Current Position
25/05/2020 – present. Assistant Professor at the Department of Psychology, University of Bologna. Viale Berti Pichat 5, 40127 Bologna, Italy.
Previous appointments
01/09/2016 – 27/03/2020. Senior Lecturer at the School of Psychology, University of Lincoln, Sarah Swift Building, Brayford Wharf East, Lincoln LN5 7AY, United Kingdom.
01/09/2014 - 01/09/2016. Lecturer at the School of Psychology, University of Lincoln, Brayford Pool, Lincoln, LN6 7TS.
15/02/2014 - 15/03/2016. Post-doc fellow at the University of Regensburg, Institute of Experimental Psychology. Universitätsstraße 31, 93053, Regensburg, Germany. Advisor: Prof. Mark W. Greenlee.
01/02/2012 - 31/01/2014. Alexander von Humboldt Post-Doc Fellow. University of Regensburg, Institute of Experimental Psychology. Universitätsstraße 31, 93053, Regensburg, Germany. Host and Scientific Collaborator: Prof. Mark W. Greenlee.
01/02/2011 - 31/01/2012. Post-Doc Fellow at SISSA (International School for Advanced Studies), Cognitive Neuroscience Sector. Via Bonomea 265, 34136 Trieste, Italy.
01/01/2009 - 31/01/2011. Post-Doc Fellow at the Department of General Psychology - University of Padova. Via Venezia 8, 35131 Padova, Italy.
Education
17/04/2009. Doctorate (equivalent to PhD) in Psychological Sciences – Perception and Psychophysics. Department of General Psychology, University of Padova (Italy).
03/12/2004. Lauream Degree (BSc + MSc) in Psychology. University of Padova.
Traineeship
27 April - 1 May 2015. Biennial Edinburgh SPM Course 2015. University of Edinburgh, UK.
28-29 June 2010. Magstim/University of Oxford TMS Summer School. Oxford University, UK.
2008. Italian Habi/litation for the Psychologist profession (i.e., Italian qualification to operate as Clinical Psychologist), University of Padova.
09/2005 – 03/2006. Post-Lauream internship at the Department of Neuroscience of Padova University Hospital.
03/2005 – 09/2005. Post-Lauream internship at the Fifth (5th) Medical Clinic of Padova University Hospital (Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine).
05/2005 - 07/2005. Specialization Course: “Cognitive and Neuropsychological Evaluation”. University of Florence, Via della Torretta 16, 50137 Firenze (Italy).
04/2005 - 06/2005. Specialization Course: “Tools for children neuropsychological evaluation”, L.I.RI.P.A.C. (Laboratori Interdipartimentali per la Ricerca Psicologica Applicata e Clinica). Via Belzoni 80, 35121 Padova, Italy.
Overseas appointments
09/2009 - 12/2009. Visiting Post-Doc at Oxford University, Department of Experimental Psychology. Advisers: Prof. Alan Cowey and Dr. Iona Alexander.
2007. Visiting PhD at Sussex University, Psychology Department. Adviser: Prof. George Mather.
Funding
March 2018. Alexander von Humboldt renewed research stay: “Orientation-selective adaptation to translational Glass patterns in human visual cortex: an fMRI adaptation investigation” (€9,500.00).
March 2018. Newton Mobility Grants (NMG2R2\100083): “Neural mechanisms underlying adaptation-induced changes in motion perception” (£10,000.00).
2018. University of Lincoln Undergraduate Research Opportunities Scheme (UROS): “Migraine, Equivalent Noise and Neurostimulation”. (£1,000.00).
2016. University of Lincoln College of Social Science Research Fund. Title of the project: “The neural correlates of visual short-term memory for moving objects: a rTMS investigation”. £2,610.
2016. University of Lincoln College of Social Science Research Fund. Title of the project: “The neural basis of form-motion integration: a rTMS investigation”. £2,250.
2015. University of Lincoln Research Investment Fund/College of Social Science Fully Funded Studentship. Title of the project: “Perceptual learning and brain stimulation”. £52,500.
2014. University of Lincoln College of Social Science Research Fund. Title of the project: “Perceptual learning and electrical brain stimulation: a combined approach to improve human visual functions”. £2,425.
2013. University of Regensburg (Germany), internal Research Grant: EUR 5,000 (£4,466)
2011. Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship (2 years), University of Regensburg (Germany): €54,000.00.
2011. SISSA (Italy), internal Research Grant: €15,000.00.
2010. Post-doc Fellowship (2 years) at SISSA (Italy): €43,200.00.
2009. Post-doc Fellowship (2 years) at the Department of General Psychology, University of Padova (Italy): €29,520.00.
2007. PRIN Research Grant (Co-PI) (Programmi di ricerca di rilevante interesse nazionale; http://prin.miur.it/) at the University of Padova (Italy): €11,786.00.
2011. Winner of the 8th Edition of the Italian Prize Franco Purghé (2011) for research in Perception and Psychophysics: €500.00.
Memberships
- UK Professional Standards Framework for teaching and learning support in higher education. Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
- Affiliate member of the American Psychological Society (APA)
- Member of the Vision Sciences Society (VSS ID: 8168D131129121249)
- Member of the Experimental Psychology Society (EPS)
Technical Competences
- Software: Matlab, Octave, R, SPSS, GraphPad, OriginPro, SigmaPlot
- Sensomotoric Instruments [SMI], Arringoton Eye-tracking System, High-Speed Video Eye-Tracker (Cambridge Research System), Eye-Tribe.
- Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)
- Transcranial Electrical Stimulation (tES)
- Electroencephalography (EEG)
- Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Scientific Collaborations:
Prof George Mather, University of Lincoln (UK)
Prof Mark W. Greenlee, University of Regensburg (Germany)
Prof Gianluca Campana, University of Padua (Italy)
Dr Louise O’Hare, University of Lincoln (UK)
Dr Julia Foecker, University of Lincoln (UK)
Dr Adriano Contillo, Elettra and Fermi Lightsources (Italy)
Dr Hulusi Kafaligonul, Bilkent University (Turkey)
Dr Steven P. Blurton, University di Copenaghen (Denmark)
Dr Wilhelm Malloni, University di Regensburg (Germany)
Dr Luca Battaglini, University di Padova (Italy)
Prof Carmelo Vicario, University of Messina (Italy)
Dr Marcello Maniglia, University California, River Side, California (USA)
Professional Activity
Editor: Scientific Reports, Frontiers in Psychology
Ad-hoc Reviewer: Cerebral Cortex, Experimental Brain Research, Frontiers in Psychology, Journal of Vision, Perception/iPerception, PLoS ONE, Neuroimage, Neuropsychologia, Vision Research.
Oral Presentations
10 July 2017. Invited speaker at the University of Regensburg (Germany). Effects of transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS) on motion perception.
9 July 2015 EPS. Tilt after-effect from perception of global form from Glass Patterns, 39th Experimental Psychology Society conference, University of Lincoln (UK).
29 October 2014. Main lecture entitled: “Perceptual training of lateral interactions: a non-invasive method to improve visual functions”, University of Lincoln, UK.
12 February 2014. Invited speaker at the University of Ulm (Germany). Short-term forms of neural plasticity: a psychophysical, computational and neurobehavioral investigation.
30 January 2014. Invited speaker at the Laboratoire Psychologie de la Perception, CNRS, Paris (France). Short-term forms of neural plasticity: a psychophysical, neurobehavioral and computational investigation.
3 September 2012. Talk at the 35th European Conference on Visual Perception (ECVP), University of Sassari, Alghero (Italy). Short-term memory for visual coherent motion direction revealed by visual masking.
12 January 2012. Invited speaker at the Department of General Psychology, University of Padova (Italy). The functional role of short-term plasticity: A psychophysical perspective.
30 August 2011. Talk at the 34th European Conference on Visual Perception (ECVP) Toulouse (France). Psychophysical evidence for interactions between visual forms and motion signals during motion integration in cortical area MT.
23 October 2008. Invited speaker at the Department of Psychology, University of Leicester (UK). Separate Motion Detecting Mechanisms for First- and Second-Order motion revealed by Priming. Position Shift and Motion Aftereffect.
26 August 2008. Talk at the 31st European Conference on Visual Perception (ECVP) Utrecht (Netherlands). Motion-induced position shifts occur after motion integration.
Participation at international research conferences
26-30 August 2018. 41st European Conference on Visual Perception (ECVP). University of Trieste, Italy.
27-31 August 2017. 40th European Conference on Visual Perception (ECVP). Free University of Berlin, Germany.
28 August - 1 September 2016. 39th European Conference on Visual Perception (ECVP). University of Barcelona, Spain.
23-27 August 2015. 38th European Conference on Visual Perception (ECVP). University of Liverpool, UK.
8-10 July 2015. Experimental Psychological Society (EPS) Meeting, University of Lincoln, UK.
16-21 May 2014. Vision Science Society Meeting (VSS). St. Pete Beach, Florida, USA.
25-29 August 2013. 36th European Conference on Visual Perception (ECVP). University of Bremen, Germany.
2-6 September 2012. 35th European Conference on Visual Perception (ECVP). University of Sassari, Italy.
28 August - 1 September 2011. 34th European Conference on Visual Perception (ECVP). University of Toulouse, France.
22-26 August 2010. 33rd European Conference on Visual Perception (ECVP). EPFL, Switzerland.
5 May 2010. Neuroetica. Le grandi questioni. University of Padova, Italy.
24-28 August 2009. 32nd European Conference on Visual Perception (ECVP). University of Regensburg, Germany.
18-20 September 2008. XIV national conference of Experimental Psychology. University of Padova, Italy.
24-28 August 2008. 31st European Conference on Visual Perception (ECVP). University of Utrecht, Netherland.
1 April 2008. A.V.A. meeting. Visual variation and Bias. University of Manchester, UK.
11-13 October 2007. R.A.W. (Rovereto Attentional Workshop), Attentional Procesing and control. Rovereto, Italy.
30 September 2007 - 4 October 2007. Autumn School on “Vision and Movement”, University of Geissen, Germany.
27-31 August 2007. 30th European Conference on Visual Perception (ECVP), University of Pisa, Arezzo, Italy.
26-27 October 2006. A.I.S.C. (Associazione Italiana di Scienze Cognitive) Genova: Third national conference on cognitive Science.
25-28 July 2006. Fechner Day, University of Hertfordshire, UK.
4th May 2005. Alterazioni Neuropsichiatriche in Medicina Interna. C.I.R.M.A.N.ME.C. University of Padova, Italy.
