Manuela Costa

Curriculum vitae

PERSONAL INFORMATION

Family name, First name: Manuela Costa

Researcher scholar identifier:
Date of birth: December 24th, 1988
Nationality: Italian
Marital status: Married
URL for web site: http://costamanuela.weebly.com

UNIVERSITY STUDIES AND DIPLOMAS

PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience. Institut des Sciences Cognitives CNRS (France). University of Lyon.
Supervisor. Prof Angela Sirigu. September 2016.
Master on Philosophy (Mind and Cognition): University Vita-Salute San Raffaele (Italy). Supervisors. Prof Claudia
Bianchi and Dr. Nicola Canessa. Cum Laude. Jennuary 2013.
Degree in Philosophy University of Palermo (Italy). Supervisor. Prof Francesco Lo Piparo. Cum Laude. December
2010.

SUMMARY OF THE CV
During my education, I had the opportunity to travel and collaborate with different institutions. The master in
Philosophy at San Raffaele University in Milan made me interact with world- wide well-known philosophers and
neuroscientist. At its final part, I spent a period in the Netherlands at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam to
extend my knowledge on emotional theories and philosophy of language. The interdisciplinary training at the San
Raffaele University -philosophy, medicine and psychology- allowed me to be prepared to obtain a European grant
on cognitive neuroscience PALSE, 3 years PhD fellowship. Thanks to this grant, I conducted a PhD in Lyon
(France) under the supervision of Prof. Angela Sirigu, defended on 14 September 2016. During my PhD, I
investigated the behavioral and brain mechanisms of first impression of trustworthiness in both human and non-
human primates by focusing on eye-movements patterns. I also investigated (using eye tracking and EEG
recording) how facial perception and trustworthiness is disrupted in patients suffering from social pathological
conditions such as Williamss syndrome patients. From these studies, two papers are in reviewing process in high-
impact journals: Nature Human Behaviour and PlosOne. Finally, my PhD allowed me to have a teaching
experience in Psychology of Childhood and Adolescence to future teacher students. Currently, I have great
experience to develop a scientific methodology: experimental design, analysis, statistics, writing and critical
thinking. I developed my knowledge in biological psychology and cognitive neuroscience. I learnt different
research techniques such as eye tracking and electrophysiology but also a diverse set of behavioral and
neuropsychological clinical measures. During my PhD, I have fostered an exponential increase of my creativity but
with a fine orientation using a rigorous scientific method. The PhD allowed me to have a teaching experience in
Psychology of Childhood and Adolescence to future teacher students. Finally I co-supervised one undergraduate
and two master students. Clarity is a mayor objective in my daily research work and aims. Also, other strength are
my collaborative skills and group working abilities. The current collaboration with Dr. Bryan Strange is
potentiating my current abilities. Dr. Strange holds a very competitive and productive neuroscientific lab with
special interest on cognitive aspects of human behavior such as memories and emotions. Im currently receiving a
strong training intracranial EEG, particularly analysing data from the human amygdala.

DISSERTATIONS/ THESIS
PhD degree: Social traits and facial information. Behavioural and neuronal evidence within the
framework of phylogenetic and clinical studies.
Dissertation for the Master in Phylosophy (Mind and Cognition)Forgiveness as an adaptive response :
speech acts and neurological model.
Dissertation for the Degree in Phylosophy. Consciousness and the body through Damasio's theory of
self.
PROFESSIONAL/ RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
11/2016-present Postdoctoral Fellow position at the CTB of Madrid (Prof. Bryan Strange).
10/2013-09/2016 Ph. D. Fellowship (Palse, Programme avenir Lyon Saint-tienne, European Scholarship )
at the CNRS of Lyon (France).
02/2015-06/2015 teaching Psychology of Childhood at Ecole suprieure du professorat et de lducation
(ESPE), Acadmie de Lyon.
02/2015-06/2015 teaching Psychology of Adolescence at Ecole suprieure du professorat et de lducation
(ESPE), Acadmie de Lyon.
MAJOR INTERNATION COLLABORATIONS
02/2014-09/2016 Collaboration with the University of Grenoble (Baby lab). Supervisor Dr. Olivier
Pascalis, France. Description of the collaboration. Eye tracking studies in babies.
05/2014-09/2016 Collaboration with the Equipe EDR-Psy (tiopathognie, diagnostic et remdiation
cognitive en psychiatrie) Vinatier Hospital. Supervisor Dr. Caroline Demily, France. Description of the
collaboration. Multidisciplinary approach for the understanding of Williams syndrome.
PUBLICATIONS
Manuela Costa, Guillame Lio, Alice Gomez, Angela Sirigu (2017). How components of facial width to
height ratio differently contribute to the perception of social traits. PLoS ONE 12(2): e0172739.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0172739.
Manuela Costa. Social traits and facial information: behavioral and neuronal evidence within the
framework of phylogenetic and clinical studies. 2016. PhD Thesis. Universit de Lyon.
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01537794/document.
Manuela Costa, Elodie Barat, Alice Gomez, Guillame Lio, Jean Rene Duhamel, Angela Sirigu. Implicit
preference for human trustworthy faces in macaque monkeys Invitation for re-submission at Nature
Human Behavior.
Manuela Costa, Alice Gomez, Guillame Lio, Caroline Demily, Angela Sirigu. Implicit and explicit
preference towards trustworthy human faces in children with Williams Syndrome. In preparation.
Manuela Costa, Guillame Lio, Alice Gomez, Caroline Demily, Angela Sirigu Eye-contact: gaze modulated
electrophysiological source in Williams Syndrome and control group. In preparation.
Manuela Costa, Guillame Lio, Alice Gomez, Caroline Demily, Angela Sirigu Different representation of
trustworthiness in children with Williams Syndrome and controls: a novel use of reverse correlation
method. In preparation.
Manuela Costa, Claudia Bianchi. Forgiveness as an adaptive response: Speech act theory and a
neurological model. In preparation
AD HOC REVIEWER
Movement Disorder, Perception
MEETING PRESENTATIONS/POSTER AND ORAL
19/07/2017 21/07/2017 II International Congress of Psychobiology, Avila (Spain). Symposium. Brain
electrical correlates of cognitive and affective processes of human face recognition Title. Implicit and
explicit trustworthiness detetction in patients with Williams syndrome. Talk invitation: Manuela Costa.
24/01/2017 - 29/01/2017 European Workshop on Cognitive Neuropsychology. Title. Can Williams
syndrome (WS) patients detect trust from facial features? Eye-tracking and behavioral
evidence._Bressanone, Italy. Poster: Gomez Alice, Manuela Costa.
02/06/2016 - 06/07/2016 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS). Copenhagen, Denmark.
Title. Implicit preference for human trustworthy faces by macaque monkeys and humans. Poster:
Manuela Costa.
11/06/2016 5mes rencontres nationales du syndrome de Williams et Beuren. Lyon, Rhne- Alpes, France.
Title. EEG and eye-tracking studies for the understanding of face processing in Williams Syndrome
patients. Oral presentation: Manuela Costa.
29/04/2016 Journe scientifique de lEcole Doctoral Neuroscience Cognitive. University of Lyon. Title.
Spontaneous preference for human trustworthy faces by macaque monkeys. Poster: Manuela Costa.
03/05/2015 Journe scientifique de lEcole Doctoral Neuroscience Cognitive. University of Lyon. Title.
Implicit and explicit trustworthiness detection in patients with Williamss syndrome. Oral presentation:
Manuela Costa.
06/09/2013 Conference Exploring Awe and Wonder. University of Central Florida, Orlando, USA. Title.
Wondering if forgiveness is a duty or a need. Oral presentation: Manuela Costa.
03/06/2013 Speech act classifications: a new analysis of forgiveness. Congress philosophy of language.
Gargnano, Lombardia, Italy, Oral presentation: Manuela Costa.
PRIZES AND FUNDING
2013 Palse (Programme avenir Lyon Saint-tienne), European Scholarship Ph.D Funding.
2012 Erasmus Fellowship for six months staying at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam (Netherlands).
SUPERVISING AND MENTORING ACTIVITIES
1 Project title: Facial information process in Williams Syndrome patients (Undergraduate student
supervisor) Entity: Institut des Sciences Cognitives CNRS.
Student: Mirjana Atzeni
Date of reading: 01/06/2016

2 Project title: Facial perception and facial width to heigh ratio (master student supervision) Entity:
Institut des Sciences Cognitives CNRS.
Student: Noemi Amodeo
Date of reading: 07/09/2015

3 Project title: Facial information process and EEG (Undergraduatestudent) Entity: Institut des Sciences
Cognitives CNRS.
Student: Silvia Scalcione
Date of reading: 11/06/2015

LANGUAGE SKILLS
Italian: mother tongue
English: advanced
Spanish : advanced
French : advanced