People

I work at Suor Orsola Benincasa University in Naples, within the Department of Education, Psychology and Communication. Here, I lead a research programme that bridges two main themes: Technological Cognition, which explores how our brains adapt to and interact with technology, and Action and Physical World Understanding, which investigates how we perceive and reason about the physical environment. I supervise all aspects related to neuroimaging, combining EEG and advanced fMRI with behavioural and clinical approaches, often in collaboration with national and international centres.

• Collaborators
• Assistants
• PhD students
• Master students
• Alumni

National and international collaborators

• Mathieu Lesourd Associate professor

  Associate Professor (Maître de conférences HDR) at the University of Franche-Comté in Besançon, France, he is also affiliated with INSERM UMR 1322 LINC. His research primarily investigates the mechanisms underlying memory, problem-solving, and both the mechanical and neurocognitive aspects of human tool use. He focuses on neuropsychological patients and individuals with neurodegenerative disorders.

• Paola Marangolo Professor

  Full Professor of Neuropsychology and Cognitive Neuroscience at the Department of Humanities, University of Naples Federico II. Her research focuses on cognitive neurorehabilitation, with a particular interest in acquired language deficits in adults with brain injuries. She combines neuropsychological, neuroimaging, and neuromodulation approaches to study language recovery within broader cognitive networks. She currently coordinates aphasia courses for the European Federation of NeuroRehabilitation Societies (EFNR), the European Stroke Organisation (ESO), and the Stroke Action Plan for Europe (SAP-E) 2024-2030.

• François Osiurak Professor

  Full Professor at Lumière University Lyon 2 (France), a distinguished member of the Institut Universitaire de France, and also recognised as a member of Stanford University's list of the world's top 2% scientists, François Osiurak is a leading researcher in the fields of cognitive science, anthropology, and the evolution of human technology. He heads the Cognition, Tools, Systems team within the EMC Laboratory, where his research investigates the neurocognitive origins of the cumulative technological culture as well as the psychological foundations of human tool use. 

• Italo Testa Associate professor

  Associate Professor in Physics Education at the Department of Physics, University of Naples Federico II. His research focuses on physics didactics, inquiry-based laboratory learning, and students’ conceptual understanding and motivation in physics education. He is actively involved in teacher training and national initiatives for science education, including the Piano Lauree Scientifiche (PLS-Fisica), and contributes to international research on innovative methodologies for teaching and learning physics.

Teaching assistants

• Daniela Rigatti Teaching assistant

  Daniela Rigatti holds a Master’s Degree in Psychology (cum laude, with academic distinction for her thesis), with a focus on Cognitive Neuroscience from Suor Orsola Benincasa University, Naples, Italy. She also holds a postgraduate Master in Perinatal Psychology and Physiology. Her academic background and research interests span cognitive neuroscience, cognitive ergonomics, and applied psychology.

PhD students

• Luigi Valio PhD student

  PhD candidate in the National Doctoral Programme “Humanities and Technologies: An Integrated Research Path” – Curriculum in Psychology and Cognitive Ergonomics at Suor Orsola Benincasa University. His doctoral work, carried out within the Laboratory of Experimental Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience, explores how humans perceive and mentally represent tools, bridging visual cognition, semantic knowledge, and technical reasoning.

Master students

• Roberta De Santis Master student

  Master’s student in Psychology (Cognitive Neuroscience) at Suor Orsola Benincasa University. Her thesis investigates the cognitive foundations of material culture and physical reasoning through behavioural experiments designed with an innovative paradigm.

• Ilaria Monacella Master student

  Master’s student in Psychology (Cognitive Neuroscience) at Suor Orsola Benincasa University. Her research project uses eye-tracking techniques to study visual cognition patterns in caregivers of families with autistic individuals.

• Vincenzo Paciolla Master student

  Master’s student in Psychology (Cognitive Neuroscience) at Suor Orsola Benincasa University. His thesis combines structural MRI data with neuropsychological assessment to explore how the use of electronic devices relates to cognitive performance, aiming to shed light on technology–brain interactions.

• Ariadna Martina Pisani Master student

  Master’s student in Psychology (Cognitive Neuroscience) at Suor Orsola Benincasa University. Her thesis project involves behavioural experiments based on a novel and innovative paradigm aimed at probing the cognitive foundations of material culture and physical reasoning..

• Giuseppe Scognamiglio Master student

  Master’s student in Psychology (Cognitive Neuroscience) at Suor Orsola Benincasa University. His thesis develops behavioural investigations into the mental processes that support material culture and mechanical reasoning, adopting a new methodological approach.

• Luca Ciro Strazzullo Master student

  Master’s student in Psychology (Cognitive Neuroscience) at Suor Orsola Benincasa University. His thesis employs eye-tracking methodologies to investigate visual cognition in caregivers of families with autistic individuals.

Alumni

Class 2025/2026

• Daniela Rigatti Alumna

  Graduated with a Master’s Degree in Psychology from Suor Orsola Benincasa University, with a thesis titled “Technical Reasoning as a Driver of Cumulative Technological Culture: Evidence from a Novel Open-Ended Microsociety Construction Task”, examining how technical reasoning supports cumulative technological improvement across generations using a novel microsociety paradigm. Awarded 110/110 cum laude with distinction.

Class 2024/2025

• Emanuela Vastola Alumna

  Graduated with a Master’s degree in Psychology at Suor Orsola Benincasa University, presenting the thesis "Do narcissistic traits shape how we look at ourselves?". This research combined personality assessment with advanced eye-tracking methods to explore the visual self-perception patterns of individuals with varying levels of narcissistic traits. Awarded 110/110 cum laude with thesis publication distinction.

• Gaia Diglio Alumna

  Graduated with a Master’s degree in Psychology at Suor Orsola Benincasa University, presenting the thesis "Semantically-driven effects of visual-perceptual context on tool encoding". The project investigated how semantic and perceptual contexts influence the cognitive encoding of tools, integrating experimental paradigms based on visual cognition. Awarded 110/110 cum laude.

Class 2023/2024

• Giuseppe Michele Canuso Alumnus

  Graduated with a Master’s degree in Psychology at Suor Orsola Benincasa University, presenting the thesis "The effects of technical reasoning on tool-related action understanding: An eye-tracking study". This project applied high-precision eye-tracking to investigate how reasoning about mechanical principles shapes the visual processing of tool-use actions. Awarded 110/110 cum laude.

• Maria Cuomo Alumna

  Completed her Master’s Degree in Psychology with the thesis "The visual encoding of familiar and unfamiliar tools". Using eye-tracking techniques, her research demonstrated how prior semantic knowledge modulates visual exploration and object processing. She graduated with a mark of 110/110 cum laude and received a thesis publication distinction. She is currently a PhD student at the University of Pavia.

• Igor Tarantino Alumnus

  Obtained his Master’s degree in Psychology with the thesis "On the functional brain networks involved in physical reasoning". The work used task-based fMRI to map the neural circuits underpinning the ability to reason about the physical world. Awarded 110/110 cum laude.

Class 2022/2023

• Sarah Ferretti Alumna

  Earned a Master’s degree in Psychology at Suor Orsola Benincasa University, with a thesis titled "Visual hallucinations: an integrated neuropsychological perspective". This theoretical work combined clinical neuropsychology, cognitive neuroscience, and perceptual theories to deepen understanding of the mechanisms behind visual hallucinations. Awarded 110/110 cum laude.

• Sanda Perrotta Alumna

  Earned a Master’s degree in Psychology with the thesis "On the neurocognitive origins of Cumulative Technological Culture". This theoretical work examined the cognitive foundations enabling the emergence and transmission of complex technological systems. Awarded 110/110 cum laude.

• Valerio Elia Alumnus

  Obtained his Master’s Degree in Neurobiology (LM-6) from the University of Pavia with a thesis titled "Physical thought: neural bases of technical–mechanical reasoning". Co-supervised at the neuroimaging laboratory of IRCCS SYNLAB SDN (Naples), his project used task-based fMRI to explore the brain regions responsible for mechanical reasoning. He graduated with a score of 109/110 and is currently pursuing a PhD at Suor Orsola Benincasa University (see "PhD Students" above).