Dr Pascal Vrticka (PhD, FHEA)
Assistant Professor / Lecturer in Psychology
Short Bio
Dr Pascal Vrticka is a social neuroscientist with strong ties to developmental & social psychology.
He currently is an Assistant Professor / Lecturer in Psychology at the Department of Psychology, University of Essex (Colchester, UK).
Dr Vrticka held previous positions at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences (Leipzig, Germany), Stanford School of Medicine (California, USA), and University of Geneva (Geneva, Switzerland). A complete CV is available here.
Academic Roles
Dr Vrticka is the Principal Investigator (PI) of the Social Neuroscience of Human Attachment (SoNeAt) Lab.
He also is the Coordinating Board President of the Special Interest Research Group on the Social Neuroscience of Human Attachment (SIRG SoNeAt) within the Society for Emotion and Attachment Studies (SEAS), where he also is an associate member of the coordinating board.
Dr Vrticka also is a trustee of the UK Charity Babygro.
Research
Dr Pascal Vrticka’s research focuses on the psychological, behavioural, biological, and brain basis of human social interaction, attachment, and caregiving. He is advancing a new area of research: the Social Neuroscience of Human Attachment (SoNeAt).
Dr Vrticka combines traditional attachment tools with state-of-the-art social neuroscience methods, particularly (f)MRI, EEG and fNIRS hyperscanning, most recently with a special focus on parent-child interaction including fathers.
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Last name pronunciation: pas.kal vr – cɪ t͡ʃ – ka
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Recent Highlights
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TEDx Talk
Caring Dads: The Making of Involved and Confident Fathers
On May 14th 2022, Dr Pascal Vrticka participated in the TEDx University of Essex event and gave a talk on “Caring Dads: The Making of Involved and Confident Fathers”. You can now watch the recording on YouTube.
New Caring Dads Website Section
Social Neuroscience of Attachment & Caregiving in Fathers
A new website section is now available specifically dedicated to the social neuroscience of attachment and caregiving in fathers.
Babygro Book for Parents
Evidence-based information in an accessible format
How do our babies’ brains develop, and how does responsive communication between parent and baby lead to later life (mental) health and wellbeing? The Babygro Book for Parents is based on Dr Vrticka’s research and theory.
Available online (free) and in print (£10) here.
Is your brain securely attached?
A social neuroscience perspective on attachment
Do you want to read a concise and accessible summary of the social neuroscience of human attachment? Then this series is made for you! So far, there are two posts available – Volume 2 published on 07 December 2022 and Volume 1 published on 19 May 2022.
The link between attachment, energy conservation and co-regulation through social allostasis
Newest theory as part of the social neuroscience of human attachment (SoNeAt)
Our introduction article to the special issue on the social neuroscience of human attachment is now published online. It provides the latest theory on the neurobiology of attachment in association with energy conservation by means of co-regulation / social allostasis. And it outlines the key research gaps that we hope will inspire future research agenda for SoNeAt.
Website Menu
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TEDx Talk
Dr Pascal Vrticka’s 2022 TEDx
University of Essex Talk
SoNeAt Lab
The Social Neuroscience of Human Attachment Lab (SoNeAt Lab): How to become involved (prospective students), current students & research topics, and student alumni & research topics
SIRG SoNeAt
Description of the Special Interest Research Group (SIRG) on the Social Neuroscience of Human Attachment (SoNeAt) within SEAS
Teaching
Dr Pascal Vrticka’s current and past teaching
The Social Neuroscience of Human Attachment
Description of SoNeAt Lab’s main field of research
Caring Dads
The social neuroscience of attachment & caregiving in fathers
Research Methods
Experimental methods used within
the SoNeAt Lab
Collaboration Partners
International collaboration partners of the SoNeAt Lab
Publications
List of Dr Pascal Vrticka’s publications
Talks & Presentations
List of Dr Pascal Vrticka’s talks and
other presentations –
check out the recordings &
posters available online
Grants & Awards
List of grants and Aawards Dr Pascal Vrticka has received
Curriculum Vitae
Dr Pascal Vrticka’s short biography & curriculum vitae
Blog
Dr Pascal Vrticka’s blog posts
Press
Press reports and other outlets about SoNeAt Lab’s research
Babygro Book for Parents
Free book for parents – including dads – based on Dr Vrticka’s functional neuro-anatomical model of human attachment (NAMA)
Latest Tweets
Latest Blog Posts
Is your brain securely attached? A social neuroscience perspective on attachment (2)
+++ This post appeared as an article in the British Association for Community Child Health (BACCH) Newsletter in December 2022 (original post can be accessed here) and is a summary of Dr Vrticka’s keynote talk at the BACCH Annual Scientific Meeting 2022 on September 20, 2022 (talk recording can be accessed here). +++ We need…
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Attachment theory: what people get wrong about pop psychology’s latest trend for explaining relationships
In his newest post for The Conversation UK, Dr Vrticka looks into the recent confusion surrounding attachment theory. Unfortunately, since its development by John Bowlby about 70 years ago, several parallel versions of attachment theory emerged within many different domains (developmental and social psychology, psychotherapy, psychiatry as well as child welfare practice, etc.), with little…
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Are Dads Wired Differently – The Truth About Becoming A Dad
Dr Pascal Vrticka is very happy to share his most recent blog post for Dadvengers: Are Dads Wired Differently – The Truth About Becoming A Dad. Many thanks for giving me the unique opportunity to write about this very important and timely issue.In Dr Vrticka’s blog post, he describes the most recent social neuroscience research on human fatherhood and what it means for…
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Why Attachment Matters in Social Neuroscience
Dr Pascal Vrticka has written a new blog post for Scottish Attachment in Action, a UK registered charity since 2015 with a Board of Trustees consisting of practitioners, parents and carers that represent their mission that ‘Attachment Matters for All’.In his blog post, Dr Vrticka explains the growing interest in better understanding the neurobiological underpinnings…
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Auf der gleichen Wellenlänge – verstehen sich Eltern und Kinder besser durch Gleichklang im Gehirn?
Wir lassen uns oft vom Verhalten anderer „anstecken“ – klassische Beispiele dafür sind Gähnen oder Lachen. Neue Forschungsergebnisse zeigen auf, dass eine solche „Ansteckung“ sogar im Gehirn beobachtet werden kann. Modernste bildgebende Verfahren offenbaren, dass Gleichklang im Gehirn für das Verstehen anderer wichtig ist, und das bereits im Kindesalter. In diesem Artikel beschreiben wir, wie…
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Dr Pascal Vrticka (PhD, FHEA) 