Alessandra Zalla is a visiting master’s student from the University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy, where she is completing her master’s degree in Neuropsychology and Cognitive Neuroscience after a bachelor’s degree in Psychology. Originally from Italy, she has joined MIB for a six-month research stay to work on her master’s thesis under the supervision of Professor Elvira Brattico.

Alessandra's current research focuses on predictive processing, music, emotion, and social interaction, especially how the brain reacts to unexpected auditory events and how people synchronize with each other during interpersonal exchanges.

At MIB, she is studying the relationship between mismatch negativity (MMN), emotional prosody, and inter-brain synchrony in mother–child interaction. More generally, she's interested in the idea that music and communication may share predictive mechanisms that help us connect and relate to one another.

Alessandra has always enjoyed interdisciplinary environments that bring together neuroscience, psychology, music, and human relationships. Outside academia, she loves live music, movement, good conversations, and organizing spontaneous plans a little too enthusiastically.

She is very happy to be part of the MIB community and excited to learn from the people here 😊