BallaB - MEMBERS

Angelo Mattia Gervasi, Luca Tummolini, Ilenia Falcinelli, Chiara Fini, Anna Borghi, Claudio Brozzoli, Claudia Mazzuca. Not in the picture: Chiara de Livio, Fernando Maggio, Mara Stockner, Antonio Pio Afragola, Matteo Tacconelli, Russell Neil Eaton. All individual profiles are below.

Anna Borghi, Ilenia Falcinelli, Claudia Mazzuca, Chiara Fini. (picture: gift by Tommaso Lamarra)

principal investigator

anna m. borghi

Anna received a Master degree in Philosophy and a PhD in Psychology (1997) from the University of Bologna. She is now professor in Psychology at Sapienza University of Rome. Before moving to Sapienza, she held a faculty position at the University of Bologna. Since 2001 she is also research associate at ISTC-CNR (Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, Italian National Research Council), Rome.

Anna's research addresses the relationship between body, action, objects, and language in humans. She is interested in how we categorize and interact with objects, other entities and other people (affordances, social affordances), in how we develop the sophisticated ability of abstract thought and that to use abstract words (abstraction, abstractness), in how language empowers our cognitive abilities, and in how different bodies, cultures and languages shape our mind.

In her free time Anna stays with her children, swims, when possible skies, sings and reads all sorts of novels.

To download papers, see also this website: http://laral.istc.cnr.it/borghi/

Google Scholar profile: https://scholar.google.it/citations?user=ylEWFyYAAAAJ&hl=it&oi=ao

Bluesky profile: @annaborghi.bsky.social

This is anna's webpage: https://sites.google.com/view/anna-m-borghi/home-page

Anna's webpage

post doc researchers

Claudia mazzuca

Claudia is currently working as a Post-doc at Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, and Health Studies under the PRIN-PNRR project Democratising Concepts. She previously worked within the EU project From Social Interaction to Abstract Concepts and Words: Towards a Human-centered Technology Development, TRAINCREASE.

Before moving to Sapienza, she was a Research Associate at the University of York, Department of Psychology, on a project investigating cross-cultural and cross-linguistic variability in conceptual representations. She received her PhD in Cognitive Science from the University of Bologna.

Her research interests are mainly focused on the interplay between language(s) and cognition, which she addresses using behavioural (e.g., categorisation tasks) and linguistic (e.g., free-listing tasks) methods and measures.

She is fascinated by abstract concepts acquisition and representation. Her research has addressed how both bodily and social aspects contribute to the conceptual representation of gender across different individual experiences and cultures. Recently, she focused on how and when expertise shapes both abstract and concrete concepts.

She is an Open Science enthusiast, previously member of the Steering Committee of the Italian Reproducibility Network (ITRN), and recently elected vice-president of the new Steering Committee (2026-2028) of the Italian Association of Cognitive Science (AISC).

In her free time Claudia practices yoga, reads all kinds of books, cultivates her passion for plants, and tries to learn how to play guitar.

Google Scholar Profile:

https://scholar.google.it/citations?user=7IfWKwIAAAAJ&hl=it&oi=sra

Get in touch at claudia.mazzuca@uniroma1.it

BlueSky: @claudiamazzuca.bsky.social

X: @ClaudiaMazzuca

FERNANDO MAGGIO

Fernando is currently a researcher at Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, and Health Studies, working under the PRIN project ASSO (Abstract Concepts and Social Interaction).

He received both his master’s degree and PhD in Electrical Engineering from Sapienza University of Rome. His PhD research was in the field of bioelectromagnetics, which studies the interaction mechanisms between electromagnetic fields and biological systems. In particular, he focused mainly on deep brain stimulation as a case study because, despite its success as a clinical technique for treating Parkinson’s disease, the underlying therapeutic mechanisms of action are still not fully understood. He developed computational models, such as a 3D dosimetric model and biophysical neuronal conductance-based models, to predict neuronal responses to stimulation using electrical data evaluated within the targeted brain areas.

He has many interests outside work, like sound engineering and audio mixing, in which he got a master’s degree in Sonic Arts from Tor Vergata University of Rome, as well as social issues, reading, watching movies, political activism, and more. So, in his free time, he prefers to sleep.

ILENIA FALCINELLI

Ilenia is currently working as a Post-doc at Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, and Health Studies, under the Sapienza Excellent Project “Ecological, Technological and Gender Concepts and Their Variations across the Lifespan” and the PRIN project ASSO (Abstract Concepts and Social Interaction).

She received both her PhD in Psychology and Social Neuroscience and her master's degree in Clinical Psychology from Sapienza University of Rome.

Her research line focuses on categorization processes. She is mainly interested in investigating how the general population and different generations (younger and older adults) conceptualize the recently emerged and increasingly impacting domains of ecology and technology in the light of studies on abstractness. To reach these goals, she uses both behavioral (e.g., semantic fluency, rating, categorization tasks) and EEG paradigms. Recently, she also opened her interest in performing hyperscanning studies to investigate social dynamics occurring between individuals engaged in interactive tasks such as conversations.

In her free time Ilenia enjoys practicing yoga and meditation, reading a lot of books, and trying her hand at piano playing and bonsai cultivation.

ResearchGate Profile: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ilenia_Falcinelli

E-mail: ilenia.falcinelli@uniroma1.it

MARA STOCKNER

Mara is currently working as a postdoctoral researcher at Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, and Health Studies, under the FIS-3 Project “Learning and Using Concepts: Knowledge Exchanging And Engaging In Inner And Social Dynamics ”, focusing on knowledge outsourcing to artificial and human experts, and associated (meta)cognitive processes.

She received both her master's degree in Clinical Psychology and her PhD (under the supervision of Prof. Giuliana Mazzoni) from Sapienza University of Rome. Previously, she also worked as a Research Assistant at the University of Turin.

Her research has mainly focused on mental simulation and memory processes and the investigation of how sensorimotor processes impact different types of memory (memory distortions, autobiographical memory, episodic and implicit memory). To address these research questions, she integrates theoretical approaches with behavioral and physiological (e.g., eye-tracking, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation) paradigms. More recently, she has also expanded her research interests to the investigation of cognitive processes in response to different types of AI-generated content (e.g., visual stimuli such as faces or actions), involving performance measurements as well as ratings and social evaluations of the content.

In her free time, Mara enjoys hiking and swimming, learning Arabic, and improving her mediocre knitting skills.

E-mail: mara.stockner@uniroma1.it

Google scholar Profile: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=w6w4LyQAAAAJ&hl=it&oi=ao

Linked-In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mara-stockner-085ab9195/

PhD students

CHIARA DE LIVIO

Chiara received her master's degree in Clinical Psychology from Sapienza University of Rome.

She is currently a PhD student in the CoSAN (Cognitive, Social and Affective Neuroscience) program at the Department of Psychology of Sapienza University of Rome. Her research explores the role of human interactions—both between individuals and within the self (inner speech)—in the acquisition, representation, and use of concepts.

She is also interested in the conceptual representation of gender across different gender and sex identities and configurations.

In her free time, Chiara enjoys taking long walks, reading poetry, and wandering through vintage markets.

Google Scholar Profile: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ZCk1yyEAAAAJ&hl

Email: chiara.delivio@uniroma1.it

Bluesky: @chiaradelivio.bsky.social

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chiara-de-livio

ANTONIO PIO AFRAGOLA

Antonio Pio received his Bachelor's degree in Psychology and Social Processes and his Master's degree in Cognitive Neuroscience from Sapienza University of Rome.

He is currently a PhD student in Clinical and Dynamic Psychology at Sapienza University of Rome. His research focuses on the social dynamics that emerge during conversations involving abstract and concrete concepts, with particular attention to behavioral alignment, including gestures and motor synchrony, as well as interbrain synchrony.

In his free time, Antonio Pio enjoys cultivating his passion for cinema, listening to music and reading, as well as exploring new places and museums.

Email: antoniopio.afragola@uniroma1.it

research INTERNs

RUSSELL NEIL EATON

I received my bachelor’s degree in Cognitive and Psychobiological Psychological Sciences from the University of Padua.
I am currently a master’s student in Cognitive Neuroscience at Sapienza University of Rome and a research intern at the Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies of the Italian National Research Council (ISTC-CNR) in Rome. My work focuses on word embeddings and computational analyses of semantic networks.
I am also interested in psychological well-being in schools and cities.
In my free time, I enjoy playing basketball, watching films, relaxing, and making things out of clay.

Email: russelleaton02@gmail.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/russell-eaton-31a63b339/

ASSOCIATES

luca tummolini

Luca received a PhD in Cognitive Science from University of Siena and is senior researcher at the Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies of the National Research Council of Italy (CNR-ISTC).

His interest is in social interaction and the cognitive mechanisms that enable humans to flexibly coordinate and collaborate with one another, from simple joint actions in small groups to population-level regularities sustained by social norms and institutions. Adopting an embodied approach to cognition, he has also extensively worked on the mental representation of abstract concepts and words and how they are grounded in social interaction. He is fascinated (and obsessed) by the cognitive and social processes sustaining our sense of possession and ownership over objects.

In his work, he develops and test formal models (computational modelling, game theory) combining experimental methods spanning from cognitive psychology to experimental economics and sociology.

For his publication list see the google scholar profile.

CLAUDIO BROZZOLI

I received my PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience from Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, and I am currently a senior researcher at INSERM, working within the IMPACT team of the Neuroscience Research Center in Lyon (CRNL).

My scientific interests focus on the sensorimotor processes that underlie cognition. In particular, I investigate how sensorimotor processes contribute to language, spatial cognition (e.g., peripersonal space representation), and to body representations for action. My research tests the general hypothesis that different components of language rely on domain-general mechanisms that serve both motor and linguistic functions.

I am particularly fascinated by that extraordinary function we call syntax, and by the idea that protoforms of this function may exist in action. From this perspective, I use tool use as a model to investigate syntax in the motor domain. I am also interested in how language shapes motor learning and behavior.

To address these questions, I combine behavioral approaches, structural and functional MRI, and kinematic recordings.

For the publication list, see https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=N-w41uoAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&gmla=AKzYXQ0fqZDxWlaEOiQ0Oqfv53EFrMB86-e5m83O5N9dI23nGjRqmhMOOwjYBdPXvtQQVWmMvt6mVKYtxpbOJjF7

chiara fini

Chiara is associate professor in Cognitive and General Psychology at Unipegaso. She received her master’s degree in Neuropsychology from the University of Bologna. She got her PhD in Neuroimaging at the University of Chieti-Pescara. Her line of research focuses on the Embodied perception of the extrapersonal space. She has been working as Post Doc to a project about the action tendencies as function of low or high control, at the Department of Experimental Psychology, Gent and KU Leuven, Belgium. She gathers advanced skills in the use of brain stimulation, and specifically Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS). Overall, her theoretical interests concentrate within the Field of the Embodied Cognition, ranging from the perceptual processing of space/objects to the language acquisition, with a particular attention to the philosophical perspective of the Theory of the Words as Social Tools WAT (Borghi et al., 2018). Such theory sustains that abstract concepts would need to be processed through the inner language. Inner language could namely help participants to re-explain to themselves the meaning of the word, to keep information active in working memory, and to prepare themselves to ask information to more competent people.

In the free time Chiara runs, reads novels, travels.

Google Scholar Profile: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=8KMsi_gAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao

MARCO TULLIO LIUZZA

Marco Tullio received a Bachelor's Degree in Communication Science at the University of Roma Tre, a Master's degree in Semiotics at the University of Bologna (2008), and a Ph.D. in Cognitive plasticity and rehabilitation (2011) from the Sapienza University of Rome. He is now an associate professor in Psychometrics at the "Magna Graecia" University of Catanzaro. Before moving to "Magna Graecia" University of Catanzaro, he has been a Post-Doc at Stockholm University, at the Sapienza University of Rome, and at Fondazione Santa Lucia in Roma.

Marco Tullio's research addresses the relationship between olfactory-induced disgust, prejudice, ideology, and sexual behavior in humans. He is also interested in applying Bayesian Multilevel Models in Psychological Research, and in scale validation using both Classical Test Theory and Item Response Theory approaches. He is also active in the Open Science Movement and is involved in the Psychological Science Accelerator (https://psysciacc.org/), the Italian Reproducibility Network (https://www.itrn.org/), and the Many Smiles collaboration.

Marco Tullio plays chess, swims, runs, watches TV series, and reads books (mostly essays) in his free time.

Personal page: https://dsmc.unicz.it/personale/docente/marcotullioliuzza.

Institutional page: https://sites.google.com/view/marcotullioliuzza/home

Google Scholar profile: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=KLD22VkAAAAJ&hl=it&oi=ao

Research Gate profile: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Marco-Tullio-Liuzza

Twitter: https://twitter.com/mtliuzza

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marco-tullio-liuzza-37756a33/

A. MATTIA GERVASI

Mattia received a Master of Science with honors in Applied Cognitive Psychology at University of Bologna and a co-supervised Ph.D. cum laude from Sapienza University of Rome and Claude Bernard University of Lyon 1. At the moment, he is postdoc at the Lyon Neuroscience Research Center (INSERM).

He has been working as research intern at the Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, where he worked on peripersonal space and the anatomical and functional link between tool-use and language.

In addition, he has been working as post-lauream intern at the “A. Gemelli Polyclinic”, in Rome, where he worked on children affected by neurodevelopmental disorders and adults affected by cognitive impairment.

In his research line he investigates the role of language (explicit language – labels, implicit language – inner speech) and sensorimotor system in the acquisition of new actions through learning by observation. To investigate this topic he uses behavioral measures, kinematics (through video motion analysis softwares), questionnaires and fMRI.

LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/a-mattia-gervasi-1a5410152/

ResearchGate profile: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Angelo-Mattia-Gervasi

federico da rold

I received a Bachelor's degree in Philosophy from the University of Bologna and a PhD in Computer Science from Plymouth University. I have been a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellow at ISTC-CNR under the supervision of Professor Borghi.

My research focus is on the analysis of embodied and situated systems using information-theoretic principles and tools. My present and past research utilise neurorobotic models. As a member of this lab, I had the chance to extend my experiments to humans.

Recently, I am also interested in pruning deep neural networks by finding optimal subsets of parameters in giant models.

For the publication list see my google scholar profile.

For any enquires please feel free to email me: federico.darold(that_usual_one)istc.cnr.it

FRANCESCA ARENIELLO

I received my Master's degree in Clinical and Health Psychology from Sapienza University of Rome, graduating with honors. My experimental Master's thesis explored the fascinating role of language in human cognition and perception, with a specific focus on its influence on the acquisition and execution of motor actions. This research sparked my interest in understanding the intricate connections between language, thought, and action.

I am excited to continue my academic journey as a PhD student at the Lyon Neuroscience Research Center (CRNL). Here, I will delve deeper into the themes of my Master's thesis, employing a multi-faceted approach that combines behavioral, kinematic, and fMRI methodologies. Through this, we aim to gain a comprehensive understanding of the anatomical and functional link between tool use and language.

PAST MEMBERS

Arthur-Henri Michalland

Arthur received a PhD in Cognitive Psychology in 2019 from Paul Valéry Montpellier University, France. His research interests are in haptic signals and processing, and their relations with cognition. He uses various criterion (response times, exerted force, movement trajectory, mnesic performance, forms) to assess the embodied part of cognitive processes. He is interested in motor control and various related dimensions: multimodal integration, visual perception, action lateralisation, human-robot interaction, and concept grounding. See also on https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Arthur_Henri_Michalland

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