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Giovanni Novembre

Principal Research Engineer

My work focuses on understanding the role of touch in regulating emotional and physiological responses during social interactions.

Presentation

I am part of the GRASP (Group for Research in Affective Somatosensation and Pain) lab at CSAN (Center for Social and Affective Neuroscience). Here I plan and perform experiments to investigate the behavioral, physiological and neural correlates of social interactions involving affective touch.

For this purpose I mostly use Functional Resonance Magnetic Imaging (fMRI) to measure neural correlates combined with other advanced techniques meant to investigate related changes in the whole body (e.g., cardiac activity, respiration, hormone levels).

CV

Education

  • 2015, Ph.D. in Cognitive Neuroscience, International School for Advances Studies (SISSA), Italy
  • 2010, Master of Science in Neurobiology, University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’, Italy
  • 2007, Bachelor of Science in Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Bari ‘Aldo Moro’, Italy

Publications

2023

Linda Handlin, Giovanni Novembre, Helene Lindholm, Robin Kämpe, Elisabeth Paul, India Morrison (2023) Human endogenous oxytocin and its neural correlates show adaptive responses to social touch based on recent social context eLIFE, Vol. 12, Article e81197 Continue to DOI
Lina Koppel, Giovanni Novembre, Robin Kämpe, Mattias Savallampi, India Morrison (2023) Prediction and action in cortical pain processing Cerebral Cortex, Vol. 33, p. 794-810 Continue to DOI

2022

Sarah Mcintyre, Steven C. Hauser, Anikó Kusztor, Rebecca Böhme, Athanasia Moungou, Peder Isager, Lina Homman, Giovanni Novembre, Saad Nagi, Ali Israr, Ellen A. Lumpkin, Freddy Abnousi, Gregory J. Gerling, Håkan Olausson (2022) The Language of Social Touch Is Intuitive and Quantifiable Psychological Science, Vol. 33, p. 1477-1494 Continue to DOI

2021

Giovanni Novembre, Roberta Etzi, India Morrison (2021) Hedonic Responses to Touch are Modulated by the Perceived Attractiveness of the Caresser Neuroscience, Vol. 464, p. 79-89 Continue to DOI

2020

Helene Lindholm, India Morrison, Alexandra Krettek, Dan Malm, Giovanni Novembre, Linda Handlin (2020) Genetic risk-factors for anxiety in healthy individuals: polymorphisms in genes important for the HPA axis BMC Medical Genetics, Vol. 21, Article 184 Continue to DOI

US National Library of Medicine

Patil I, Zanon M, Novembre G, Zangrando N, Chittaro L, Silani G (2017)


Aceti M, Vetere G, Novembre G, Restivo L, Ammassari-Teule (2015)

Zanon M, Novembre G, Zangrando N, Chittaro L, Silani G (2014)

Novembre G, Zanon M, Silani G (2014)

Vetere G, Piserchia V, Borreca A, Novembre G, Aceti M, Ammassari-Teule M (2013)

Vetere G, Restivo L, Novembre G, Aceti M, Lumaca M, Ammassari-Teule M (2011)

Research

The Morrison Lab

The Morrison Lab: Embodied Brain Lab investigates emotional and social aspects of both touch and pain, and how these influence - and are influenced by - behavior.

Organisation

Teaser image for the division NEURO at BKV

Division of Neurobiology (NEURO)

The Division of Neurobiology conducts research on the nervous system and the sensory organs.

Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences (BKV)

What characterizes the Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences (BKV) is the wide breadth of research and education. BKV is one of the largest departments at LiU with affiliation mainly to the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences.

News

The Morrison Lab: The Embodied Brain Lab.

The brain reacts differently to touch depending on context

The touch of another person may increase levels of the “feelgood” hormone oxytocin. But the context really matters. The situation impacts oxytocin levels not only in the moment, but also later, as is shown in a new study.

Related

The Olausson Lab

Human touch is a powerful way of evoking emotions. What is the functional significance of the system for ultrafast nociceptors that we recently discovered? How does the nervous system distinguish social and self-touch? Our lab is looking for answers.

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