Renzo Lanfranco

I am a principal researcher in cognitive neuroscience and experimental psychology based in the Department of Clinical Neuroscience and the Department of Neuroscience at Karolinska Institutet. My research explores the function of conscious awareness in visual perception and bodily self-perception, using behavioural, psychophysical, computational modelling, and neuroimaging techniques, to understand the perceptual principles and neural mechanisms of these processes.

My general research interest revolves around understanding the function of consciousness in cognition. Our senses are constantly bombarded with information from the outside world and from within our own bodies. Some pieces of information gain access to awareness whereas others are processed unconsciously. What do we need this conscious access for? How do neural mechanisms promote sensory information into conscious awareness? More specifically, I study the computational and neural mechanisms of complex perceptual processes. One complex perceptual process I am interested in is face processing, that is, the perceptual processes that allow us to detect and recognise faces and their different attributes such as emotional expressions, gender, and eye-gaze movements, all attributes that are key for social interaction. Another complex perceptual process I am interested in is the feeling of body ownership, that is, the perceptual processes that allow us to detect internal bodily signals, recognise them as our own body's, and experience the feeling that such a body belongs to us. To study these psychological phenomena, I use psychophysics, computational modelling, psychophysiology, electroencephalography, and machine learning techniques. In addition, I am interested in the neurocognitive underpinnings of hypnosis and in the contribution of hypnosis research to the understanding of consciousness, metacognition, and perception. Finally, my ultimate goal is to apply consciousness and perception research methods to enhance our understanding of neuropsychiatric disorders that involve difficulties in face and social perception (e.g., autism and schizophrenia), and in body ownership and bodily awareness (e.g., schizophrenia and eating disorders), and develop more comprehensive clinical assessment tools for mental health professionals.