experimental psychologist / machine learner
His interest in science started when he was a primary school kid and started collecting fossils, minerals and reading books about
animal behavior. Moving from ethology to human behavior was straightforward and he took a master degree in experimental psychology.
Dr. Leo also
holds a PhD in General and Clinical Psychology and a Master in Machine Learning and big data. Dr. Leo's has worked as a scientist at various
european institutes doing research in multisensory perception and haptics.
The work of Dr. Leo is mostly focused in understanding how we perceive and interact with sensory stimuli. In particular, he is interested in multisensory perception, haptics, rehabilitation robotics, AI and machine learning.
We perceive and interact with the environment thanks to different senses that allow us to experience different aspects of the world.
Our brain effortlessly merges information coming from the various senses but the underlying neural computations and networks are
rather complex. In his research, Dr. Leo investigates how the perception of one sensory modality (e.g., vision) is influenced by
a concurrent stimulation in another sensory modality (e.g., audition) using psychophysical [e.g., refs 3,4,7,8] and brain stimulation methods [ref 6].
In another line of research, Dr. Leo studied how the loss of one sense (i.e., vision, as in blindness) influences another sense (i.e., touch)
and the way we manipulate objects [ref 22].
We use active touch to explore and recognize objects. This behavior becomes essential in
visual impairments, such as blindness, as vision cannot longer be used to acquire information about the environment.
Dr. Leo collaborated in the development of a pin-array matrix to show graphical information to blind persons through touch (check this video). Leo and co. showed that
blind persons can take advantage of pin-array matrices to enhance their spatial skills in both educational [refs 10,13,16]
and orientation & mobility contexts [refs 11,15].
In another line of research, Leo used iCube, a small cube that allows, when manipulated, to measure haptic and kinesthetics information. They showed how haptic object exploration varies based on the spatial skills of the explorer [ref 20].
Quantitative measurement is essential in experimental psychology and neuroscience as well as in other scientific fields. Dr. Leo is interested in
applying state-of-the-art data analysis tools as well as machine learning and AI techniques. In his most recent project, Dr. Leo has applied advanced
machine learning methods to predict and classify cancer type based solely on somatic mutation profiles (check here for more info).
Dr. Leo would be entusiast to consider collaboration opportunities in which these techniques could be proficiently used to tackle cognitive or clinical neuroscience issues.
Please click here for the full CV .
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In his free time, among other things, Dr. Leo likes traveling and taking photographs of what he sees. Here, only a little selection of his work is presented. Feel free to follow him on instagram.
The Boccale's castle, in Livorno. This long exposition picture was taken during the so called blue hour.
Amsterdam is a great place to take street photographs. Here, I have used the cut out technique to isolate the color of the soap bubble.
A mystical sunrise in Wadi Rum desert, Jordan, at the end of a year.
Here, I have used the focus staking technique, as well as a crystal ball, to increase the depth of field.
I could not visit Japan without taking this iconic picture of the Fushimi Inari shrine!
These small lakes are very close to the world famous three 'Cime di Lavaredo' mountains which are a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2009.
It is always better to ask the permission to take photographs in these regions, particularly for women portraits!
My personal retelling of the picture of the Joy Division's album cover "Love will tear us apart".
A long exposition picture of the ferris wheel at Porto Antico in Genova. I have obviously used a good tripod.