Fausto Caruana is Senior Research Scientist at the Institute of Neuroscience of the National Research Council of Italy (IN-CNR), in Parma. He specializes in cognitive and behavioral neuroscience and he has authored over 80 papers on the neural and psychological mechanisms of emotional and motor behavior, mirror neurons, and emotional contagion.
His research is conducted using a multidisciplinary approach, mainly centered on intracranial recordings and electrical stimulation. Trained as an electrophysiologist in non-human primates, he moved into the field of human neuroscience through collaboration with the Claudio Munari Epilepsy Surgery Center at the Niguarda Hospital, Milan. He conducts his research through interdisciplinary collaborations with scholars from other disciplines, including neurology, ethology and philosophy of mind.
Research interests
System neuroscience, emotions and emotional expression, laughter, social cognition, embodied cognition, mirror neurons, neuroethology.
Selected publications
Del Vecchio M, Avanzini P, Gerbella M, Costa S, Zauli F.M, d’Orio P, Focacci E, Sartori I, Caruana F (2024). Anatomo-functional basis of emotional and motor resonance elicited by facial expressions. Brain.
Caruana F, Palagi E, de Waal F BM (2022). Cracking the laugh code. Laughter through the lens of biology, psychology, and neuroscience. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B.
Caruana F. (2021). Two Simulation Systems in the Human Frontal Cortex? Disentangling between Motor Simulation and Emotional Mirroring using Laughter. Cortex.
Caruana F., Avanzini P., Pelliccia V., Mariani V., Zauli F., Sartori I., Del Vecchio M., Lo Russo G., Rizzolatti G. (2020). Mirroring other’s laughter. Cingulate, opercular and temporal contributions to laughter expression and observation, Cortex 2020.
Caruana F. (2019). The Integration of Emotional Expression and Experience: A Pragmatist Review of Recent Evidence from Brain Stimulation. Emotion Review.
Caruana F., Gerbella M., Avanzini P., Gozzo F., Pelliccia V., Mai R., Abdollahi R. O., Cardinale F., Sartori I., Lo Russo G., Rizzolatti G. (2018). Motor and Emotional Behaviors Elicited by Electrical Stimulation of the Human Cingulate Cortex. Brain.
Rizzolatti G., Caruana F. (2017). Some considerations on de Waal and Preston review, Nature Reviews in Neuroscience.
Gallese V., Caruana F. (2016). Embodied Simulation. Beyond the expression/experience dualism of emotions. Trends in Cognitive Science.
Caruana F., Avanzini P., Gozzo F., Francione S., Cardinale F., Rizzolatti G. (2015). Mirth and laughter elicited by electrical stimulation of the human anterior cingulate cortex. Cortex.
Jezzini A.*, Caruana F.*, Stoianov I., Gallese V., Rizzolatti G., (2012). The Functional Organization of the Insula and of Inner Perisylvian Regions. PNAS.
Caruana F., Jezzini A., Sbriscia Fioretti B., Rizzolatti G., Gallese V. (2011). Emotional and Social Behaviors Elicited by Electrical Stimulation of the Insula in the Macaque Monkey. Current Biology.
Books
Caruana F., Palagi E. (2024): Perché Ridiamo. Alle Origini del Cervello Sociale. Il Mulino, Bologna.
Caruana F., Testa I. (2020): Habits. Pragmatist Approaches From Cognitive Neuroscience To Social Science. Cambridge University Press.
Baggio G., Caruana F., Parravicini A. Viola M. (Ed.; 2019): Emozioni. Da Darwin Al Pragmatismo. Antologia Di Scritti Di C. Darwin, W. James, J. Dewey E G.H. Mead. Rosenberg & Sellier, Torino.
Caruana F 2019: Il Cervello Empatico. Dalla Teoria Della Mente Al Meccanismo Mirror, Hachette.
Caruana F., Viola M. 2018: Come Funzionano Le Emozioni. Da Darwin Alle Neuroscienze, Il Mulino, Bologna.
Caruana F., Borghi A. 2016: Il Cervello In Azione, Il Mulino, Bologna.