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Monica Gori

Principal Investigator-Tenured
Senior Researcher Tenured - Principal Investigator
Unit for Visually Impaired People
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Biografia

Monica Gori is a tenured senior scientist at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), where she leads the Unit for Visually Impaired People (U-VIP) laboratory. Her lab comprises 23 scientists (8 Ph.D., 7 PostDocs, 1 Technician, 5 Affiliated Researchers). Monica Gori is an expert on development, multisensory integration, visual disability, and spatial perception. She graduated in psychology from the University of Florence in 2004
(cum laude). She received her Ph.D. degree in Humanoid Technologies from the University of Genoa and IIT in 2009. From 2002 to 2006 she worked at the CNR of Pisa in David Burr’s Laboratory. In 2008 she worked in Martin Banks lab (Berkeley, California). During her Ph.D. she interacted with a strong multidisciplinary environment starting collaborations with engineers and clinical institutes (e.g. Chiossone Institute and Stella Maris Institute). During this period, she started important collaborations with prof. Juergen Konczac (Minnesota University, USA) and with prof. Melvin Goodale (Ontario University, Canada). Monica is a recipient of the European Research Council (ERCstarting grant MySpace 2021 (~€1.5 million, www.myspaceproject.eu ). She was the scientific coordinator of two large European grants, FP7 project ABBI (~€2 million, www.abbi.eu ) and Horizon-2020 project WeDraw (~€2.5 million, www.wedraw.eu ) and partner in two ITN H2020 Marie Curie project: MultiTouch and Optivist and Supervisor in the TIRESIA Horizon-2020 Global Marie Curie project. She has coordinated as a principal investigator of several technology transfer initiatives such as JOiiNT lab at Mondino research Hospital San Martino Research Hospital and is the author of a patent. She is a recipient of the TR35 Italian Innovation Award 2012 (price for young innovators), winner of the SmartCup in 2015, Finalist of the Engineering and Technology for the Falling Walls Science Breakthroughs of the Year 2021, recognized as "Expert" by Expertscape plans in 2021 ranked in the top1% of scholars writing about disabled persons in the past 10 years and listed in 100 Esperte in 2016 (woman in science). The impact of her work on the scientific community can be summarized by 130 international papers, 8 book chapters, and many conferences' abstracts. Internationally accepted indices of impact and productivity show that her work has received 2878 citations, leading me to an H-index of 26 (ORCID ID orcid.org/0000-0002-5616-865X; Scopus Research ID: 23491803400;   ResearcherID: A-1238-2014). One of her works has been listed in the faculty of 1000 (Gori et al. Curr Biol, 2008). Two of her studies have been highlighted in editorial opinions, by  Marc Ernst (Current Biology 2008) and by Andrew King (Brain 2014). In the last 15 years, Monica Gori studied human sensory neuroscience, particularly multisensory abilities, in children and adults with and without impairment. She used state-of-art neuroscience techniques, including psychophysics, computational modeling, evoked potential recordings. She applied the scientific findings to the development of new multisensory technological solutions for children and adults in the field of rehabilitation, learning and game. The research addresses most major themes of sensory interaction, including cross-modal calibration, child development, blindness, deafness, motor impairment, cortical reorganization, cortical plasticity, spatial perception and temporal perception.  More recently, her research has expanded to include multisensory perception in infancy, the development of multisensory rehabilitative and supportive technology for early intervention, psychopathology disorders, sleep and adaptability of the developmental system

Lab activity:
Italian: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGg0SB8rj1U
English: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiSsDLUS_UQ 

ERC MySpace: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8a5hUYubHVE 

TEDx: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAz_Qx6xcRQ

WeDRAW Project: Exploiting the best sensory modality for learning arithmetic and geometrical concepts based on multisensory interactive Information and Communication Technologies and serious games http://www.wedraw.eu/

ABBI Project: Audio Bracelet for Blind Interactions https://www.abbiproject.eu/

MySpaceProject: www.myspaceproject.eu 

Top Publications
2021
Gori M., Campus C., Signorini S., Rivara E., Bremner A.J.
Multisensory spatial perception in visually impaired infants
Current Biology, vol. 31, (no. 22), pp. 5093-5101.e5
2021
Campus C., Signorini S., Vitali H., De Giorgis V., Papalia G., Morelli F., Gori M.
Sensitive period for the plasticity of alpha activity in humans
Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, vol. 49
2020
Inuggi A., Pichiecchio A., Ciacchini B., Signorini S., Morelli F., Gori M.
Multi-systemic increment of cortical thickness in congenital blind children
Cerebral Cortex Communications, vol. 1, (no. 1)
2020
Gori M., Amadeo M.B., Campus C.
Temporal cues trick the visual and auditory cortices mimicking spatial cues in blind individuals
Human Brain Mapping, vol. 41, (no. 8), pp. 2077-2091
2016
Gori M., Cappagli G., Tonelli A., Baud-Bovy G., Finocchietti S.
Devices for visually impaired people: High technological devices with low user acceptance and no adaptability for children
Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, vol. 69, pp. 79-88
All Publications
2024
Gori M., Sciutti A., Torazza D., Campus C., Bollini A.
The effect of visuo-haptic exploration on the development of the geometric cross-sectioning ability
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, vol. 238
Article Journal
2023
Morelli F., Balzarotti N., Guarischi M., Cappagli G., Maviglia A., Crepaldi M., Orciari L., Parmiggiani A., Catalano G., Signorini S., Gori M.
A novel multisensory device for the assessment and rehabilitation of perceptual and attentional competencies
Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. Annual International Conference, vol. 2023, pp. 1-4
2023
Guarischi M., Morelli F., Balzarotti N., Cappagli G., Maviglia A., Crepaldi M., Orciari L., Parmiggiani A., Catalano G., Signorini S., Gori M.
A novel multisensory device for the assessment and rehabilitation of perceptual and attention competencies
Child Vision Research Society
Poster Conference
2023
Setti W., Vitali H., Campus C., Picinali L., Gori M.
A novel system to evaluate audio-spatial memory skills: the Audio-Corsi
IMRF
Abstract Report Conference
2023
Bollini A., Tacchino A., Podda J., Pedullà L., Bellosta A., Brichetto G., Campus C., Gori M.
Assessing Interhemispheric Transfer Time in Multiple Sclerosis: Implications for Motor Coordination.
28 th Annual RIMS Conference
Poster Conference
Dissemination
2023
Gori M.
ABBI
Talk Cuore Digitale 27 Aprile Camera dei deputati Montecitorio
Public Event
2023
Gori M.
Comprendere la multisensorialità e il diritto al Gioco
Diritto e Scienza: vulnerabilità nei minori
Public Event
2023
Gori M.
FantaScienza e il mio capitolo
WIRED
Public Event
2023
Gori M.
Giocare con SOBU: il dispositivo multisensoriale per l'inclusione dei bambini con disabilità visiva
WMF
Public Event
2023
Gori M.
Inspiring Girls : my experience
Inspiring Girls Genova
Public Event
Scientific Talks
2023
Vitali H., Campus C., Signorini S., De Giorgis V., Gori M.
Brain activity development in visually impaired children during waking and sleep stages
VISION 2023
Conference
2023
Gori M.
Brain models of multisensory processing to develop personalized multisensory technology
IIT-Osaka Workshop
Workshop/Symposium
2023
Gori M.
Comprendere la multisensorialità e il diritto al gioco
Diritto e Scienza: vulnerabilità nei minori- Ateneo Pontificio Regina Apostolorum Roma
Workshop/Symposium
2023
Gori M.
Early cortical sensory responses in typical but not in blind and deaf individuals
BEYOND SENSORY MODALITY AS THE PRIMARY ORGANIZING PRINCIPLE OF SENSORY CORTICES Bottari, CasrottoARCHITECTURE
Workshop/Symposium
2023
Tonelli A., Mazzola C., Sciutti A., Gori M.
Effetto della cecità sui meccanismi di central tendency nella stima di distanze acustiche
AIP sezione sperimentale - Integration and interaction between sensory modalities in children and adults with and without sensory impairments
Workshop/Symposium
Oral presentations
2021
Domenici N., Tonelli A., Gori M.
Deaf People Use Visual Compensatory Strategies to Estimate Time Events
XXVII Congresso Nazionale AIP Sezione Psicologia Sperimentale
Conference
2021
Cappagli G., Chinn L., Hoffmann M., Lockman J., Gori M., Signorini S.
Differential effects of visual impairment on body reaching during development
XVII Congresso Nazionale Associazione Italiana di Psicologia della Sezione di Psicologia Sperimentale
Conference
2021
Gori M., Vitali M., Signorini S., De Giorgis V., Papalia G., Morelli F., Campus C.
How the lack of vision affects the development of alpha activity in the earliest stages of life
European Conference of Vision Perception
Conference
2021
Tonelli A., Togoli I., Arrighi R., Gori M.
How the sense of number is influenced by auditory deprivation.
European Conference on Visual Perception ECVP 2021
Conference
2021
Zanchi S., Cuturi L.F., Sandini G., Gori M.
Idiosyncratic benefits in multisensory spatial navigation
8th International Conference on Spatial Cognition
8th International Conference on Spatial Cognition
Conference
Awards and Achievements
2023
Gori M.
Commissione dottorato Padova_farroni
2023
Gori M.
Conference scientific board ECVP
2023
Gori M.
ERC PoC iREACH
2023
Gori M.
Nominata tra le 20 Scienziate che hanno rivoluzionato il mondo della ricerca
2023
Gori M.
Premio Cuore Digitale, Montecitorio Roma
Editorships
2022-2022
Gori M., Tonelli A., Nava E.
Frontiers in Neuroscience
2021
Gori M.
Interaction studies
2021
Gori M.
i-Perception
2021
Gori M.
Perception
2020-2021
Provenzi L., Signorini S., Maffongelli L., Gori M.
Frontiers in Psychology
Organized Events
2023
Bottari D., Casarotto S., Gori M.
Beyond sensory modality as the primary organizing principle of sensory cortices architecture
2023
Gori M.
Brain models of multisensory processing to develop personalized multisensory technology
2023
Bertolasi J., Bertonati G., Calafatello G., Campus C., Esposito D., Guarischi M., Petri S., Setti W., Tammurello C., Vitale A., Zanchi S., Gori M.
How to be a scientist: one week of training for high school students
2023
Bertolasi J., Bertonati G., Calafatello G., Campus C., Esposito D., Guarischi M., Petri S., Setti W., Tammurello C., Vitale A., Zanchi S., Gori M.
How to be a scientist: one week of training for high school students
2023
Bertolasi J., Bertonati G., Calafatello G., Campus C., Esposito D., Guarischi M., Petri S., Setti W., Tammurello C., Vitale A., Zanchi S., Gori M.
How to be a scientist: one week of training for high school students