Dr Pascal Vrticka (PhD, FHEA)
Lecturer / Assistant Professor
Centre for Brain Science, Department of Psychology, University of Essex, Colchester, United Kingdom
Dr Pascal Vrticka is a social neuroscientist with strong ties to developmental & social psychology. His research focuses on the psychological, behavioural, biological, and brain basis of human social interaction, attachment, and caregiving.
One area of Dr Vrticka’s research is dedicated to measuring neurobiological responses to different kinds of social versus non-social information in individual participants. This 1st person social neuroscience approach relies on (functional) magnetic resonance imaging – (f)MRI – and electroencephalography – EEG.
More recently, Dr Vrticka started to assess bio-behavioural synchrony in interacting dyads. The main question of this 2nd person social neuroscience approach is how romantic partners and parents with their children get “in sync” when they solve problems together or talk to each other.
In his bio-behavioural synchrony research, Dr Vrticka is particularly interested in interpersonal neural synchrony. His method of choice to assess interpersonal neural synchrony is functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) hyperscanning. Dr Vrticka combines fNIRS hyperscanning with behavioural observations, interviews, and self reports (i.e., questionnaires).
The principal theoretical framework underlying Dr Vrticka’s research is attachment theory, which describes how we initiate and maintain social relationships across the life span. By adding a systematic 1st and 2nd person social neuroscience perspective to attachment theory and research – also in the form of new functional neuro-anatomical models of organised and disorganised human attachment (NAMA and NAMDA) -, Dr Vrticka is promoting a new area of investigation: the social neuroscience of human attachment.
Contact & Further Information
►First and last name pronunciation: pas.kal vr – cɪ t͡ʃ – ka
►FHEA = Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (now AdvanceHE, UK)
►PhD in Neuroscience (01 December 2009, University of Geneva, Switzerland)
Additional Academic Roles
PI of the Social Neuroscience of Human Attachment Lab (SoNeAt Lab) at the Centre for Brain Sciences, Department of Psychology, University of Essex
Associate Member of the Executive Board, Society for Emotion and Attachment Studies (SEAS)
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News
Latest News and Announcements from the SoNeAt Lab and beyond
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)
Teaching
Dr Pascal Vrticka’s current and past teaching
The Social Neuroscience of Human Attachment
Description of SoNeAt Lab’s main field of research
Other Research
Summary of other research topics that are also part of the SoNeAt Lab
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 about SoNeAt Lab’s research
Latest Tweets
Latest Blog Posts
Attachment Style and Brain Structure in Adolescence & Early Adulthood
Adolescence is a time of significant change. Amongst the many physical maturation processes that kick off when children become teenagers is a boost in brain development. Scientific evidence documents an increased rate of cortical thinning and associated loss of brain volume particularly during early adolescence. Such regressive processes appear to be linked to, amongst others,…
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Men as Fathers and Caregivers: Insights from Two New Social Neuroscience Studies
An edited version of this blog has been published with The Conversation UK on 09 November 2021 and can be accessed here. The COVID-19 pandemic had a profound impact on our work and living arrangements. Amongst the many changes we faced and had to cope with, one particularly stood out for dads. During the nationwide…
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Securely Connected – How Mums and Dads Get “In Sync” With Their Kids
‘Recent technical advances now allow us to test two (or more) participants simultaneously – using so-called “hyperscanning” – during naturally unfolding social interactions. These new developments are particularly important for the social neuroscience of human attachment. After all, attachment is an interpersonal process from the very beginning. What is even more exciting is that by…
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The Social Neuroscience of Attachment
“During the last two decades, interest in better understanding the biological and particularly brain basis of human attachment has steadily grown. This process led to the emergence of a new area of research at the interface of neuroscience and psychology, the social neuroscience of human attachment. Over the years, there have been many claims reflecting…
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What is Attachment? A Social Neuroscience Perspective
“From a social neuroscience perspective, there are two key principles associated with human attachment behaviours: i) conserving energy resources and ii) making predictions about available support and how costly it is to obtain it. These two key principles are intrinsically linked with one another.” A blog post with the title “What is Attachment? A Social…
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Dr Pascal Vrticka (PhD) 