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Let’s talk about you: what is your background, what do you teach, and what are your research interests?
I am from Turin, where I studied Philosophy. I love bicerin, agnolotti and I consider myself, despite my wandering, a true Turinese... but not a true philosopher. Over the years, in fact, my interest has led me to experimental psychology. At Ca' Foscari I research General Psychology and teach General Psychology and Developmental Psychology. I started my career working on visual perception. I was interested in understanding how our visual system manages to perceive the external world in a way that is consistent with the perception of others, including illusions. As I studied the mind, I soon realised that the phenomenon of illusions and consistency with the ability to perceive and live in the world was not something specific to the visual system but also involved other cognitive processes. So I moved on to study cognitive biases and our decision-making processes, in some cases addressing topics that have always interested me such as entomophagy.

Tell us about your academic path.
I have a very special academic background. I was studying Philosophy in Turin and during a cycle of seminars in the Theoretical Philosophy course I had the chance to meet and listen to two great perceptologists speak: Paolo Bozzi and Nicola Bruno. I remember that Nicola gave a demonstration of a blind walking task in the classroom. I was blown away because I realised the importance of supporting any theory with data collected on site. I was lucky enough to graduate with Maurizio Ferraris, who indulged my passion for empirical data and allowed me to write an interdisciplinary dissertation.
Once I graduated, I moved to Trieste to take a PhD in cognitive psychology. Studying visual perception at Kanizsa's University was a real privilege. I then worked on a research project at the visuo-motor lab of the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University in Milan. At that point, however, the sense of insecurity that is typical of the university prevailed and I chose to explore another world. I worked for several years at Apogeo, a brand of the Feltrinelli publisher. Yet, university still remained my great passion. So I left publishing and landed, 10 years ago, at Ca' Foscari.

What are your professional references?
I was lucky enough to have two great teachers, Maurizio Ferraris and Nicola Bruno, and a great colleague and friend who taught me the psychology of thinking, Paolo Legrenzi.

What has given you the greatest satisfaction in your career?
When I took my first psychology exam at university, I remember that the core was on "Storia della psicologia" (History of psychology) by Paolo Legrenzi. Last year "Si fa presto a dire psicologia" (It's easy to say psychology) by Paolo Legrenzi and Alessandra Jacomuzzi came out...

What are you most passionate about in your research?
I have an innate curiosity about what goes on in our minds. For me, having the chance to study it, how it works and its flaws, is a great privilege. I like observing human behaviour, making hypotheses about what goes on in the brain. Most of the time I make assumptions that I laughingly discard the next day. But here and there are ideas that I think are good. They become the starting point for my research.