Pier Francesco Ferrari

From body language to actual words, we pick up signals and act (or simply behave) accordingly all the time. But how does this work? Psychologists, using new and emerging technology in brain imaging to study behaviorial process in primates, have made some startling discoveries over the last two decades.

What are mirror neurons? Pier Francesco Ferrari will visit campus the week of March 20 as a Willson Center Distingushed Lecturer and present his lecture, Mirror Neurons and the Emergence of a Social Mind in Primates on March 20 at 4 pm in room 102 of the Miller Learning Center.

Ferrari, an assistant professor in Biology at the School of Medicine at the University of Parma, Italy, is author of many articles, research reports and book chapters on the neuroethology of social behavior and underlying cognitive processes. Ferarri’s current research focuses on the role of parietal and premotor cortical functions in relation to social cognition in macaques, primarily the role of mirror neurons in monkey social cognition. From 2007 to 2008, Ferarri served as Adjunct Scientist at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland, conducting research on cortical development in relation to cognitive functions in monkeys.

Image: Magnetic Resonance Imaging - Human brain sideview, by Oliver Stollmann, courtesy Wikipedia Commons