year 2023-24, she will be affiliated with the Italian Academy as an Adjunct Research Scholar.