P.I. - PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Raffaella Rumiati is Full Professor of Cognitive Nerusocience at SISSA. She graduated with a Master's degree in philosophy, with a psychology curriculum, and obtained a PhD in psychology from the University of Bologna, Italy, while doing her research towards the PhD thesis at the School of Psychology of Birmingham University, UK.
Her scientific publication record counts more than 100 peer reviewed publications on cognitive neuroscientific topics, but she is also been publishing in newspapers and magazines (pee es., Il Sole 24 Ore, La Stampa, Pagine Ebraiche, Il Piccolo, Sapere, Mente e Cervello).
She is a member of the Editorial board of the peer reviewed journal “Cognitive Neuropsychology”, an Action Editor for “Brian and Cognition” and serves as ad hoc reviewer for many international journals within the cognitive neurosciences. She gave about 70 talks as an invited speaker in Italy and abroad. She is a member of the steering committee of the European Workshop on Cognitive Neuropsychology (http://bressanone.dur.ac.uk/).
She spent several research visiting periods at the London National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (London, UK), at the Max Planck Institute for Psychology in Munich, Germany, at the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot (Israel), and a year at the Forschungszentrum (FSZ, Jülich, Germany). She is visiting scientist at the Laboratory for Symbolic Cognitive Development, Intellectual Brain Function Research Group of the Brain Science Institute of RIKEN, Japan.
In 2003, she received the Bessel Prize (von HumboldtStiftung) and in 2006 the Women in Cognitive Science Mentorship Award for her support to female young investigator. In 2013 the Comune di Piacenza awarded her with the “Premio Pulcheria”.
Present position
- Full Professor (Professore Ordinario) in Neuropsychology and Cognitive Neuroscience.
- Scientific-disciplinary group (SSD) PSIC-01/B -Neuropsicologia e neuroscienze cognitive and scientific-disciplinary area framework 2024 GSD 11/PSIC-01 - PSICOLOGIA GENERALE, NEUROPSICOLOGIA E NEUROSCIENZE COGNITIVE, PSICOMETRIA (before M-PSI/02 - Psicobiologia e Psicologia Fisiologica).
- Present affiliations: Area of Neuroscience, SISSA, Trieste (Italy) and Roma Tor Vergata (art. 6 comma 11, LEGGE 30 dicembre 2010, n. 240).
- From Nov 2nd – 2022 – I am the President of the undergraduate studies program ‘Psicologia generale, dello sviluppo, del genere e del comportamento sociale’, Department of Systems Medicine, Università Roma - Tor Vergata, Roma, Italy.
P.I. - Brief summary of my research interests
I have spent many years investigating language, memory, perception, and action in both healthy individuals and brain-damaged populations. A central finding of my research is that the motor system plays a role in a wider range of higher-level cognitive processes than traditionally assumed.
More recently, I have developed a research programme centred on the idea that cognitive functions are plastic—that is, they develop and change across the lifespan under the influence of multiple factors. This programme is articulated into two main, interconnected strands.
The first explores the cognitive and non-cognitive factors—such as anxiety and personality traits—that influence academic achievement in university students, with particular attention to numeracy and its neurophysiological underpinnings.
The second focuses on the neuroscientific characterisation of the construct of cognitive reserve, aiming to explain individual differences in cognitive functioning during normal and pathological ageing, as well as in other neurological conditions.
