2025

Abdul Malek, F. N. B., Lim, M., Khoo, V. Q. L., Ziyi, Z. G., Chai, H. P. S., Mustapha Kamal, N. A. H., … Azhari, A. (2025). Mothers with higher empathy have children who make moral decisions and exhibit higher medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) activity when discussing hypothetical moral dilemmas: an fNIRS study from Singapore. Social Neuroscience, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/17470919.2025.2526204

Heng, W. X., Ng, L. Y., Goh, Z. Z., Esposito, G., & Azhari, A. (2025). Romantic Partners with Mismatched Relationship Satisfaction Showed Greater Interpersonal Neural Synchrony When Co-Viewing Emotive Videos: An Exploratory Pilot fNIRS Hyperscanning Study. NeuroSci, 6(2), 55. https://doi.org/10.3390/neurosci6020055

Heng, W. X., & Azhari, A. (2025). Analysis of social media posts: Breastfeeding mothers concerned about breast milk supply, logistics of breastfeeding, and child development outcomes. Women's Reproductive Health, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1080/23293691.2025.2489500

2024

Ashour, R., Halstead, E. J., Mangar, S., Lin, V. K., Azhari, A., Carollo, A., Esposito, G., Threadgold, L., & Dimitriou, D. (2024). Childhood experiences and sleep problems: A cross-sectional study on the indirect relationship mediated by stress, resilience and anxiety. PLOS ONE, 19(3), e0299057. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0299057

2023

Hayton, J., Azhari, A., Esposito, G., Iles, R., Chadiarakos, M., Gabrieli, G., Dimitriou, D., & Mangar, S. (2023). Short report: Lack of diurnal variation in salivary cortisol is linked to sleep disturbances and heightened anxiety in adolescents with Williams syndrome. Behavioral Sciences, 13(3), 220. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs13030220

Lim, M., Carollo, A., Neoh, M. J., Sacchiero, M., Azhari, A., Balboni, G., Marschik, P., Nordahl-Hansen, A., Dimitriou, D., & Esposito, G. (2023). Developmental disabilities in Africa: A scientometric review. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 133, 104395. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2022.104395

Zhu, G., Lim, M., Fan, X., Hou, C., Yuan, G., & Azhari, A. (2023). Predicting students’ collaborative interdisciplinary problem solving. In P. Blikstein, J. Van Aalst, R. Kizito, & K. Brennan (Eds.), Proceedings of the 17th International Conference of the Learning Sciences – ICLS 2023 (pp. 2091–2092). International Society of the Learning Sciences. https://doi.org/10.22318/icls2023.102547 

2022

Andrea, B., Atiqah, A., & Gianluca, E. (2022). Reproducible inter-personal brain coupling measurements in Hyperscanning settings with functional near infra-red spectroscopy. Neuroinformatics, 20, 665-675. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12021-021-09551-6

Azhari, A., Bizzego, A., Balagtas, J. P., Leng, K. S., & Esposito, G. (2022). Asymmetric prefrontal cortex activation associated with mutual gaze of mothers and children during shared play. Symmetry, 14(5), 998. https://doi.org/10.3390/sym14050998

Azhari, A., Bizzego, A., & Esposito, G. (2022). Parent–child dyads with greater parenting stress exhibit less synchrony in posterior areas and more synchrony in frontal areas of the prefrontal cortex during shared play. Social Neuroscience, 17(6), 520-531. https://doi.org/10.1080/17470919.2022.2162118

Azhari, A., Toms, Z., Pavlopoulou, G., Esposito, G., & Dimitriou, D. (2022). Social media use in female adolescents: Associations with anxiety, loneliness, and sleep disturbances. Acta Psychologica, 229, 103706. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2022.103706

Bizzego, A., Gabrieli, G., Azhari, A., Lim, M., & Esposito, G. (2022). Dataset of parent-child hyperscanning functional near-infrared spectroscopy recordings. Scientific Data, 9, 625. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01751-2

2021

Azhari, A., Bizzego, A., & Esposito, G. (2021). Father-child dyads exhibit unique inter-subject synchronization during Co-viewing of animation video stimuli. Social Neuroscience, 16(5), 522-533. https://doi.org/10.1080/17470919.2021.1970016

Bizzego, A., Azhari, A., & Esposito, G. (2021). Assessing computational methods to quantify mother-child brain synchrony in naturalistic settings based on fNIRS signals. Neuroinformatics, 20(2), 427-436. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12021-021-09558-z

Bizzego, A., Gabrieli, G., Azhari, A., Setoh, P., & Esposito, G. (2021). Computational methods for the assessment of empathic synchrony. In A. Esposito, M. Faundez-Zanuy, F. Morabito, & E. Pasero (Eds.), Progresses in artificial intelligence and neural systems (Vol. 184, pp. 555–564). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-5093-5_47

Esposito, G., Raghunath, B. L., Azhari, A., Peipei, S., & Bornstein, M. H. (2021). Predicting mother and child emotional availability in Singaporean bilingual English and Mandarin dyads: A multilevel approach to the specificity principle. https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/6ar9x

Ng, X., Ng, L. Y., Gabrieli, G., Azhari, A., Neoh, M. J., & Esposito, G. (2021). An fNIRS investigation of masculinity, femininity, and sex on Nonparents’ empathic response to infant cries. Brain Sciences, 11(5), 635. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11050635

Pereira, A. S., Azhari, A., Hong, C. A., Gaskin, G. E., Borelli, J. L., & Esposito, G. (2021). Savouring as an intervention to decrease negative affect in anxious mothers of children with autism and Neurotypical children. Brain Sciences, 11(5), 652. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11050652

2020

Azhari, A., Gabrieli, G., Bizzego, A., Bornstein, M. H., & Esposito, G. (2020). Probing the association between maternal anxious attachment style and mother-child brain-to-brain coupling during passive Co-viewing of visual stimuli. Attachment & Human Development, 25(1), 19-34. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616734.2020.1840790

Azhari, A., Lim, M., Bizzego, A., Gabrieli, G., Bornstein, M. H., & Esposito, G. (2020). Physical presence of spouse enhances brain-to-brain synchrony in Co-parenting couples. Scientific Reports, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-63596-2

Azhari, A., Rigo, P., Tan, P. Y., Neoh, M. J., & Esposito, G. (2020). Viewing romantic and friendship interactions activate prefrontal regions in persons with high openness personality trait. Frontiers in Psychology, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00490

Azhari, A., Rigo, P., Bornstein, M. H., & Esposito, G. (2020). Where sounds occur matters: Context effects influence processing of salient vocalisations. Brain Sciences, 10(7), 429. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci10070429

Azhari, A., Truzzi, A., Neoh, M. J., Balagtas, J. P., Tan, H. H., Goh, P. P., Ang, X. A., Setoh, P., Rigo, P., Bornstein, M. H., & Esposito, G. (2020). A decade of infant neuroimaging research: What have we learned and where are we going? Infant Behavior and Development, 58, 101389. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2019.101389

Azhari, A., Wong, A. W., Lim, M., Balagtas, J. P., Gabrieli, G., Setoh, P., & Esposito, G. (2020). Parents’ past bonding experience with their parents interacts with current parenting stress to influence the quality of interaction with their child. Behavioral Sciences, 10(7), 114. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs10070114

Durnford, J. R., Balagtas, J. P., Azhari, A., Lim, M., Gabrieli, G., Bizzego, A., & Esposito, G. (2020). Presence of parent, gender and emotional valence influences preschoolers' PFC processing of video stimuli. Early Child Development and Care, 192(7), 1020-1031. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2020.1832997

Gabrieli, G., Azhari, A., & Esposito, G. (2020). PySiology: A Python package for physiological feature extraction. In A. Esposito, M. Faundez-Zanuy, F. Morabito, & E. Pasero (Eds.), Neural approaches to dynamics of signal exchanges (Vol. 151, pp. 395–402). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8950-4_35

Neoh, M. J., Azhari, A., Mulatti, C., Bornstein, M. H., & Esposito, G. (2020). Disapproval from romantic partners, friends and parents: Source of criticism regulates prefrontal cortex activity. PLOS ONE, 15(10), e0229316. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0229316

Raghunath, B. L., Azhari, A., Bornstein, M. H., Setoh, P., & Esposito, G. (2020). Experimental manipulation of maternal proximity during short sequences of sleep and infant calming response. Infant Behavior and Development, 59, 101426. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2020.101426

2019

Azhari, A., Leck, W.Q., Gabrieli, G. et al. Parenting Stress Undermines Mother-Child Brain-to-Brain Synchrony: A Hyperscanning Study. Sci Rep 9, 11407 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-47810-4

Azhari, A., Azizan, F., & Esposito, G. (2019). Does regression exist? Employing biological markers to stratify autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 103, 31-32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.06.016

Azhari, A., Azizan, F., & Esposito, G. (2019). Beyond a gut feeling: How the immune system impacts the effect of gut microbiota in neurodevelopment. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 42. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0140525x18002790

Bizzego, A., Azhari, A., Campostrini, N., Truzzi, A., Ng, L. Y., Gabrieli, G., Bornstein, M. H., Setoh, P., & Esposito, G. (2019). Strangers, friends, and lovers show different physiological synchrony in different emotional states. Behavioral Sciences, 10(1), 11. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs10010011

Cataldo, I., Azhari, A., Coppola, A., Bornstein, M. H., & Esposito, G. (2019). The influences of drug abuse on mother-infant interaction through the lens of the biopsychosocial model of health and illness: A review. Frontiers in Public Health, 7. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2019.00045

Senese, V. P., Azhari, A., & Cataldo, I. (2019). A Multisystem psycho-biological approach to the understanding of parental dispositions. Parenting, 19(1-2), 164-167. https://doi.org/10.1080/15295192.2019.1556027

Senese, V. P., Azhari, A., Shinohara, K., Doi, H., Venuti, P., Bornstein, M. H., & Esposito, G. (2019). Implicit associations to infant cry: Genetics and early care experiences influence caregiving propensities. Hormones and Behavior, 108, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2018.12.012

Venturoso, L., Gabrieli, G., Truzzi, A., Azhari, A., Setoh, P., Bornstein, M. H., & Esposito, G. (2019). Effects of baby schema and Mere exposure on explicit and implicit face processing. Frontiers in Psychology, 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02649

2018

Azhari, A., Azizan, F., & Esposito, G. (2018). A systematic review of gut‐immune‐brain mechanisms in autism spectrum disorder. Developmental Psychobiology, 61(5), 752-771. https://doi.org/10.1002/dev.21803

Azhari, A., Truzzi, A., Rigo, P., Bornstein, M. H., & Esposito, G. (2018). Putting salient vocalizations in context: Adults' physiological arousal to emotive cues in domestic and external environments. Physiology & Behavior, 196, 25-32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2018.08.010

Cataldo, I., Azhari, A., Lepri, B., & Esposito, G. (2018). Oxytocin receptors (OXTR) and early parental care: An interaction that modulates psychiatric disorders. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 82, 27-38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2017.10.007

Cataldo, I., Azhari, A., & Esposito, G. (2018). A review of oxytocin and arginine-vasopressin receptors and their modulation of autism spectrum disorder. Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnmol.2018.00027

Esposito, G., Azhari, A., & Borelli, J. L. (2018). Gene × environment interaction in developmental disorders: Where do we stand and what’s next? Frontiers in Psychology, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02036

2017

Bonassi, A., Ghilardi, T., Truzzi, A., Cataldo, I., Azhari, A., Setoh, P., Shinohara, K., & Esposito, G. (2017). Dataset on genetic and physiological adults׳ responses to social distress. Data in Brief, 13, 742-748. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2017.06.057

Poquérusse, J., Azhari, A., Setoh, P., Cainelli, S., Ripoli, C., Venuti, P., & Esposito, G. (2017). Salivary α‐amylase as a marker of stress reduction in individuals with intellectual disability and autism in response to occupational and music therapy. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 62(2), 156-163. https://doi.org/10.1111/jir.12453