Mariagrazia Benassi

Positions Held at the University of Bologna:

• 10/1/2014 to 2022: Associate Professor, MPSI03, University of Bologna
• From 4/18/2005: University Researcher, M-PSI/03, University of Bologna

Academic Qualifications:

• 1999: Degree in Clinical and Community Psychology, University of Bologna
• 2005: Ph.D. in General Psychology, University of Bologna

Awards and Recognition for Research Activities:

• 2000: Winner of the "Approfondimento" Award for the Research Thesis Abroad, Department of Psychology, University of Bologna
• 2001: Travel Grant for the conference "European Conference of Visual Perception," Kusadasi, Turkey.
• 2000-2025: Recipient of 9 Research Project Grants, Sigvard and Marianne Bernadotte Foundation, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm

Research Activities:

Main Areas of Interest:

• Application of advanced statistical models in applied psychology research on neurologically healthy and clinical populations
• Development, validation, and standardization of psychological tests for the assessment of Neurodevelopmental Disorders (specifically developmental dyslexia and dyscalculia) and psychiatric disorders

Research Collaborations:

• Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, on research projects concerning: Tools for the analysis and measurement of eye movements (Prof. Tony Pansell and Prof. Kerstin Hellgren).
• Dalle Molle Institute for Artificial Intelligence Studies (IDSIA), University of Lugano (Prof. Marco Scutari)
• DFKI, Berlin, Germany (Prof. Milos Kraviz)
• Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome (Prof. Pierluigi Zoccolotti)
• Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, Santa Marinella, Rome (Prof. Stefano Vicari, Dr. Luigi Marotta)
• Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Padua (Prof. Andrea Facoetti)
• Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Education, and Applied Psychology, University of Padua (Prof. Luca Stefanutti)

Funding:

• 2010-11: Project on "Predictive factors of Learning Disorders," grant from Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Cesena (Role: Principal Investigator, approx. 24,000 Euro)
• 2011 – 2025: Grant for clinical activity in the diagnosis of Specific Learning Disorders (Neuropsychological evaluation of specific learning disorders patients) in collaboration with AUSL Romagna, Child and Adolescence Neuropsychiatry Division (Role: Principal Investigator, approx. 300,000 Euro).
• 2018-2020: Project on "Fisherian and Bayesian approaches to eye movements analysis in psychotic disorders" (Dept of Psychology, University of Bologna, Role: Principal Investigator, Approx. 72,000 Euro)
• 2020: Human Brain Project FLAG-ERA JTC - Basic and Applied Research MoDeM - The "Motor-way" to Decision-Making: how the motor system drives cue-triggered decisions (Approx. 600,000 Euro) (PI: Giuseppe DiPellegrino)
• PRIN2020: "Computerized, Adaptive and Personalized Assessment of Executive Functions and Fluid Intelligence" (673,000 Euro). Awarded by: MUR (Prot. 20209WKCLL). Role in the project: Responsible of Research Unit (PI: Luca Stefanutti)
• 2020: Congresses Funding for the organization of the Symposium "Open Statistics: Methods and Thinking in Psychological Research," awarded by the Cogito Foundation (CH) (approx. 2775 CHF)
• PRIN 2022 PNRR | European Union's NextGenerationEU & Italian Ministry of Research. Role: member (Principal Investigator: Sara Garofalo). "Individual variations in resisting temptation: the balance between motivational and inhibitory control" (approx. 225,000 Euro)

Organization, Direction, and Coordination of National Research Centers and/or Groups:

• Since 2008: Psychometrics Laboratory of the Renzo Canestrari Department of Psychology, University of Bologna (Role: Organization, Direction, and Coordination)
• Since 2023: Coordinator of the Boost Perception Research Group, Department of Psychology, University of Bologna

Participation in National Research Centers and/or Groups:

• 2021 to present: Participant in DeduTech-2 Life (Head: Professor Elvis Mazzoni)

Participation in International Research Centers and/or Groups:

• Since 2000: Marianne Bernadotte Centrum, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden (Head: Professor Tony Pansell)

Participation in Editorial Boards of Journals:

• Plos One (Role: Associate Editor)
• Neuropsicologia, Psicoterapia e Riabilitazione (Role: Scientific Committee)
• Frontiers in Psychology (Role: Research Topic Editor)
• Child Development (Role: Ad hoc Reviewer)
• Stress and Health (Role: Ad hoc Reviewer)
• Behavior Research Methods (Role: Ad hoc Reviewer)
• Brain and Language (Role: Ad hoc Reviewer)
• Plos One (Role: Ad hoc Reviewer)
• Journal of Vision (Role: Ad hoc Reviewer)
• Frontiers in Psychology (Role: Ad hoc Reviewer)
• European Journal of Psychology of Education (Role: Ad hoc Reviewer)

Organization of International Conferences:

• September 30 - October 2, 2019: Open Statistics and Open your Eyes, Cesena Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Italy (Role: Conference Organizer and member of the Scientific Committee)
• October 10-11, 2018: International Joint Workshop Understanding and promoting change from early to complex skills in typical and atypical development, Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Italy (Role: Conference Organizer and member of the Scientific Committee)
• October 9-10, 2009: Developmental Dyslexia: Searching the links between neurocognitive functions. Rome, Italy (Role: Conference Organizer and member of the Scientific Committee)

Reviewing Activities for Research Projects:

• Reviewed research projects for MIUR (Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research) (2014-2016) and the Sardinia Region (2015).

Assignment of Official Research Fellowships at Highly Qualified Foreign and International Universities and Research Institutes:

• 2005-present: Visiting Research Fellow, Dept. of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm (Sweden)
• 2024-present: Visiting Professor, University Paris 8
• 2000-2005: Post-doctoral Fellowship for Research Project at the Dept. of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm (Sweden)
• 2000: Grant for preparation of the degree thesis abroad (University of Bologna). Research activity carried out at Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm (Sweden)

Invited Talks and Seminars:

• April 11-14, 2025: Boston University, Beyond the Binge: Ethical Implications of AI for Entertainment and Education – Communication and Philosophical Perspectives
• July 11-15, 2022: Orsoni M, Garofalo S, Giovagnoli S, Benassi M. Unsupervised and supervised learning algorithms for accurate classification of cognitive profiles. Bologna, International Meeting Psychometric Society.
• September 5-7, 2022: Benassi M, Orsoni. Using phase-space graphs to represent eye-movement dynamics: insights from chaos theory. Rovereto, European Mathematical Psychology Group.
• October 10-11, 2018: Benassi M., Giovagnoli S., Hellgren K., Motion and form perception in extremely preterm children, International Joint Workshop Understanding and promoting change from early to complex skills in typical and atypical development, Bologna, Italy
• September 18-20, 2019: The Problem of Recognizing Abnormality Thresholds in Accuracy Measurements. Milan, XXV AIP Experimental Psychology Section Congress
• October 9, 2015: Distributions of Reading Time and Speed and Normality Threshold. Pesaro, AIRIPA Congress.
• September 20-22, 2017: Smooth Pursuit Eye Movements, Intelligence, Attention, and Memory in Psychiatric Patients. Bari, XXIII National AIP Experimental Psychology Section Congress. August 27 - September 31, 2017: Seminar on Parametric and non-parametric tests, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm.
• January 18-22, 2017: Seminar on Motion and Form perception in photopic and scotopic conditions at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm.
• March 18-19, 2016: Benassi M., Bolzani R., Hellgren K. Visual perception in very early preterm children, SRCD Conference Philadelphia, USA.
• November 1-4, 2016: Seminar on Visual perception in Developmental Dyslexia at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm.
• January 19-24, 2015: Seminar on Motion perception in scotopic condition at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm.
• January 21-23, 2014: Seminar on Psychophysical methods for dorsal and ventral pathways at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm.
• January 13-17, 2013: Seminar on Visual perception tests at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm.
• January 3-7, 2012: Seminar A quick survey on perceptual organization: methods, models and
• October 9-10, 2009: Visual perception and Dyslexia: behavioral evidences”, Rome, Conference “Developmental Dyslexia: Searching the links between neurocognitive functions”.
• January 16-19, 2008: The Magnocellular System at the Origin of Dyslexia? Bressanone, Neuropsychology Days of Developmental Age.
• November 11, 2005: Visual Perception in Developmental Dyslexia, Bologna Conference on Developmental Dyslexia: the role of Research and Rehabilitation, Bologna”.

Other Talks at Conferences:

• April 10-13, 2021: Phase space dynamics of eye-movement deficits in psychiatric patients, Online Conference, European Psychiatry Association. (Talk)
• April 10-13, 2021: Bayesian models to explain autistic traits in psychiatric population, Online Conference, European Psychiatry Association. (Talk)
• April 7-9, 2021: PROFFILO: a new digital assessment tool to evaluate learning difficulties in secondary school. Benassi M, Magri S, Lunghi V, Baglivo A, Vetere F, Bertani S, Bartolini L, Giovagnoli S. Online SRCD 2021 Biennial Meeting. (Talk)
• August 5-7, 2019: Orsoni M, Ambrosini F, Garofalo S, Piraccini G, Raggini R, Sant'Angelo R & Benassi M. Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System predicts heterogeneity of eye movements in psychiatric populations, Heidelberg, European Mathematical Psychology Group (Poster Presentation).
• May 16-22, 2019: Bolzani R., Ambrosini F., Piraccini, G., Raggini R., Sant’Angelo R., Garofalo S., Ygge J., Benassi M. Smooth pursuit eye movements in patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. St Pete Beach, Florida, VSS Meeting (Poster Presentation).
• May 16-22, 2019: Bolzani R., Piraccini G., Ygge J., Santangelo R, Raggini R, Garofalo S, Benassi M. Smooth pursuit eye movements in schizophrenia and bipolar disorders patients. St Pete Beach, Florida, VSS Meeting (Poster Presentation).
• May 16-22, 2019: Motion perception, form discrimination and visual motor integration abilities in mTBI patients. Benassi M, Frattini D, Bolzani R, Giovagnoli S, Pansell T, St Pete Beach, Florida, VSS Meeting (Poster Presentation).
• May 18-22, 2018: Visual perception in psychiatric patients. Benassi M, Ambrosini F, Raggini R, Santangelo R, Giovagnoli S, DePaoli G, Ravani C, Piraccini G. St Pete Beach, Florida, VSS Meeting (Poster Presentation).
• April 1-4, 2017: Benassi M., Ambrosini F, Vetere F, Santangelo R, Raggini R, Piraccini G. Smooth Pursuit Eye Movements in psychiatric inpatients. Florence, European Conference Psychiatry (Talk)
• April 1-4, 2017: Ambrosini F, Santangelo R, Raggini R, Giovagnoli S, Benassi M. Two-Step Cluster Analysis application to a sample of psychiatric inpatients at SPDC. Florence, European Conference Psychiatry (Poster Presentation)
• March 19-21, 2015: Benassi M., Bolzani R., Hellgren K. Motion and Form Perception in children born extremely preterm, SRCD Conference Philadelphia, USA. (Talk)
• 2016: Mandolesi L, Benassi M. Developmental trajectories of Motion perception and Form discrimination abilities. St Pete Beach, Florida, VSS Meeting (Poster Presentation).
• May 12-17, 2016: Benassi M, Pansell T, Bolzani R, Hellgren K, Giovagnoli S. Motion-from-Form Perception in Scotopic and Photopic Light Conditions. St Pete Beach, Florida, VSS Meeting (Poster Presentation).
• May 16-21, 2014: Giovagnoli S, Benassi M, Hellgren K, Forsman L, Bolzani R. The relation between acuity of the Approximate Number System and dorsal and ventral stream functions. St Pete Beach, Florida, VSS Meeting (Poster Presentation).
• July 24, 2013: Benassi M., Baroni G., Lugli L., Bolzani R., Nicoletti R. Visual search during motion perception. functions. St Pete Beach, Florida, VSS Meeting (Poster Presentation).
• September 2-6, 2012: Giovagnoli S., Magri S., Bolzani R., Benassi M. (2012) Coherent motion and coherent form perception in developmental dyslexia. Alghero, European Conference on Visual Perception (Poster Presentation).
• September 2-6, 2012: Bertossi E., Giovagnoli S., Hellgren K., Bolzani R., Benassi M. (2012) Visual perception of forms in 5-12 years old children measured by Form Test. Alghero, European Conference on Visual Perception. (Poster Presentation).
• May 10-15, 2011: Benassi M, Baroni G, Lugli L, Bolzani R, Nicoletti R. Visual Search during motion perception. Vision Science Society. Naples, Florida. (Poster Presentation).
• May 7-12, 2010: Benassi M., Giovagnoli S., Bolzani R. Explicit and implicit learning in motion discrimination tasks. Vision Science Society. Naples, Florida. (Poster Presentation).
• August 2006: Bolzani R., Benassi M., Facoetti A., Finzi A., Giovagnoli S., Gummel K.K., Vicari S. Developmental dyslexia is a multifactor disorder: The neuropsychological approach. 29th European Conference on Visual Perception. St Petersburg. (Poster Presentation).
• August 22-26, 2006: F. Frassinetti, T. Gattus, M. Benassi. Time perception of unimodal or crossmodal auditory-visual events in normal subjects: effects of aging and of musical education. 9th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition. Bologna, Italy. (Poster Presentation).
• September 1-4, 2003: Benassi M, Rydberg A, Belli V, Bolzani R. Luminance and chromatic motion detection in dyslexia, Paris, European Conference on Visual Perception (Poster Presentation).
• August 14-16, 2002: Benassi M, Rydberg A, Cedermark E, Pansell T, Bolzani R. Receptive fields and reading performance in dyslexia. Uppsala, Policy on Dyslexia, International Research and European Policy Conference on Dyslexia. (Poster presentation).
• 2002: Ygge J, Bolzani R, Benassi M. A new way of finding the primary position using three dimensional eye movement recordings. Fort Lauderdale, US ARVO-Investigative Ophthalmology & Vision Science. (Poster Presentation).
• Benassi M, Bolzani R, Rydberg A. Motion detection and moving text in reading disabled children. European Conference on Visual Perception (Kusadasi, August 26-30, 2001) (Poster Presentation).

Teaching Activities:

• From the A.Y. 2005 to present, held several courses related to the MPSI03 sector. Among the most important: Advanced Statistical Models for the Doctoral School in Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of Bologna; Psychometric Statistics, Bachelor's Degree in Psychological Sciences and Techniques, Department of Psychology, University of Bologna (8 ECTS); Psychometric and Data Analysis Techniques, Master's Degree in Neuroscience and Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, Department of Psychology, University of Bologna (8 ECTS); and Research Projects in Psychometrics, Bachelor's Degree in Psychological Sciences and Techniques, Department of Psychology, University of Bologna (3 ECTS, Course in English for Erasmus students).

Institutional Activities:

• Coordinator of the Doctoral Program in Psychology, University of Bologna
• Within the Department of Psychology at the University of Bologna, also held various institutional roles, such as:
  • 2016 to 2025: Member of the Quality Assurance Committee of the Bachelor's Degree Program in Psychological Sciences