Maria Montefinese is an experimental psychologist fascinated by the cerebral organization of word meaning and the processes involved in its manipulation in healthy participants and patients with language disorders across different languages, using state-of-the-art research methods. With a Ph.D. from the University of Chieti in 2014, Maria’s maturation as a cognitive neuroscientist has taken place in internationally recognized institutions like University College London, University of York, and University of Padova. Here, she honed her expertise under the guidance of renowned neuroscientists, including her formal mentors Beth Jefferies, David Vinson, Gabriella Vigliocco, and Carlo Semenza.
Maria’s dedication to methodologically rigorous and theoretically sounded research garnered her recognition as a Fellow from the Psychonomic Society and an honorary research fellow appointment at the University College London. Her passion for innovation and intellectual curiosity has led her to secure national and international funding for her groundbreaking research, including grants from the Experimental Psychology Society (2013), the European Commission (2016), and the Italian Ministry of Health (2019). Now, Maria embarks on an exciting new chapter with the CHILDCONTROL project, where she seeks to uncover the intricacies of manipulation of word meanings during the children’s cognitive development.