dpb | projects

2025 SEA URCHIN Project

Scanning the Environmental Acoustics to Unveil Roots of Communication in Human Interactions with Newborns

dpb lab coordinators | Alessandra Provera, Livio Provenzi

Research questions | While common approaches to the study of early parent-infant interactions have usually relied on visual measures and indexes of face-to-face exchanges, we wonder: What is the role of acoustic elements to shape infant relational meanging-making processes? How processed acoustic inputs from the physical and social environment contribute to emotional and cognitive development of infants with typical and less typical developmental conditions?

Synopsis | We explore different features of the acoustic environment the sorrounds first-year and second-year infants and how they relate and associate with different dimensions of emotional and cognitive development - including stress regulation, socio-cognitive precursors, and language outcomes.

Funding | Italian Ministry of Health

2024 - 2027 Gen-E Projects

Generation Echo research collection

dpb lab coordinators | Sarah Nazzari. Livio Provenzi

Research questions | How does climate change challenges and environmental threats affect development, well-being and mental health of children? How parents and children cope with environmental challenges and which protective and buffering factors can we identify to care for next generation prosperity from a one-health integrated perspective on development?

Synopsis | We explore biomarkers of exposure to pollution, environmental and natural disasters and protective connectedness to nature and greeness. We also explore individual differences in environmental-related anxiety (echo-anxiety) and resilience. The study makes an integrated use of techniques and methodologies from psychology, echology, social sciences, neurosciences, and ingeneering.

Funding | Italian Ministry of Health, Region Emilia Romagna, ScuolAttiva Onlus, Triple Pact

This study is a collage of multiple research projects, partly in collaboration with Prof. Serena Barello, University of Pavia (Italy).

Research outputs

Castellini G, Acampora M, Provenzi L, Cagliero L, Lucini L, Barello S (2023) Health consciousness and pro‑environmental behaviorsin an Italian representative sample: A cross‑sectional study. Scientific Reports, 13: 8846. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-35969-w

Nazzari S, Cagliero L, Grumi S, Pisoni E, Mallucci G, Bergamaschi R, Maccarini J, Giorda R, Provenzi L (2023) Prenatal exposure to environmental air pollution and psychosocial stress jointly contribute to the epigenetic regulation of the serotonin transporter gene in newborns. Molecular Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-023-02206-9

Pili MP, Cagliero L, Panichi V, Bordoni M, Pansarasa O, Cremaschi G, Tonga EB, Cappelletti F, Provenzi L (2024) Exposure to pollution during the first thousand days and telomere length regulation: A literature review. Environmental Research, 249: 118323. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2024.118323

Provenzi L, Billeci L, Wright C, Xu Z (2024) Editorial: Climate change challenge in pediatric psychology. Frontiers in Pediatric Psychology, 15: 1439041. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1439041

Mariani Wigley ILC, Nazzari S, Pastore M, Provenzi L, Barello S (2025) The contribution of environmental sensitivity and connectedness to nature to mental health: Does nature view count? Journal of Environmental Psychology, 102541. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2025.102541

2023 - 2026 2-BRAINED Project

2-Brain Regulation to Achieve Improved Neuroprotection during Early Development

dpb lab coordinator | Livio Provenzi

Research question | How do parents and infants synchronize their brains? What happens to brain-to-brain synchrony when developmental risk conditions (e.g., preterm birth) are present? Is an early parenting intervention capable of protect synchrony in at-risk conditions?

Synopsis | This study integrates video-feedback intervention and EEG hyperscanning technique to the study of parent-infant interaction to investigate how the brain of parents and infants couple together and resonate during face-to-face interactions in full-term and preterm infants.

Funding | Italian Ministry of Health (GR-2021: Dr. Livio Provenzi)

Research outputs

Billeci L, Riva V, Capelli E, Grumi S, Pili MP, Cassa M, Siri E, Roberti E, Borgatti R, Provenzi L (2025) 2-Brain Regulation for Improved Neuroprotection during Early Development (2-BRAINED): a translational hyperscanning research project. Frontiers in Pediatric Psychology, 15, 1516616. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1516616

Pili, M. P., Provenzi, L., Billeci, L., Riva, V., Cassa, M., Siri, E., ... & Capelli, E. (2025). Exploring the impact of manual and automatic EEG pre-processing methods on interpersonal neural synchrony measures in parent-infant hyperscanning studies. Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 110400. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneumeth.2025.110400

Roberti E, Capelli E, Provenzi L. (2023) Envisioning translational hyperscanning: how applied neuroscience might improve family-centered care. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 18(1):nsac061. https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fscan%2Fnsac061

2022 - 2025 HEADCAM Project

How Exploration and Attention Dynamics allow Communication to Arise from Manipulation

dpb lab coordinators | Alessandra Raspanti

Research question | Is infants' visual and manual exploration of the physical world linked with their language and communicative skills? Does parenting environment contribute to the embedding of exploration into communication development?

Synopsis | The use of head-mounted cameras while studying parent-infant interaction will allow us to explore how dyadic visual and manual exploration of known and unknown objects at 18 months facilitates the emergence of language skills at 24 months in full-term and preterm children.

Funding | Italian Ministry of Health

2022 - 2025 ARIEL Project

Autonomic Regulatotion through Interactions in Early Life

dpb lab coordinator | Sarah Nazzari

Research question | How do infants and their caregiver co-regulate their body temperature during face-to-face interactive exchanges? How is this physiological co-regulation affected by technoference - as the use of smartphone by the caregiver during the interaction?

Synopsis | By using plug-in thermocameras we will record technoferenced mother-infant interactions obtaining synchronous layers of behavioral and physiological co-regulation and we will explore how the use of a smartphone by the caregiver affects such dyadic regulatory processes.

Funding | Italian Ministry of Health

Nazzari, S., Darvehei, F., Jensen, E. N., Lucchin, S., Samoukina, A., & Provenzi, L. (2024). In the heat of connection: using infrared thermal imaging to shed new light into early parent-infant co-regulation patterns. Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience, 18, 1388886. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2024.1388886

Nazzari, S., Morgese Zangrandi, M., Bottini, G., Salvato, G., & Provenzi, L. (2025). "Hot stuff": Behavioural and affective thermal responses to digital and non-digital disruptions during early mother-infant interaction. Biological psychology, 196, 109027. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109027.

2021 - 2025 SPHERE Project

Supporting Parenting at Home: Empowering Rehabilitation Engagement

dpb lab coordinator | Serena Grumi

Research question | Can we support parents of children with developmental risk or disabilities by engaging them in remote video-feedback supportive interventions?

Synopsis | Video-feedback support for parents is effective to promote parental well-being, caregiving skills, and child development. Nonetheless, the resources needed for extensive video-feedback programs in hospitals or at home are huge and not all families can afford it. The SPHERE projects is a clinical trial on the effectiveness of a video-feedback intervention delivered online to parents of children with developmental risk or disability conditions.

Funding | Italian Ministry of Health (Starting Grant 2019: Dr. Serena Grumi)

Research outputs

Grumi S, Pettenati G, Manfredini V, Provenzi L. (2022) Flexibility and organization in parent-child interaction through the lens of the dynamic system approach: A systematic review of State Space Grid studies. Infant Behav Dev. 67:101722. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2022.101722

Provenzi L, Grumi S, Gardani A, et al. (2021) Italian parents welcomed a telehealth family-centred rehabilitation programme for children with disability during COVID-19 lockdown. Acta Paediatr. 110(1):194-196. https://doi.org/10.1111/apa.15636

Grumi S, Borgatti R, Provenzi L. (2021) Supporting Parenting at Home-Empowering Rehabilitation through Engagement (SPHERE): study protocol for a randomised control trial. BMJ Open. 11(12):e051817. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2021-051817

2021 - 2024 ULISSE Project

Understanding Low-vision Infants' Socio-cognitive Skills Emergence

dpb lab coordinator | Elena Capelli

Research question | How do socio-cognitive skills emerge in low-vision infants who lack access to key visual hints on others' intentionality?

Synopsis | Many of the early precursors of social cognition - e.g., pointing, social referencing, anticipation of others' intentions - strongly rely on visual cues. What happens in infants who present severe low-vision conditions? In this study, we test early socio-cognitive abilities using a remote auditory interactive task of parent-infant interaction.

Funding | Italian Ministry of Health

This study is a collaboration with Prof. Chiara Turati, University of Milano-Bicocca (Milano, Italy).

2020 - 2024 MOM-COPE Project

Measuring the Outcomes of Maternal COVID-19-related Prenatal Exposure

dpb lab coordinators | Livio Provenzi, Serena Grumi

Research question | How is maternal prenatal stress experienced by women during the COVID-19 pandemic affecting their psychological well-being and the developmental trajectories of their infants?

Synopsis | A network of 10 neonatology units from Northern Italy is involved in this multicentric and longitudinal study. We follow up mothers and infants from birth to 12 months for emotional, social, and cognitive developmental outcomes. Moreover, we explore the role of epigenetic regulation of specific stress-related target genes in mediating the association between pandemic-related stress and both maternal and infants outcomes.

Funding | Italian Ministry of Health; Fondazione Roche Italia

Project outputs:

Nazzari, S., Pili, M. P., Günay, Y., & Provenzi, L. (2024). Pandemic babies: A systematic review of the association between maternal pandemic-related stress during pregnancy and infant development. Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews, 162, 105723. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2024.105723

Maccarini, J., Nazzari, S., Grumi, S., et al. (2024). Prenatal maternal pandemic-related stress was associated with a greater risk of children having disturbed sleep at 24 months of age. Acta paediatrica. https://doi.org/10.1111/apa.17042

Nazzari, S., Cagliero, L., Grumi, S., et al. (2023). Prenatal exposure to environmental air pollution and psychosocial stress jointly contribute to the epigenetic regulation of the serotonin transporter gene in newborns. Molecular psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-023-02206-9

Nazzari S, Grumi S, Mambretti F, et al. (2023) Sex-dimorphic pathways in the associations between maternal trait anxiety, infant BDNF methylation, and negative emotionality. Dev Psychopathol. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0954579423000172

Nazzari, S., Grumi, S., Biasucci, G., et al. (2023). Maternal pandemic-related stress during pregnancy associates with infants' socio-cognitive development at 12 months: A longitudinal multi-centric study. PloS One. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0284578

Provenzi L, Grumi S, Altieri L, et al. (2023) Prenatal maternal stress during the COVID-19 pandemic and infant regulatory capacity at 3 months: A longitudinal study. Dev Psychopathol. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0954579421000766

Nazzari S, Grumi S, Mambretti F, et al. (2022) Maternal and infant NR3C1 and SLC6A4 epigenetic signatures of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown: when timing matters. Transl Psychiatry. 12(1):386. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-022-02160-0

Nazzari, S., Grumi, S., Villa, M., et al. (2022). Sex-dependent association between variability in infants' OXTR methylation at birth and negative affectivity at 3 months. Psychoneuroendocrinology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2022.105920

Provenzi L, Grumi S. (2022) The Need to Study Developmental Outcomes of Children Born During the COVID-19 Pandemic. JAMA Pediatr. 176(1):103.

https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2021.4342

Roberti E, Giacchero R, Grumi S, et al. (2022) Post-partum Women's Anxiety and Parenting Stress: Home-Visiting Protective Effect During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Matern Child Health J. 26(11):2308-2317. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-022-03540-0

Provenzi L, Mambretti F, Villa M, et al. (2021) Hidden pandemic: COVID-19-related stress, SLC6A4 methylation, and infants' temperament at 3 months. Sci Rep. 11(1):15658. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-95053-z

Grumi S, Provenzi L, Accorsi P, et al. (2021) Depression and Anxiety in Mothers Who Were Pregnant During the COVID-19 Outbreak in Northern Italy: The Role of Pandemic-Related Emotional Stress and Perceived Social Support. Front Psychiatry. 12:716488. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.716488

2020 - 2023 MEET Project

Maternal Engagement and Eye-Tracking

dpb lab coordinators | Serena Grumi, Elena Capelli

Research question | How does the presence of children's visual impairment affect the quality of early interaction with the caregiver and parental capacity to read and make sense of their children's communicative signals?

Synopsis | We explore whether (and how) the presence of child visual impairment affects the way mothers behave during face-to-face interactions. We take further advantage of eye-tracking techniques, in order to focus on maternal visual exploration of their children's communicative signals and emotional cues..

Funding | Italian Ministry of Health

Research outputs

Grumi, S., Capelli, E., Morelli, F., Vercellino, L., Mascherpa, E., Ghiberti, C., Carraro, L., Signorini, S., & Provenzi, L. (2024). Gaze Orienting in the Social World: An Exploration of the Role Played by Caregiving Vocal and Tactile Behaviors in Infants with Visual Impairment and in Sighted Controls. Brain sciences, 14(5), 474. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci14050474

Grumi S, Cappagli G, Aprile G, et al. (2021) Togetherness, beyond the eyes: A systematic review on the interaction between visually impaired children and their parents. Infant Behav Dev. 64:101590. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2021.101590

Grumi S, Capelli E, Provenzi L, Morelli F, Riva B, Carraro L, Ghiberti C, Luparia A, Signorini S (2025) Socio-emotional stress regulation in infants with visual impairment: Exploring the role of maternal vocal and tactile behavior. Personality and Individual Differences 238:113104. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2025.113104