Chiara 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

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, and currently a member of the Steering Committee of the Italian Reproducibility Network (ITRN). 

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

X: @ClaudiaMazzuca

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

She has been working as research assistant at the Istitute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies of the National Research Council of Italy (CNR-ISTC), where she focused on conceptual organization (mostly abstract concepts) and affordances. 

Currently she is a PhD student in Cognitive, Social and Affective Neuroscience at Sapienza University of Rome, and she is working on conceptual representation of ecological concepts in an embodied and grounded perspective, under the supervision of Professor Borghi.

In her free time Ilenia practices pilates, yoga, meditation and reads a lot of books.

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

Mattia received a Master of Science with honors in Applied Cognitive Psychology at University of Bologna. 

He has been working as research intern at the “Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon”, where he worked on peripersonal space and on 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.

He is mostly interested on the link between action and high cognitive functions.

In his free time Mattia plays tennis and football, takes photos and walks through the streets and monuments of Rome.

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

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

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

X: @Chiara_DeLivio

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.

I received a Bachelor's degree in Philosophy from the University of Bologna and a PhD in Computer Science from Plymouth University. Currently, I am 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

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