Dr Elena Piccardi
Lecturer
Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, Developmental Psychology Research Group
Department of Psychological Sciences , School Of Psychology
I am a Developmental Cognitive Neuroscientist and joined UEL School of Psychology as a Lecturer in Developmental Psychology in 2021.
Prior to that, I was a Wellcome Trust Research Fellow at the Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development (Birkbeck University of London) working on a project investigating the "Early Development of Sensory Perception in Autism Spectrum Disorders and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder". I currently act as an Affiliated Research Scientist and continue collaborating with this centre.
Qualifications
- PhD Psychology (Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience), Birkbeck, University of London, 2021
- Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Supporting Learning in Higher Education, Birkbeck, University of London & Higher Education Academy, 2019
- MSc Cognitive Neuroscience and Clinical Neuropsychology, University of Padova, 2015
- BSc Clinical Psychology, University of Bergamo, 2013
Areas Of Interest
1. A/typical development
2. Individual differences
3. Sensory perception
4. EEG signal processing
5. Teaching practices
OVERVIEW
Research: I investigate the early development of sensory perception in infants at elevated likelihood of ASD and/or ADHD and infants at typical likelihood of the conditions. I am interested in characterising the factors that determine contextual and individual differences in sensory sensitivity and seeking sensory input. Further, I am interested in understanding the impact of early sensory atypicalities on later social and cognitive development. To this end, I assess the longitudinal relationships between early neural markers of sensory processing (in the visual, auditory, and tactile modalities), parent questionnaires and clinical tools. This investigation can inform our understanding of the aetiologies of the conditions and lay the translational foundations for the development of early intervention protocols.
I conduct my research in collaboration with the Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck University of London, the University of East Anglia and Cambridge University.
I am also interested in issues related to research reproducibility and replicability, and currently act as Local Lead for the UK Reproducibility Network.
Education: I am passionate about education and fostering students' intellectual curiosity. My approach to teaching strives to create a culture of learning based around curiosity and collaboration, where diversity in perspectives and opinions is encouraged and where variety in views and beliefs is welcomed. I consider this approach essential to promote creativity, adaptability, agility, and resilience.
External roles
- Affiliated Research Scientist at the Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development (Birkbeck, University of London)
- Reviewer for the journals: Autism Research [Wiley], Translational Psychiatry [Nature], Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders [Springer]
- Local lead for the UK Reproducibility Network
CURRENT RESEARCH
Impact:
I take public engagement very seriously and have contributed several dissemination articles, including:
1. STAARScast Episode 3 (2022) discussing the work conducted to investigate behavioural and neural markers of tactile sensory processing in infants with an elevated likelihood of Autism Spectrum Disorders and/or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and what this research means.
2. Celebrating UEL women and girls in science (2022)
3. Autism predicted by how babies’ brains respond to touch (2021)
3. Understanding why some children enjoy TV more than others (in collaboration with Dr Teodora Gliga) (2020)
4. Spotlight of student research, International Society for Autism Research (2019)
5. Top tips for delivering a mesmerising academic presentation (2019)
6. A Londra Elena studia le cellule cerebrali, L’Eco di Bergamo (Italian language only) (2017)
Most recent research
- Piccardi, E. S., & Gliga, T. (2022). Understanding sensory regulation in typical and atypical development: The case of sensory seeking. Developmental Review, 65, 101037. doi:10.1016/j.dr.2022.101037
- Stewart, S. L. K., Pennington, C. R., da Silva, G. R., Ballou, N., Butler, J., Dienes, Z., Jay, C., Rossit, S., Samara, A. and U. K. Reproducibility Network (UKRN) Local Network Leads 2022. Reforms to improve reproducibility and quality must be coordinated across the research ecosystem: the view from the UKRN Local Network Leads. BMC Research Notes. 15 (Art. 58).
- De Laet, Anna, Piccardi, Elena Serena, Begum Ali, Jannath, Charman, Tony, Johnson, Mark H., Jones, Emily J. H., Bedford, Rachael, Gliga, Teodora and, the STAARS Team (2022) Neuronal gating of tactile input and sleep in 10-month-old infants at typical and elevated likelihood for Autism Spectrum Disorder. Scientific Reports. ISSN 2045-2322 (In Press)
- Piccardi, E. S., Ali, J. B., Jones, E. J., Mason, L., Charman, T., Johnson, M. H., & Gliga, T. (2021). Behavioural and neural markers of tactile sensory processing in infants at elevated likelihood of autism spectrum disorder and/or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Journal of neurodevelopmental disorders, 13 (1), 1-18.
- Piccardi, E. S., Johnson, M. H., & Gliga, T. (2020). Explaining individual differences in infant visual sensory seeking. Infancy, 25(5), 677-698.
- Norris, E., Clark, K., Munafò, M., Jay, C., Baldwin, JR., Lautarescu, A., Pedder, H., Page, M., Rinke, EM., Burn, CC., Cawthorn, W., Ballou, N., Glover, S., Evans, S., Rossit, S., Soltanlou, M., Wise, E., Kelson, M., Soliman, N., Jones, A., Costello, R., Smailes, D., Wilkinson, L., Piccardi, E.S., Partridge, A., Hulme, C., Schultze, A., Pennington, CR., (2022, June 8). Awareness of and engagement with Open Research behaviours: Development of the Brief Open Research Survey (BORS) with the UK Reproducibility Network. MetaArXiv Preprints
PUBLICATIONS
Journal articles
- Norris, E., Clark, K., Munafò, M., Jay, C., Baldwin, JR., Lautarescu, A., Pedder, H., Page, M., Rinke, EM., Burn, CC., Cawthorn, W., Ballou, N., Glover, S., Evans, S., Rossit, S., Soltanlou, M., Wise, E., Kelson, M., Soliman, N., Jones, A., Costello, R., Smailes, D., Wilkinson, L., Piccardi, E.S., Partridge, A., Hulme, C., Schultze, A., Pennington, CR., (2022, June 8). Awareness of and engagement with Open Research behaviours: Development of the Brief Open Research Survey (BORS) with the UK Reproducibility Network. MetaArXiv Preprints https://doi.org/10.31222/osf.io/w48yh
- De Laet, Anna, Piccardi, Elena Serena, Begum Ali, Jannath, Charman, Tony, Johnson, Mark H., Jones, Emily J. H., Bedford, Rachael, Gliga, Teodora and, the STAARS Team (2022) Neuronal gating of tactile input and sleep in 10-month-old infants at typical and elevated likelihood for Autism Spectrum Disorder. Scientific Reports. ISSN 2045-2322 (In Press)
- Piccardi, E. S., & Gliga, T. (2022). Understanding sensory regulation in typical and atypical development: The case of sensory seeking. Developmental Review, 65, 101037. doi:10.1016/j.dr.2022.101037
- Piccardi, E. S., Ali, J. B., Jones, E. J., Mason, L., Charman, T., Johnson, M. H., & Gliga, T. (2021). Behavioural and neural markers of tactile sensory processing in infants at elevated likelihood of autism spectrum disorder and/or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Journal of neurodevelopmental disorders, 13 (1), 1-18.
- Piccardi, E. S., Johnson, M. H., & Gliga, T. (2020). Explaining individual differences in infant visual sensory seeking. Infancy, 25 (5), 677-698.
- Lunghi, M., Piccardi, E. S., Richards, J. E., & Simion, F. (2019). The neural correlates of orienting to walking direction in 6‐month‐old infants: An ERP study. Developmental science, 22 (6), e12811.
PhD Thesis
- Piccardi, E. S., (2021). Early development of sensory perception in Autism Spectrum Disorders and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Birkbeck, University of London. PhD Thesis.
Conference Talks
- Paya Bosch, C., Piccardi, E. S. and Pearson, R. (2024). Dyslexia and Comorbid Dyscalculia: rate of comorbidity and underlying cognitive and learning profile. BDA 2024: The 13th British Dyslexia Association International Conference. University of Surrey, UK 20 - 21 Jun 2024 The British Dyslexia Association.
- Gal, C., Piccardi, ES., Smith, M., Muresan, R., Gliga, T., Infants' processing of distractors is associated with group-coherent modulation of occipital gamma bursts (2021). Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Meeting, Virtual.
- Piccardi, ES., Talking sense: what sensory processing atypicalities tell us about Autism Spectrum Disorders and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders (2021). Sensory Processing Interest Group Invited Talk, King's College London, Virtual.
- Piccardi, ES., Johnson, MH., Gliga, T., Explaining individual differences in infant visual sensory seeking (2019). Neurodevelopmental Disorders Seminar Series, Surrey
- Piccardi, ES., The application of EEG in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience research (2019). Higher Education Academy Seminar, London.
- De Laet, A., Gliga, T., Lazar, A., McLean, D., Fincham, H., Piccardi, ES., Associations between sensory gating and sleep architecture in infants at typical and elevated likelihood of Autism Spectrum Disorders (2022). International Society for Autism Research (INSAR). Austin, Texas (US)
MODULES
- PY6010 - Advanced Developmental Psychology
- PY5010 - Developmental Difficulties and Differences
- PY4003 - Introduction to Developmental and Cognitive Psychology
- PY6002 - Psychology Research project
- PY4005 - Researching with Small samples
- PY4006 - Researching with Larger samples
- PY5002 - Psychological Research Methods
- PY4002 - Introduction to Biological and Social Psychology and Individual Differences
- PY7160 - Independent Research Dissertation (MSc - Module Leader)
Publications
The last four years of publications can be viewed below.
Full publications list
Visit the research repository to view a full list of publications
- Understanding sensory regulation in typical and atypical development: The case of sensory seeking Developmental Review. 65 (Art. 101037). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2022.101037
- Reforms to improve reproducibility and quality must be coordinated across the research ecosystem: the view from the UKRN Local Network Leads BMC Research Notes. 15 (Art. 58). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13104-022-05949-w
- Neuronal gating of tactile input and sleep in 10-month-old infants at typical and elevated likelihood for Autism Spectrum Disorder Scientific Reports. 12 (Art. 14188). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-18018-w
- Behavioural and neural markers of tactile sensory processing in infants at elevated likelihood of autism spectrum disorder and/or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders. 13 (Art. 1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s11689-020-09334-1
- Explaining individual differences in infant visual sensory seeking Infancy. 25 (5), pp. 677-698. https://doi.org/10.1111/infa.12356
- The neural correlates of orienting to walking direction in 6-month-old infants: An ERP study Developmental Science. 22 (Art. e12811). https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12811