DIRECTOR
Andrei C. Miu, Ph.D.
Andrei Miu is Professor at the Department of Psychology, and the Founding Director of the Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Babeș-Bolyai University. He received his B.A. in Psychology from Babeș-Bolyai University, his M.Sc. in Molecular Medicine and Neuroscience from “Iuliu Hațieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, and his Ph.D. in Psychology from Babeș-Bolyai University. His research investigates the psychological and biological underpinnings of emotion and emotion regulation, with the aim of uncovering individual differences that contribute to risk for psychopathology. His graduate and undergraduate courses include Introduction to Neuroscience, Behavioral Genetics, Cognitive Neuroscience, Neuroscience and Mental Health, and Psychophysiology.
andreimiu[at]psychology.ro | ResearchGate Profile | Google Scholar Profile
RESEARCHER
Romana Vulturar, M.D., Ph.D.
Romana Vulturar is Lecturer in the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, "Iuliu Hațieganu" University of Medicine and Pharmacy. She received her M.D. in 1996, and her Ph.D. in Medicine - Cell and Molecular Biology in 2004, both from the “Iuliu Hațieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy. She also holds an M.Sc. degree in Molecular Medicine and Neuroscience, and she completed her medical residency (2000-2005) in the field of Medical Genetics. Since 2011, she is Senior Physician (the highest degree for physicians in Romania) in Medical Genetics, being involved in the diagnosis of certain rare genetic disorders like Inborn Errors of Metabolism. She joined the Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory in 2008, where she has supervised the development of laboratory protocols for genetic association studies and she has contributed to gene-environment interaction studies on emotion and emotion regulation.
RESEARCHER
Adina Chiș, Ph.D.
Adina Chiş is Lecturer at the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, “Iuliu Haţieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca. She received her B.Sc. in Biology in 2005 and her M.Sc. in 2006 from the Faculty of Biology, Babeş-Bolyai University. In 2011, she completed her Ph.D. in Biotechnology at the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Cluj-Napoca. Dr. Chiș has been a member of the Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory since 2011, where she also conducted her postdoctoral research, funded by a grant from the Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research. Her postdoctoral research has focused on genetic influences on stress reactivity in infants, and she has contributed to gene-environment interactions studies on biomakers of stress reactivity.
GRADUATE STUDENT
Simina Pițur
Simina Pițur is a Ph.D. student in Cognitive Psychology at Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca. For her thesis, she investigates poetry-elicited emotions, with the aim to understand how reader characteristics and text characteristics interact to elicit an emotional response. While she currently focuses on studying language processing, mental imagery and emotions, she is also interested in the links between emotion regulation and psychopathology, and the role of the hippocampus in memory and imagination. Simina is a Computer Science and Psychology graduate and has earned a M.Sc. in Clinical Psychology from Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca.
GRADUATE STUDENT
Alexandra Huh
Alexandra Huh is a Ph.D. student in the Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory. She earned her B.A. in Psychology at the University of Bucharest and her M.Sc. in Developmental and Clinical Psychology at the University of Heidelberg. During her master’s studies, she worked as a research assistant in the Department of Developmental and Biological Psychology, being involved in research projects on face processing, development of categorization and the effects of ostensive signals (infant-directed speech) on attentional processes in infants, assessed using event-related potentials (ERP). Alexandra is passionate by developmental neuroscience and interested in emotion and emotion regulation in typically developing adolescents. She is using a
multidisciplinary approach, including behavioral (Experience Sampling) and electrophysiological (EEG) methods.
GRADUATE STUDENT
Cinzia Pocol
Cinzia Pocol is a Ph.D. Student at the Doctoral School of Applied Cognitive Psychology from Babeș-Bolyai University of Cluj Napoca. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology in 2020 and she completed two Master programmes, one in Clinical Psychology and one in Advertising and PR, both at Babeș-Bolyai University. During her bachelor’s and master’s programmes she completed two exchange years, one at the Autonomous University of Madrid, and one at the University of Padova. Cinzia has always been passionate about neuroscience and kept an interest in it. Her research interests are related to cognitive, affective and social neuroscience: reward processing as a potential mechanism in the association between childhood maltreatment and risk of psychopathology, with an emphasis on EEG/ERP measures.
GRADUATE STUDENT
Andra Vlaicu
Andra Vlaicu is a Ph.D. student at the Doctoral School in Applied Cognitive Psychology, under the supervision of Professor Andrei C. Miu, Ph.D., and a clinical psychologist. Currently, she is working at the Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, and her areas of interest are emotion regulation, adverse events during childhood, and aspects related to both psychopathology and psychoneuroendocrinology. Her Ph.D. thesis focuses on emotion regulation in individuals with a history of childhood maltreatment, with implications for understanding their increased susceptibility to psychopathology.
