Currently I am investigating how the ethnicity and the gender of virtual avatars influence the behavioral and psychophysiological reactions (heart rate, skin conductance) to social and intimate touch in immersive virtual environments. Previously, I investigated the role of the participants' sex and sexual orientation in shaping these responses, providing evidence that is possible to combine the full body ownership illusion and the vicarious perception of touch to investigate intimate and social touch in a controlled experimental setting.
In my past activity I also investigated how people regulated interpersonal distance toward virtual avatars and specifically how: a) sexual orientation and sexual prejudice affect comfort-distance judgments toward male and female avatars; b) how dispositional and situation factors influenced the adherence to the physical distancing measure during the first COVID-19 outbreak.
More broadly, I am interested in how social attitudes affect human-avatar nonverbal communication and, in turn, how Immersive Virtual Reality could induce positive intergroup vicarious contact and reduce prejudice toward stigmatized groups.
Title: M.Sc. in Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychological Rehabilitation
Institute: La Sapienza University of Rome
Location: Rome
Country: Italy
From: 2015 To: 2017
Title: B.Sc. in Psychology and Health
Institute: La Sapienza University of Rome
Location: Rome
Country: Italy
From: 2012 To: 2015
Title: Internship
Institute: Fondazione Santa Lucia IRCCS
Location: Rome
Country: Italy
From: 2018 To: 2019