MARIALUISA MARTELLI

FIRST SEMESTER:

PERCEPTUAL AND COGNITIVE PROCESSING

Lecture in presence will be in Room X

Online at the following link: meet.google.com/vvj-kpgc-wvj

SECOND SEMESTER:

PASYCHOLOGY AND FASHION

Weekly meetings:

Tuesday 13:00-15:00 room A SARAS

Tuesday 15:00-17:00 room A SARAS

Link online meetings:

meet.google.com/chp-qjma-kwd

PSICOLOGIA GENERALE:

Orario e giorno di lezione dipende dalla settimana (Lunedì e/o Giovedì) Aula F.

Il link per le lezioni online verrà fornito via email agli iscritti al corso.

Marialuisa Martelli
Professor of Psychology
Department of Psychology
Sapienza University of Rome

Academic Profile
Marialuisa Martelli is a Professor of Psychology at Sapienza University of Rome and an internationally recognized researcher in visual psychophysics, cognitive psychology, neuropsychology, and reading acquisition. Her research investigates the perceptual and cognitive mechanisms underlying skilled visual behaviors, including object recognition, reading, attention, and eye-movement control. A major focus of her work concerns the role of visual crowding and perceptual integration in developmental and acquired reading disorders.
Combining psychophysical methods, computational modeling, eye-tracking, and neuropsychological approaches, her research aims to identify the core mechanisms responsible for individual differences in performance across typical and clinical populations. Her work bridges basic vision science, cognitive neuroscience, developmental psychology, and rehabilitation.

Education and Qualifications
PhD in Psychology and Psychophysiology of Perception, Sapienza University of Rome (2001)
Postdoctoral Training in Visual Psychophysics, Center for Neural Science, New York University (2000)
Postgraduate Training in Perception, University of Virginia, USA (1998)
Postgraduate Training in Neuropsychology, IRCCS Santa Lucia, Rome (1997)
Degree in Experimental Psychology (110/110 cum laude), Sapienza University of Rome (1996)
National Scientific Qualifications
National Scientific Qualification for Associate Professor (2014)
National Scientific Qualification for Full Professor (2018)

Academic Appointments
Professor Martelli has held research and teaching positions at:
Sapienza University of Rome
New York University (USA)
New York University Florence
Aston University (UK)
University of Rome Tor Vergata
She was a postdoctoral NIH-funded researcher at New York University (2000–2005) and has been a tenured faculty member at Sapienza since 2009, becoming Associate Professor in 2015.
She founded and directed the Master's Degree Program in Cognitive Neuroscience (2016–2022) and currently directs the Master's Program in Learning and Cognitive Development Disorders.
She serves on the teaching board of the PhD Program in Behavioral Neuroscience and has contributed extensively to curriculum development, internationalization initiatives, and quality assurance activities within Italian higher education.

Research Contributions
Professor Martelli's research focuses on five main areas:
Visual Perception and Object Recognition
Investigation of visual crowding, perceptual integration, attention, and object recognition using psychophysical and computational approaches.
Reading and Reading Acquisition
Developmental and cross-linguistic studies examining perceptual and cognitive constraints on reading performance across transparent and opaque orthographies.
Developmental Dyslexia
Identification of perceptual and attentional factors contributing to reading difficulties through mathematical modeling and psychophysical measures.
Acquired Reading Disorders
Analysis of perceptual and oculomotor mechanisms underlying acquired dyslexia following neurological damage.
Cognitive Slowing and Neuropsychology
Study of perceptual, attentional, and motor contributions to slowed information processing in neurological and developmental populations.

International Collaborations
Professor Martelli has maintained long-standing collaborations with leading international researchers, including:
Denis G. Pelli (New York University, USA)
Najib Majaj (New York University, USA)
Randi Starrfelt (University of Copenhagen, Denmark)
Sebastian Crutch (University College London, UK)
Irene Altarelli (Université Paris Cité, France)
Francesca Strappini (Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel)
These collaborations have generated research on reading, visual crowding, attention, developmental disorders, and neuropsychological rehabilitation.

Research Funding and Leadership
Professor Martelli has served as Principal Investigator or Unit Principal Investigator on projects funded by:
National Institutes of Health (NIH, USA)
Italian Ministry of University and Research (PRIN)
Sapienza University of Rome
Qatar Foundation
World Bank Global Partnership for Education
Recent funded projects include:
PARALLEL SEMANTIC READING OF MULTIPLE WORDS DURING THE LIFE-SPAN (PRIN 2022)
Studies of visual crowding and cortical development (NIH collaboration)
Developmental dyslexia intervention and assessment projects
International literacy acquisition projects in Africa and the Middle East

Professional Service and Outreach
Professor Martelli has served as consultant for the World Bank and the Qatar Foundation, contributing to educational policies and literacy programs in low-income countries.
She has delivered invited lectures and workshops for teachers, clinicians, policymakers, and researchers in Europe, Africa, South America, and the Middle East.
Her outreach activities include teacher training, dissemination on learning disabilities, public science engagement, and educational initiatives supporting access to higher education.

Selected Recent Publications (2023–2026)
Bandiera, V., Arduino, L.S., Daini, R., Martelli, M., & Primativo, S. (2026). Distribution of visuo-attentional resources while reading multiple words. PLOS ONE.
Conforti, S., Martelli, M., Zoccolotti, P., & Marinelli, C.V. (2025). Reading from Single Versus Multiple Displays: A Cross-Sectional Developmental Comparison. Brain Sciences.
Bandiera, V., Primativo, S., Daini, R., Martelli, M., & Arduino, L.S. (2025). The role of top-down and bottom-up factors in parafoveal reading. Frontiers in Cognition.
Martelli, M., Mancuso, M., & Zoccolotti, P. (2025). Is allocentric neglect an attentional disorder? Behavioral and Brain Sciences.
Pelli, D.G., Martindale, E., Majaj, N., Martelli, M., & Waugh, S.J. (2025). In children, peripheral crowding develops two years later than foveal crowding. Journal of Vision.
Marinelli, C.V., Nardacchione, G., Martelli, M., et al. (2025). Impaired Instance Acquisition as a Cause of the Comorbidity of Learning Disorders in Young Adults. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience.
Conforti, S., Marinelli, C.V., Zoccolotti, P., & Martelli, M. (2024). The metrics of reading speed: understanding developmental dyslexia. Scientific Reports.
Marinelli, C.V., Martelli, M., & Zoccolotti, P. (2024). Does the procedural deficit hypothesis of dyslexia account for the lack of automatization and the comorbidity among developmental disorders? Cognitive Neuropsychology.
Schettino, M., Mauti, M., Parrillo, C., et al. (2024). Resting-state brain activation patterns and network topology distinguish human sign and goal trackers. Translational Psychiatry.
Strappini, F., Couch, M., Carcione, A., & Martelli, M. (2024). Evidence for Reductionist or Anti-Reductionist Approaches of Mental Processing. Frontiers Media.
Gobbo, S., Pavia, J., Proietti, M., Primativo, S., Arduino, L.S., Martelli, M., et al. (2024). The left side of gestures: left perceptual bias for meaningless hand gesture recognition. Current Psychology.
Mauti, M., Marinelli, C.V., O'Connor, R.J., Zoccolotti, P., & Martelli, M. (2023). Decision times in orthographic processing: A cross-linguistic study. Experimental Brain Research.
Marinelli, C.V., Martelli, M., Pizzicanella, E., & Zoccolotti, P. (2023). What do reading times tell us about the effect of orthographic regularity? Human Psychology in Education.
Marinelli, C.V., Angelelli, P., & Martelli, M. (2023). RDoC perspectives on learning disorders. Ricerche di Psicologia.
Rusich, D., Arduino, L.S., Mauti, M., Martelli, M., & Primativo, S. (2021). Evidence of Semantic Processing in Parafoveal Reading: A Rapid Parallel Visual Presentation Study. Brain Sciences.