Developmental Psychobiology Lab
University of Pavia & IRCCS Mondino Foundation
Head | Livio Provenzi
MOM-COPE Project
Measuring the Outcomes of Maternal COVID-19-related Prenatal Exposure
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
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, 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
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, Grumi S, Altieri L, et al. (2021) 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
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
2-BRAINS Project
2-Brain regulatory attunement: Impact of Neonatal Stress
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?
Synopsis | This study applies the 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. By enrolling a group of preterm infants and their mothers, this study will highlight the presence of potential alterations in brain-to-brain synchrony in at-risk conditions.
Funding | Italian Ministry of Health; Fondazione Banca del Monte di Lombardia
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
SPHERE Project
Supporting Parenting at Home: Empowering Rehabilitation Engagement
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)
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
MASK Project
Mask-response in Autism Spectrum at-risk Kids
Research question | Is caregivers' mask-wearing really affecting the ability of young children to elaborate and process emotional signals in face-to-face interactions?
Synopsis | There is a general concern about the short- and long-term effects of mask-wearing by adults who take care of young children. We know that face processing is key to emotional regulation. Nonetheless, we do not know if hiding details behind the mask is resulting in significant alterations of emotional processing in face-to-face interactions. In this study, we explore how healthy infants and siblings of children with autism spectrum disorders interact with adults who wear a protective mask.
Funding | Italian Ministry of Health
This study is a collaboration with Dr. Valentina Riva, IRCCS E. Medea (Bosisio Parini, Italy).
MEET Project
Maternal Engagement and Eye-Tracking
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
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
ULISSE Project
Understanding Low-vision Infants' Socio-cognitive Skills Emergence
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 Dr. Chiara Turati, University of Milano-Bicocca (Milano, Italy).
HEADCAM Project
How Exploration and Attention Dynamics allow Communication to Arise from Manipulation
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
ARIEL Project
Autonomic Regulator Interaction in Early Life
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