About

Research Focus

Within the Department of Education, Psychology and Communication at Suor Orsola Benincasa University (Naples, Italy), I lead the programme on Technological Cognition and Action & Physical World Understanding. My work integrates behavioural paradigms with advanced neuroimaging (EEG and fMRI) and clinical/experimental neuropsychology to map how the human brain gives rise to technological cognition, action/physical understanding, and cultural learning.

Academic Positions

2024 – Present Tenure-track Assistant Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, UNISOB, Naples (IT)

2021 – 2024 Adjunct Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, UNISOB, Naples (IT)

2020 – 2024 Senior Researcher, IRCCS SYNLAB SDN, Naples (IT)

2020 – 2022 Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Lyon II, Lyon (FR)

Education

2020 PhD in Experimental Psychology & Cognitive Neuroscience, UNISOB, Naples (IT), Excellence

2017 MSc in Cognitive Psychology, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Caserta (IT), 110/110 cum laude

2017 MSc in Neuropsychology (double degree), Université de Lille, Lille (FR), 110/110 cum laude

2015 BSc in Psychology, University of Naples Federico II, Naples (IT), 110/110 cum laude

Peer Review Activity

I regularly review manuscripts in psychology and cognitive neuroscience for major publishers, including:

• Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences (Springer Nature)
• Brain Sciences (MDPI)
• Cortex (Elsevier)
• Depression and Anxiety (Wiley)
• Experimental Psychology (Hogrefe)
• Frontiers in Psychology (Frontiers)
• Journal of Intelligence (MDPI)
• Neural Plasticity (Hindawi)
• NeuroImage Reports (Elsevier)
• Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews (Elsevier)
• PeerJ (PeerJ)
• Scientific Reports (Springer Nature)

Scientific Societies

• Psychonomic Society (Chicago, USA)
• Italian Society of Neuropsychology (Rome, Italy)
• Italian Association of Psychology (Rome, Italy)

Editorial Committees

• BMC Psychology (Springer Nature): Editor
• Behavioral and Brain Functions (Springer Nature): Associate Editor
• Frontiers in Cognition (Frontiers): Associate Editor
• Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies (Wiley): Academic Editor
• PeerJ (PeerJ): Academic Editor

Scientific Awards

Winner of the SYNLAB Medical Innovation Awards 2023 (Artificial Intelligence category) for the paper Bringing cumulative technological culture beyond copying versus reasoning published in Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

Scientific Congresses

• Federico, G. & Brandimonte, M. A. (November 2019). Tool and object affordances: The role of thematic consistency in modulating visual exploration patterns and object recognition performance. Poster presented at the Trieste Symposium on Perception and Cognition, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy.
• Soricelli, A. & Federico, G. (November 2021). Cognitive neuroscience and COVID-19: The impact of the pandemic on cognitive and social functioning. Invited talk at Medical Excellence in the Post-COVID-19 Era: From Syndemic to Reaction, Synlab Italia, Monza, Italy.
• Federico, G. (January 2023). Eye-tracking and the use of modern tools. Invited talk at Journées Technition, Laboratory of Cognitive Mechanisms Studies, University of Lyon, Bron, France.
• Federico, G. (June 2023). The face after COVID: Longing for a glance. How the pandemic has changed the way we look at faces. Invited talk at The Face in the Mirror: A Dialogue Between Medicine, Neuroscience, and Art, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy.
• Federico, G. (October 2023). The neurocognitive basis of physical understanding through the lens of visual cognition. Talk presented at the Trieste Symposium on Perception and Cognition, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy.
• Federico, G. (September 2025). Technological cognition: An integrated neurocognitive model. Talk presented at the 31st Annual Meeting of the Italian Association of Psychology – Experimental Section (AIP Sperimentale 2025), Campus Luigi Einaudi, University of Turin, Italy.
• Federico, G. (February 2025). Moderator of the international webinar “Increasing Technological Opacity Puts Higher Demands on the Social Brain,” organised at the University of Suor Orsola Benincasa of Naples, Department of Educational, Psychological and Communication Sciences, with a lecture by Professor François Osiurak (Université Lumière Lyon 2, France). The event focused on the relationship between technological evolution and the social brain.
• Valio, L., & Federico, G. (May 2025). Shaped by meaning: Top-down facilitation of semantic cognition in tool visual exploration. Poster accepted. Vision Sciences Society Annual Meeting (VSS 2025), TradeWinds Island Resorts, St. Pete Beach, Florida, USA.
• Federico, G. (May 2025). Emerging technologies and cognitive rights: Interdisciplinary perspectives between cognitive neuroscience, sociology, and law. Invited talk presented at a local conference on Technological Innovation, Cognitive Neuroscience, and Fundamental Rights in the Digital Society, organised by the University of Sannio (Benevento, Italy), May 22, 2025. The presentation focused on the cognitive and social implications of intelligent technologies and the impact of technological cognition on human decision-making processes.
• Bryche, C., Federico, G., Seye, A., & Fournel, A. (September 2025). Cognitive evolution and stone tool recognition: An eye-tracking study. Blitz talk presented at the European Society for Cognitive Psychology (ESCoP 2025), Sheffield, United Kingdom, September 1–6, 2025.
• Valio, L., Federico, G., Cuomo, M., Buonocore, A., & Brandimonte, M. A. (September 2025). The visual encoding of familiar and unfamiliar tools. Poster presented at the 31st Annual Meeting of the Italian Association of Psychology – Experimental Section (AIP Sperimentale 2025), SISSA – International School for Advanced Studies, Trieste, Italy, September 13, 2025.
• Federico, G. (September 2025). Technological cognition: An integrated neurocognitive model. Talk presented at the 31st Annual Meeting of the Italian Association of Psychology – Experimental Section (AIP Sperimentale 2025), SISSA – International School for Advanced Studies, Trieste, Italy, September 13, 2025.

Research Projects (PI)

• Psychosocial, Psychiatric, and Neurological Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Integrated EEG/Eye-Tracking/fMRI Neuropsychological Study. Funded by the Italian Ministry of Health (Ricerca Corrente 2021–2022), IRCCS SYNLAB SDN, Naples (IT).
• Study of Anatomic-Functional Correlates and Identification of Early Biomarkers in Neurological Diseases. Funded by the Italian Ministry of Health (2020–2022), IRCCS SYNLAB SDN, Naples (IT).
• The Contribution of Integrative Neuroscience and Neuroinformatics to Neurodiagnostics: Towards a Technological, Integrated, and Non-Invasive Approach to Neuropsychological Assessment. Funded by the Italian Ministry of Health (2022), IRCCS SYNLAB SDN, Naples (IT).
• Simultaneous EEG/fMRI Study of Saccadic Inhibition in Patients Suffering from Unilateral Spatial Neglect. Funded by the Italian Ministry of Health (2022), IRCCS SYNLAB SDN, Naples (IT).

Contacts

BRAIN Lab
Department of Education, Psychology and Communication
Suor Orsola Benincasa University, Naples, Italy

Address: Via Suor Orsola 10, 80134 Naples, Italy
Email: research@giovannifederico.net · giovanni.federico@unisob.na.it · mail@brain-lab.it
Phone: +39 349 85 27 200