Giovanni Federico PhD
NEUROPSYCHOLOGIST & COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENTIST
I am a young (34 years old) Neuropsychologist and Cognitive Neuroscientist. I work as a researcher at IRCCS Synlab SDN, a National Research Institute operating under the Italian Ministry of Health. Also, I serve as an Adjunct Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at Suor Orsola Benincasa University (Naples, Italy).
My research
How do we perceive and make sense of the physical world? And how does this shape our minds?
My research delves into understanding how we engage with the physical world. This investigation aims not only to shed light on how we process and interpret our surroundings but also to reveal the interplay between cognitive functions and rapidly advancing technologies. In other words, my research aims to decipher not just how we perceive the material world, but also how this perception is influenced by—and in turn influences—the tools and technologies we create. Thus, I investigate the neurocognitive mechanisms through which the human mind may understand and manipulate the physical world, in the context of a comprehensive neurocognitive framework. To achieve this, I conceive and develop ad-hoc behavioural and eye-tracking experiments, integrated with state-of-the-art neuroimaging techniques such as structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging.
Selected publications
On the functional brain networks involved in tool-related action understanding
Federico et al. (2023)
Bringing cumulative technological culture beyond copying versus reasoning
Osiurak, Claidière & Federico (2023)
See also the commentary by Cecilia Heyes and our reply.
The Area Prostriata may play a role in technical reasoning
Federico et al. (2022)
Tool and object affordances: An ecological eye-tracking study
Federico & Brandimonte (2019)
What semantic dementia tells us about the ability to infer others' communicative intentions
Osiurak & Federico (2023)
Hazardous tools: the emergence of reasoning in human tool use
Federico, Osiurak & Brandimonte (2021)
My closest collaborators
Maria Antonella Brandimonte
Suor Orsola Benincasa University, Naples, Italy
Antimo Buonocore
Suor Orsola Benincasa University, Naples, Italy
Carlo Cavaliere
IRCCS Synlab SDN, Naples, Italy
Mathieu Lesourd
University of Franche-Comté, Besançon, France
Ciro Rosario Ilardi
IRCCS Synlab SDN, Naples, Italy
François Osiurak
University of Lyon II, Lyon, France