ELIA VALENTINI Psychologist PhD Dipartimento di Psicologia Sapienza Università di Roma Via dei Marsi 78, 00185, Roma e-mail: elia.valentini@uniroma1.it web: http://w3.uniroma1.it/scnl/index.php/elia-valentini/ EDUCATION - PhD degree in Cognitive plasticity and rehabilitation. Thesis entitled Attentional modulations of pain perception: evidence from laser evoked potentials. Social and Cognitive Neuroscience laboratory (Head: Prof. S.M. Aglioti), - Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. 15/01/2010. - Laurea (Master Degree) in Psychology: 110/110 cum laude - Experimental career - Faculty of Psychology 1. Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. 15/12/2005. - Diploma Liceo Classico (High School), 80/100. 1998 1999. PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE - Post-doctoral associate at the Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Lab (Head: Prof. S.M. Aglioti). Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. 01/10/2011 to present. - Post-doctoral associate at the Neurophysiology of Pain and Sensory Systems Lab (Head: Dr. G. Iannetti), Department of Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology, University College London, UK. 31/03/2010 31/05/2011. - Doctoral visitor student at the GAMFI centre (Head: Dr. G. Iannetti), Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Genetics. University of Oxford, UK. 19/04/2009 16/10/2009 - Post-lauream internship and research activity at the Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Lab (Head: Prof. S.M. Aglioti). Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. 2006 2009. - Pre-lauream internship and research activity at the Sleep Psychophysiology Laboratory (Head: Prof. L. De Gennaro, tutor: Dr. G. Curcio), Department of Psychology. Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. 2003 2005. TUTORSHIP AND TEACHING - Research Supervisor of 1 PhD student (Miss Katharina Koch) and 1 postgraduate student (MPhil thesis; Miss Valentina Nicolardi). Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. 2011-to present. - Research Tutor of 1 PhD student (Miss Irene Ronga). Department of Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology, University College London, UK. 2010. - Research Tutor of 1 postgraduate student (Miss Chen Zhao). School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China. - Academic Tutor of 2 undergraduate students (Bachelor theses; Miss Assunta Ruggiero, Mr. Giuseppe Magistrale). Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome. - Lectures on nociceptive system and pain. Course of research methods in Neuroscience: Psychophysiology techniques (a.a. 2006-2007). Course of Cognitive and Social Neuroscience (a.a. 2013-2014). Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy.
- Lectures on sensory systems, perception and attention, memory and learning. Course of Psychology (a.a. 2013-2014). Unitelma Sapienza (telematic University). SCOLARSHIP AND AWARDS - Starting Research grant awarded by Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. 01/08/2013. - EFIC Grunenthal Grant (E-G-G) 2012. Grant awarded by the European chapters of IASP (EFIC ) in collaboration with Grünenthal. This is a grant aimed at supporting young researchers in their starting career stage within the field of clinical and experimental pain science. 7 projects proposals were chosen from a total of 80 applications. 22/05/2013. - Starting Research grant awarded by Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. 12/10/2012. - Financial aid awarded by the IASP (14th World Congress on Pain. Milan, Italy). 27/08/2012 31/08/2012. - Small Research Grant awarded by the British Academy (year 2009-10 Round 2). 01/11/2010 31/10/2011. - Travel grant awarded by the Guarantors of Brain (13th IASP World Congress on Pain. Montreal, Canada). 29/08/2010 2/09/2010. - Scholarship for professional training abroad granted by Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. 30/11/2009 30/11/2010: - Faculty grant for thesis abroad. Visitor student at the Psychology Department, Essex University, UK (Head: Prof. R. Russo). MTHR research programme: induced effects of mobile phone electromagnetic signal on human performance. 24/01/2005 13/4/2005: - ERASMUS European programme scholarship. Visitor student at the Department of experimental Psychology (Head: Prof. A. Vandierendonck), Faculty of Psychology and educational sciences. University of Ghent, Belgium. 15/01/2004 15/07/2004. RESEARCH ACTIVITY My research interests focused on the i) neurophysiology and psychophysiology of somatosensation and pain, the ii) cognitive/emotional and sensorimotor modulations of body representation and pain. These topics have been investigated using electroencephalography as recording technique and a series of stimulation techniques apt to probe the activity of the central nervous system, including radiant heat stimulation supplied by advanced laser technology. International collaborations Giandomenico Iannetti (University College London, London, UK), Valery Legrain (University of Ghent, Ghent, Belgium), Li Hu (Southwest University, Chongqing, China), Bhismadev Chakrabarti (University of Reading, Reading; Autism Research Center, Cambridge, UK). National collaborations Salvatore Maria Aglioti, Luigi De Gennaro (Sapienza Università di Roma), Giuseppe Curcio (Università dell Aquila, Aquila), Diana Torta (Università di Torino), Viviana Betti (Università di Chieti), Davide Bacciu (Università di Pisa). 2
Scientific Publications Number of citations: 155(Scopus); 222 (Google scholar). Number of citations without self-citations: 135(Scopus). H-Index: 7 (Scopus); 7 (Google scholar). Citations per year (at March 2014) 1. Valentini E., Martini M., Lee M., Aglioti S.M., Iannetti GD. Seeing facial expressions enhances placebo analgesia. Pain. 2014 pii: S0304-3959(13)00639-8. 2. Hu L., Valentini E., Zhang Z.G., Liang M., Iannetti G.D. The primary somatosensory cortex contributes to the latest part of the cortical response elicited by nociceptive somatosensory stimuli in humans. Neuroimage. 2013 Aug 31;84C:383-393. 1. Hu L., Zhao C., Li H., Valentini E. Mismatch responses evoked by nociceptive stimuli. Psychophysiology, 2013 Feb;50(2):158-73. 2. Ronga I., Valentini E., Mouraux A., Iannetti G.D. Novelty is not enough: laser-evoked potentials are determined by stimulus saliency, not absolute novelty. Journal of Neurophysiology, 2013 Feb;109(3):692-701. 3. Hu L., Peng W.W., Valentini E., Zhang Z.G., Hu Y. Multiple functions of pain induced suppression of alpha band electroencephalographic oscillations. The Journal of Pain, 2013 Jan;14(1):89-99. 4. Valentini E., Betti V., Hu L., Aglioti S.M. Hypnotic modulation of pain perception and of brain activity triggered by nociceptive laser stimuli. Cortex, 2013 Feb;49(2):446-62. 5. Wang W.Y., Hu L., Valentini E., Xie X.B., Cui H.Y., Hu Y. Dynamic characteristics of multisensory facilitation and inhibition. Cognitive Neurodynamics, 2012 Oct;6(5):409-419. 6. Valentini E., Liang M., Aglioti S.M., Iannetti G.D. Seeing touch and pain in a stranger modulates the cortical responses elicited by somatosensory but not auditory stimulation. Human Brain Mapping, 2012 Dec;33(12):2873-84. 7. Martini M., Valentini E., Aglioti S.M. Emotional conflict in a model modulates nociceptive processing in an onlooker: a laser-evoked potentials study. Exp Brain Res. 2012 Dec 16. 8. Legrain V., Mancini F., Sambo C.F., Torta D.M., Ronga I., Valentini E. Cognitive aspects of nociception and pain. Bridging neurophysiology and neuropsychology. Neurophysiologie Clinique, 2012 Oct;42(5):325-36. 9. Valentini E., Koch K. Fine-grained analysis of shared neural circuits between perceived and observed pain: implications for the study of empathy for pain. Journal of Neurophysiology, 2012 Oct;108(7):1805-7. 10. Valentini E., Hu L., Chakrabarti B., Aglioti S.M., Hu Y.,Iannetti G.D. The primary somatosensory cortex is involved in the earliest stages of nociceptive processing. NeuroImage, 2012 Jan 16;59(2):1571-81. 11. Torta D., Liang M., Valentini E., Mouraux A., Iannetti GD. Dishabituation of laser-evoked EEG responses: dissecting the effect of certain and uncertain changes in stimulus location. Experimental Brain Research, 2012 May;218(3):361-72.Feb 17. 3
12. Valentini E. The role of perceptual expectation on repetition suppression: a quest to dissect the differential contribution of probability of occurrence and event predictability. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2011; 5:143. 13. Valentini E., Torta D., Mouraux A., Iannetti GD. Dishabituation of laser-evoked EEG responses: dissecting the effect of certain and uncertain changes in stimulus modality. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 2011 Oct;23(10):2822-37. 14. Valentini E. The role of anterior insula and anterior cingulate in empathy for pain. Journal of Neurophysiology 2010 Aug;104(2):584-6. 15. Valentini E., Ferrara M., Presaghi F., De Gennaro L., Curcio G. Republished review: Systematic review and metaanalysis of psychomotor effects of mobile phone electromagnetic fields. Postgraduate Medical Journal, 2011; 87:643-651. 16. Valentini E., Ferrara M., Presaghi F., De Gennaro L., Curcio G. Systematic review and meta-analysis of psychomotor effects of mobile phone electromagnetic fields. Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 2010 Oct; 67(10):708-16. 17. Valentini E., Curcio G., Moroni F., Ferrara M., De Gennaro L., Bertini M. Neurophysiological effects of mobile phone electromagnetic fields on humans: a comprehensive review. Bioelectromagnetics, 2007; Sep, 28(6):415-32. 18. Curcio G., Valentini E., Moroni F., Ferrara M., De Gennaro L., Bertini M. Psychomotor performance is not influenced by brief repeated exposures to mobile phones. Bioelectromagnetics, 2008 Apr;29(3):237-41. 19. Curcio G., Valentini E. Response to comments by Balzano and Swicord on "Neurophysiological effects of mobile phone electromagnetic fields on humans: A comprehensive review". Bioelectromagnetics, 2008 July; 29(5):331 411. Publications in non-peer reviewed journals: Betti V. and Valentini E. La condivisione empatica del dolore altrui, DIPAV quaderni, n.23 2008. Franco Angeli. Padova, Italy. Conference presentations: 1. Valentini E., Zhao C., Hu L., 2013. Functional microstate analysis as a means to assess the effect of stimulus repetition on nociceptive evoked potentials. 8th EFIC European Congress on pain. Florence, Italy, October 8-12, 2013. 2. Valentini E., Koch K., Aglioti S.M. Vision analgesia and arms crossing analgesia: do they interact? Satellite meeting of 8th EFIC European Congress on pain. Neural circuits underlying nociception and pain and their plasticity. Heidelberg, Germany, 6th-8th October, 2013. 3. Valentini E., Zhao C., Peng W.W., Hu L., 2012. Mismatch responses evoked by nociceptive stimuli: a preliminary investigation. 14th IASP World Congress on pain. Milan, Italy, August 26 31, 2012. 4. Hu L., Valentini E., Liang M., Iannetti G.D., 2012. The primary somatosensory cortex generates a late, lateralized positive component (P4) of the human laser-evoked potentials (LEPs). 14th IASP World Congress on pain. Milan, Italy, August 26 31, 2012. 5. Hu L., Valentini E., Chakrabarti B., Aglioti S.M., Hu Y., Iannetti G.D. The primary somatosensory cortex largely contributes to the early part of the cortical response elicited by nociceptive stimuli. 7th Congress of the European Federation of IASP Chapters (EFIC). Hamburg, Germany. September 21 24, 2011. 6. Ronga I., Valentini E., Mouraux A., Iannetti G.D. Direction matters: Laser evoked potentials are determined by stimulus saliency not by stimulus absolute novelty. 7th Congress of the European Federation of IASP Chapters (EFIC). Hamburg, Germany. September 21 24, 2011. 4
7. Chakrabarti B., Valentini E., Aglioti S.M. Empathy Modulates the Neural Correlates of Placebo Analgesia: A Laser Evoked Potential (LEP) Study. International conference of the Society for Neuroscience, November 13 th 17 th 2010, San Diego, CA. 8. Martini M., Cannella S., Ruggiero A., Porciello G., Valentini E. Observing emotional facial expressions in a model modulated the pain pathway of an onlooker. A LEP study". II Meeting of the Federation of European Societies of Neuropsychology (FESN) 22 nd 24 th September 2010 Amsterdam, The Netherlands. 9. Valentini E., Torta D., Mouraux A, Iannetti G. Determinants of laser evoked EEG responses: effect of predictable and unpredictable changes in stimulus modality. 13th IASP World Congress on Pain. Montreal, Canada, August 29 th - September 2 nd, 2010. 10. Valentini E., Betti V., Aglioti S.M. Hypnotic modulation of sensory and affective dimensions of pain: A laser evoked potentials study. Pain in Europe VI. 6th congress of the european federation of IASP chapters (EFIC). Lisbon, Portugal, September 9 th 12 th 2009. Oral communications - Valentini E., Koch K., Aglioti S.M. Pensare alla propria morte: modulazione delle risposte corticali a stimoli nocicettivi. XIX national congress of The Italian Association of Psychology (AIP), Experimental psychology section. Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, September 16 th -18 th 2013. Invited talks - Valentini E. Attentional modulations of pain: evidence from laser evoked EEG potentials. Southwest University, Chongqing, China, June 29 th 2012. Professional Membership: Member of The International Association for Study of Pain (IASP), The Italian Association of Psychology (AIP), The Italian National order of Psychologist (n. 18504). Editorial services: Reviewer for the following scientific Journals: Attention Perception and Psychophysics, Brain, Cognitive Affective and Behavioural Neuroscience, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, European Journal of Pain, Pain Medicine, The Journal of Neuroscience, Plos One, Social Neuroscience. 5