research interests
My main research interest is in the investigation of the neurobiology of language.
I combine psycholinguistics, neuropsychological, and cognitive-computational methods with multimodal neuroimaging techniques (MRI, MEG, EEG, TMS) to understand the neural mechanisms underlying language development and normal and pathological language functions across the lifespan.
My research has focused on the neuroanatomical and neurochemical mechanisms subserving grammatical processing, establishing a link between fundamental syntactic principles, such as hierarchical computational structures, and the brain. A further relevant topic has been the investigation of conceptual-semantic representations from a grounded cognition perspective, particularly the contribution of experientially-derived semantic information in language comprehension.
My current research projects mainly focus on the role of individual experience in modulating the functional and structural brain networks involved in concept formation; on auditory-language development in the perinatal stages and in early childhood, and on the associated learning disorders, such as developmental dyslexia; and on morphosyntactic and syntactic impairment in aphasia.
Visit my Brain and Language Group's webpage.