Felipe Rojas
Dr. Felipe Rojas-Thomas is an Assistant Professor at the School of Psychology, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez (UAI). Dr. Rojas-Thomas earned his BSc in Psychology and professional Psychologist degree from Universidad de Valparaíso, Chile. He also holds an MSc in Neuroscience and an MSc in Biology with a specialization in Neuroscience from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and Universidad de Valparaíso, respectively. Additionally, he completed his PhD in Neuroscience at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. During or after his doctoral training, he was affiliated with the Clinical Neuroscience Center at Universidad Austral and the School of Psychology at Universidad del Desarrollo.
Fiorella Macchiavello
Master of Clinical Psychology
Fiorella Macchiavello is a graduate student in the Master’s program in Clinical Psychology at Adolfo Ibáñez University, supervised by Sebastian. She also earned her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology at the same institution. Her experience as a research assistant includes contributions to projects in experimental psychology and neuroscience. In particular, her work focuses on exploring the impact of socioeconomic vulnerability on empathic brain responses and prosocial behavior, as well as collaborating on studies related to social cognition and consumer behavior.
José Bórquez
Master of Social Neuroscience and Cognitive
José is a student in the Master's program in Social and Cognitive Neuroscience at Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez. He completed his Bachelor's degree in Psychology at the same university. José has been involved in research focused on decision-making under stressful conditions, an area he would like to explore in the future. Additionally, he has participated in studies related to empathy, social vulnerability, and their effects on prosocial behavior, using physiological measures such as EEG, ECG, and eye-tracking. He is currently developing his thesis under the supervision of Dr. Sebastián Contreras. In his free time, José enjoys spending time with his cats, watching movies, and reading books.
Consuelo is a psychologist with a Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology from Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez and a research assistant at ESDLab. In this role, she coordinates and manages the laboratory’s activities and collaborates in the administration of Sebastián Contreras’ FONDECYT grant. She also serves as a teaching assistant for the university course “Development of Dialogical Skills”, which is part of an active research project at the lab. Her work focuses on empathy and stress, with a particular interest in exploring consciousness from a neurophenomenological perspective, aiming to deepen the understanding of its connection with the body and to contribute to the development of therapeutic practices that promote socioecological well-being. Outside the academic setting, Consuelo works as a psychotherapist and practices climbing.
Consuelo Ruiz Moya Research assistant
Dr. Sebastian Contreras-Huerta is an Assistant Professor at the School of Psychology, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez (UAI). Before joining UAI, he served| as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Centre for Human Brain Health and the Institute for Mental Health, University of Birmingham. Dr. Contreras-Huerta earned his BSc in Psychology and professional Psychologist degree from Universidad de Valparaíso, Chile. He went on to complete an MSc in Neuroscience at the University of Queensland, Australia, and a PhD in Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford. Prior to his doctoral studies, he was an associate researcher and lecturer at the School of Psychology, Universidad Diego Portales, Chile.
Sebastián Contreras
Members of the laboratory
Diego Garrido Cerpa Lab Technician
Diego Garrido is a FONDECYT Research Assistant focus on pogramming, data analysis and EEG analysis within neuroscience research. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology and Master's Degree in Social and Cognitive Neuroscience, both from Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez. He's currently working on Nicolás Marchant FONDECYT (PUCV) making computational models for causal reasoning, Monica Toro Doctoral Thesis (UDD) analysing HydroCel EEG and Sebastián Contreras FONDECYT (UAI) programming the experimental task. In his free time, Diego spend his time playing video games, study programming and doing exercise.
Principal Investigator
Staff
Graduate Student
He is a psychologist currently pursuing a PhD in Social Neuroscience and Cognition at Adolfo Ibáñez University, under the supervision of David Martinez-Pernia and co-supervision of Sebastián Contreras. Alongside his doctoral studies, he is completing a specialization in data science applied to behavioral science and psychology. His academic journey has included teaching roles at the University of Buenos Aires and the University of Maimonides, and he has developed strong expertise in machine learning. His main focus is on building predictive models of subjective experience using multimodal neural data, particularly EEG. He is passionate about integrating computational methods with neuroscience to better understand cognitive and emotional processes. Supported by a scholarship for his PhD at UAI, his research seeks to bridge data science and psychology to advance our understanding of the human mind.
PhD of Social Neuroscience and Cognitive
Emilio Recart
Matías Carmach is a graduate student at Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Viña del Mar. He is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Social Psychology and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the same institution. His research experience includes experimental behavioral paradigms related to mind-wandering and empathy, as well as collecting physiological data using EEG, eye-tracking, ECG, RCP, and EDA. He is currently involved in data collection for an active project of the lab. When he is off his dutties, he is actively expanding his skills in data analysis and programming, focusing on languages such as R, Python, SQL, and MATLAB.
Matías Carmach Master of Social Psychology
Camila Leiva Psychology Student
Camila Leiva Varas is an undergraduate student in Psychology at Adolfo Ibáñez University (UAI), Viña del Mar campus. She has previously participated in departmental lab meetings and completed an intensive program at the University of Trento (Italy) on “The New Addictions between Clinical Psychology, Neuroscience, and New Analysis Technologies”. During this program, she gained experience with technologies such as fNIRS and EEG, visited animal behavior laboratories, and deepened her knowledge of new addictions—including substance-related, technological, and affective addictions. Her work integrates clinical, neuroscientific, and technological perspectives to analyze these emerging behaviors, with a strong interest in further exploring this intersection in the future.
Sofía Silva Candia is a research assistant at Adolfo Ibáñez University of Viña de Mar. She studied at the Lycée Jean d’Alembert, passing the French baccalaureate with a bibliographical research on the functioning of mentalization in the brain. She is interested in the functioning of the amygdala in different neuronal processes, along with the brain’s plasticity. Her actual laboral ambition it’s to be a neuroscience researcher or a forensic neuroscientist.
Sofía Silva Psychology Student
Undergraduate Students
Martín Laferte Psychology Student
Martin Laferte is a student in the Bachelor’s degree in Psychology at Universidad Adolfo Ibañez. He’s particularly interested in consciousness and psychedelics as a psychotherapy tool. In his free time, Martín enjoys playing guitar and singing, watching documentaries and playing with his cats.
