Postdoctoral Researcher
Research Interests
My research examines how infants and children learn, predict, and plan actions, combining longitudinal developmental designs with multimodal methods including eye-tracking, pupillometry, motion tracking, EEG/fNIRS, and advanced quantitative approaches. I am building an independent programme on the development of flexible action planning, with a strong methodological and open-science profile through DevStart, reproducible research tools, undergraduate teaching, and postgraduate supervision.
Education
- PhD, Donders Centre for Cognition, Radboud University, Netherlands 2018–2023
- MSc Psychology-Neuroscience, University of Trento, Italy 2016–2018
- Thesis: Ethnicity and gender modulate the recognition of emotional facial expressions. Cum Laude
- BSc Sciences and Techniques of Cognitive Psychology, University of Trento, Italy 2013–2016
Conference Presentations & Invited talks
Getting the proper grip: A longitudinal study of how infants learn to adapt action plans
Poster, Cognitive Development Society Conference, 2026
Statistics in motion: Harnessing regularities to predict the world
Invited talk, University of Milano-Bicocca, online, 2025
Automatic real-time hand tracking enhances adolescents’ spatial skills by eliminating haptic feedback
Talk, IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning, Austin, TX, 2024
Early roots of information-seeking: Infants predict and generalize the value of information
Talk, International Conference on Infant Studies, Glasgow, 2024
Statistics in motion: Harnessing regularities to predict the world
Invited talk, Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck, University of London, 2024
Statistics in motion: Predicting actions based on their transitional probability
Talk, International Conference on Infant Studies, Glasgow, 2024
Getting the proper grip: A longitudinal study of how infants learn to adapt action plans
Poster, UK Sensorimotor Meeting, Cambridge, 2024
Getting the proper grip: A longitudinal study of how infants learn to adapt action plans
Poster, International Conference on Infant Studies, Glasgow, 2024
Infants learn where to find information: An fNIRS-pupillometry study
Talk, Budapest CEU Conference on Cognitive Development, 2023
Do infants predict and generalize the value of information? A pupillometry study
Poster, International Conference on Infant Studies, Ottawa, 2022
Infants predict and generalize the value of information: A pupillometry study
Invited talk, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, 2022
Statistics in motion: Does the infant motor system predict actions based on their transitional probability?
Poster, International Conference on Infant Studies, Ottawa, 2022
Statistics in motion: Predicting actions based on their transitional probability
Talk, Interdisciplinary Advances in Statistical Learning Conference, San Sebastián, 2022
Statistics in motion: Does the infant motor system predict actions?
Talk, DevMoCon, online, 2021
Awards
Internationalization Travel Grant, Radboud University 2022
Awarded for international research collaboration.
Travel Award, Sackler Colloquium, USA 2019
Awarded for attending The Brain Produces Mind by Modelling.
Merit Award, University of Trento 2018
Awarded for outstanding academic performance.