Pier Francesco Ferrari (Principal Investigator)

Email: pierfrancesco.ferrari@isc.cnrs.fr
Phone: (334) 37 91 12 39

Since 2016 Dr Ferrari is Directeur de Recherche (Director of Research, DR1) at the CNRS in Lyon where he directs the laboratory of Social Neuroscience and Comparative development. Dr Ferrari received his degree in Biology at the University of Parma in 1992. During his Ph.D he conducted part of the research between the University of Parma, Italy, the University of London and the University of Leeds in UK. Soon after he became post-doc fellow at the Tufts University in Boston, USA. On his return to Italy he joined the team led by Giacomo Rizzolatti in Parma investigating the role of mirror neurons in emotional communication and intention. From 2007 to 2008, he served as Adjunct Scientist at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland, conducting research on brain development in relation to cognitive functions and social behavior in macaque monkeys. He has also been adjunct Professor at the University of Maryland, USA and visiting Professor at the University of Reading, UK. Dr Ferrari has been Associate Professor in Neuroscience at the University of Parma, Italy, until 2016. Among his achievement he received the Willson distinguished lecturer award from the University of Georgia. He has also been president of the Italian Primatological Association, API. Together with Giacomo Rizzolatti, he is Director of the International School of Neurosciences "Sir John Eccles", at the Ettore Majorana Foundation and Centre for Scientific Culture, Italy. Dr Ferrari’s research program is supported by the National Institutes of Health current research is funded mainly by: the National Institutes of Health of the USA (P01 HD064653-01), University of Lyon 1, Fondation de France, Fédération pour la Recherche sur le Cerveau, Univerity of Lyon 1, the Italian Ministry of Health (PRIN), Centro Diagnostico Europeo Dalla Rosa Prati, Fondazione Bassignani, Giocampus.

Papers

• Fabrizia Festante, Pier Francesco Ferrari, Samuel G. Thorpe, Robert W. Buchanan, Nathan A. Fox
  Intranasal oxytocin enhances EEG mu rhythm desynchronization during execution and observation of social action: An exploratory study
  Psychoneuroendocrinology, 104467, Vol: 111, (2020), doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2019.104467
• Elisa De Stefani, Francesca Rodá, Elio Volta, Vincenzo Pincolini, Andrea Farnese, Stefano Rossetti, Federica Pedretti, Pier Francesco Ferrari
  Learning new sport actions: Pilot study to investigate the imitative and the verbal instructive teaching methods in motor education
  PLOS ONE, e0237697, Vol: 15, (2020), doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0237697
• E.De Stefani, M.Ardizzi, Y.Nicolini, M.Belluardo, A.Barbot, C.Bertolini, G.Garofalo, B.Bianchi, G.Coudè, L.Murray, P.F.Ferrari
  Children with facial paralysis due to Moebius syndrome exhibit reduced autonomic modulation during emotion processing.
  Journal of neurodevelopmental disorders, 12, Vol: 11, (2019), doi: 10.1186/s11689-019-9272-2
• G.Coudè, G.Toschi, F.Festante, M.Bimbi, J.Bonaiuto, P.F.Ferrari
  Grasping Neurons in the Ventral Premotor Cortex of Macaques Are Modulated by Social Goals.
  Journal of cognitive neuroscience, 299--313, Vol: 31, (2019), doi: 10.1162/jocn_a_01353
• M.Bimbi, F.Festante, G.Coudè, R.E.Vanderwert, N.A.Fox, P.F.Ferrari
  Simultaneous scalp recorded EEG and local field potentials from monkey ventral premotor cortex during action observation and execution reveals the contribution of mirror and motor neurons to the mu-rhythm.
  NeuroImage, 22--31, Vol: 175, (2018), doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.03.037
• M.Baker, S.G.Lindell, C.A.Driscoll, Z.Zhou, Q.Yuan, M.L.Schwandt, I.Miller-Crews, E.A.Simpson, A.Paukner, P.F.Ferrari, R.K.Sindhu, M.Razaqyar, W.H.Sommer, J.F.Lopez, R.C.Thompson, D.Goldman, M.Heilig, J.D.Higley, S.J.Suomi, C.S.Barr
  Early rearing history influences oxytocin receptor epigenetic regulation in rhesus macaques
  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 11769--11774, Vol: 114, (2017), doi: 10.1073/pnas.1706206114
• P.F. Ferrari, M. Gerbella, G. Coudé, S. Rozzi
  Two different mirror neuron networks: The sensorimotor (hand) and limbic (face) pathways
  Neuroscience, 300 - 315, Vol: 358, (2017), doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroscience.2017.06.052
• A.M.Dettmer, S.S.K.Kaburu, E.A.Simpson, A.Paukner, V.Sclafani, K.L.Byers, A.M.Murphy, M.Miller, N.Marquez, G.M.Miller, S.J.Suomi, P.F.Ferrari
  Neonatal face-to-face interactions promote later social behaviour in infant rhesus monkeys
  Nature Communications, 11940, Vol: 7, (2016), doi: 10.1038/ncomms11940
• Ryan J. Morrill, Annika Paukner, Pier F. Ferrari, Asif A. Ghazanfar
  Monkey lipsmacking develops like the human speech rhythm
  Developmental Science, 557--568, Vol: 15, (2012), doi: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2012.01149.x
• Pier Francesco Ferrari, Ross E. Vanderwert, Annika Paukner, Seth Bower, Stephen J. Suomi, Nathan A. Fox
  Distinct EEG Amplitude Suppression to Facial Gestures as Evidence for a Mirror Mechanism in Newborn Monkeys
  Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 1165--1172, Vol: 24, (2012), doi: 10.1162/jocn_a_00198
• Gino Coudè, Pier Francesco Ferrari, Francesca Rodá, Monica Maranesi, Eleonora Borelli, Vania Veroni, Fabio Monti, Stefano Rozzi, Leonardo Fogassi
  Neurons Controlling Voluntary Vocalization in the Macaque Ventral Premotor Cortex
  PLoS ONE, e26822, Vol: 6, (2011), doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0026822
• Frans B.M. de Waal, Pier Francesco Ferrari
  Towards a bottom-up perspective on animal and human cognition
  Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 201--207, Vol: 14, (2010), doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2010.03.003
• Pier Francesco Ferrari, Annika Paukner, Consuel Ionica, Stephen J. Suomi
  Reciprocal Face-to-Face Communication between Rhesus Macaque Mothers and Their Newborn Infants
  Current Biology, 1768--1772, Vol: 19, (2009), doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2009.08.055
• E. Palagi, A. Leone, G. Mancini, P. F. Ferrari
  Contagious yawning in gelada baboons as a possible expression of empathy
  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 19262--19267, Vol: 106, (2009), doi: 10.1073/pnas.0910891106
• A. Paukner, S. J. Suomi, E. Visalberghi, P. F. Ferrari
  Capuchin Monkeys Display Affiliation Toward Humans Who Imitate Them
  Science, 880--883, Vol: 325, (2009), doi: 10.1126/science.1176269
• Luca Bonini, Stefano Rozzi, Francesca Ugolotti Serventi, Luciano Simone, Pier F. Ferrari, Leonardo Fogassi
  Ventral Premotor and Inferior Parietal Cortices Make Distinct Contribution to Action Organization and Intention Understanding
  Cerebral Cortex, 1372--1385, Vol: 20, (2009), doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhp200
• Pier F Ferrari, Elisabetta Visalberghi, Annika Paukner, Leonardo Fogassi, Angela Ruggiero, Stephen J Suomi
  Neonatal Imitation in Rhesus Macaques
  PLoS Biology, e302, Vol: 4, (2006), doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.0040302
• Pier Francesco Ferrari, Stefano Rozzi, Leonardo Fogassi
  Mirror Neurons Responding to Observation of Actions Made with Tools in Monkey Ventral Premotor Cortex
  Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 212--226, Vol: 17, (2005), doi: 10.1162/0898929053124910
• Pier Francesco Ferrari, Vittorio Gallese, Giacomo Rizzolatti, Leonardo Fogassi
  Mirror neurons responding to the observation of ingestive and communicative mouth actions in the monkey ventral premotor cortex
  European Journal of Neuroscience, 1703--1714, Vol: 17, (2003), doi: 10.1046/j.1460-9568.2003.02601.x