Laura Zapparoli

RESEARCH INTEREST

I’m a Psychologist (Master Degree and professional qualification obtained respectively in October 2010 and January 2012), with specific experience in Experimental Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience (PhD received in 2016) and in Statistics applied to biological data (Master degree in Biostatistics achieved in October 2018). I’m also a qualified expert in Clinical Neuropsychology (as certified by the Italian Society of Neuropsychology).

My main research interest is the neuroscience of motor control, with particular reference to the study the different stages of the action production: from the more abstract aspects (i.e. the different components of intention to move and the mechanism of action representation), through explicit motor execution and motor awareness.

These topics were investigated in healthy subjects, with particular attention to the changes associated with the adult life-span and the physiological processes of aging (Zapparoli et al., 2013, 2014, 2016b), but also in neurological populations (Zapparoli et al., 2015, 2016a, 2017b).

During the last two years, the main focus of my research activity was the study of the different mental processes related to intentional actions (Zapparoli et al., 2017a; Zapparoli et al., 2018).

I recently started the study of the sense of agency (i.e. the ability to recognize that we are the actors of our behaviour and its consequences) and its normal and abnormal neural physiology.

EDUCATION

October 2018: Master Degree in Biostatistics (summa cum laude – 110 e lode), University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan. Thesis: “The implicit association test and the evaluation of attitudes in psychology: a new scoring method”. Supervisor: Prof. Fulvia Pennoni.

February 2016: PhD in Experimental Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience (evaluation: excellent), University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan. PhD Thesis: “Mental motor representations across the adult life-span: behavioural and fMRI evidence in explicit and implicit motor imagery tasks”. Supervisor: Prof. Eraldo Paulesu.

October 2010: Master Degree in Clinical Psychology and Neuropsychology (summa cum laude – 110 e lode), University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan. Thesis: “Movement and motor imagery: an fMRI study”. Supervisor: Prof. Eraldo Paulesu.

July 2008: Bachelor Degree in Psychology (summa cum laude – 110 e lode), University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan. Thesis: “Cognitive evaluation of patient affected by multiple sclerosis”. Supervisor: Prof.ssa Costanza Papagno.

Links to GoogleScholar and ResearchGate profiles

Contact: laura.zapparoli@gmail.com

See my CV at the bottom of this page