Forensic Research in Applied and Experimental Psychology Lab (For-REAL)

Research Group Description

The Forensic Research in Experimental and Applied psychology Lab (For-REAL) is a team of scientists at the University of Bari Aldo Moro dedicated to advancing the field of legal and forensic psychology. The goal of For-REAL is to enhance understanding of how people think, feel, remember experiences, and make decisions, in contexts relevant to the law. This means studying why people behave the way they do, how they remember events, how they experience emotions, and how they make important decisions in legal situations. The members of the Lab mainly conduct experimental studies aiming to provide practical and evidence-based knowledge to practitioners in the legal and forensic field. For-REAL capitalizes on its multidisciplinary strengths by seamlessly merging the contributions of nationally and internationally renowned researchers with those of professionals from the legal and applied psychology fields. As a research group, we hold a strong commitment to the principles of Open Science, placing significant emphasis on promoting transparency in sharing materials and data, as well as pre-registering our research studies.

Service to the community

Some For-REAL members are involved in providing expert advice in actual legal cases. They are asked by judges, prosecutors, and lawyers to evaluate, for instance, people’s capacity to testify, stand a trial, criminal responsibility, etc. Moreover, For-REAL members offer workshops and seminars to students, legal professionals, and wider community.

Among the activities of the groups, an important place is taken by the Post-graduate program in Legal Psychology and Forensic Neuropsychology, at the Department of Education, Psychology, Communication of the University of Bari.

Main research topics

Eyewitness testimony

Legal decision-making

Lie and emotion detection

Lying and memory

Trauma and false memory

Amnesia

Individual differences in cognitive processes relevant to the legal and forensic fields

FOR-REAL lab members

Seniors:

Prof. Antonietta Curci, Ph.D. (head of the lab) - Scopus

Dr. Fabiana Battista, Ph.D. - Scopus

Prof. Tiziana Lanciano, Ph.D. - Scopus

Dr. Ivan Mangiulli, Ph.D. - Scopus

Prof. Huawei Xie (Visiting Professor, Fuzhou University)

PhD students and interns:

Miss. Federica Alfeo - Scopus

Miss. Patrizia Borrelli

Miss. Alessia Monaco - Scopus

Mr. Alessandro Piro

Mr. Federico Puleo

Miss. Raffaella Ribatti - Scopus

Mr. Daniel Recchia