What is the topic of your PhD project and how does your work look like in practice?
My PhD focuses on understanding how our internal visual imagery interacts with what we see in the outside world. For example, if you’re daydreaming about a brand-new car while stopped at a traffic light, does that affect your ability to notice something important, like a cat about to cross the road? In practice, this means designing experiments to test how mental images compete with or influence visual attention or what we are perceiving more generally. One of the biggest challenges is defining mental imagery itself: it’s a rich and highly variable experience that can differ widely from person to person. That said, coming up with ways to capture and measure such an elusive phenomenon is exactly the kind of challenge that makes science exciting to me.
What has your career path been so far and how did you come to your current
position?
It’s been quite a journey. I left Italy as soon as I turned 18 and, after a year working in the UK to become fluent in English, a long-time dream of mine, I eventually settled in the Netherlands. I’ve always been fascinated by how the human mind works and what drives us to think and act the way we do. That curiosity led me to study Psychology at the University of Groningen, which turned out to be one of the best decisions I’ve made. During my studies, I became increasingly drawn to the brain and cognitive processes, inspired by the clever experiments and methods used in the field. Before long, I was filling my electives with neuroscience courses and went on to pursue a two-year Research Master’s in Cognitive Neuroscience, also in Groningen. During that time, I worked on projects investigating longterm memory retrieval -- how we reconstruct rich past experiences in the brain -- and how these processes interact with attention and perception. When I came across a PhD position on mental imagery with Marius Peelen, it immediately felt like the perfect fit, like love at first sight.
What does your perfect weekend look like?
My perfect weekend would start with a long walk, either through the city center or out in the forest, just to unwind a bit. After that, I’m all for a cozy afternoon on the sofa, playing a video game or watching a good movie. Simple but exactly what I need to recharge.
What is the most important advice you want to share with Donders PhD candidates?
Starting your journey as a PhD candidate can feel overwhelming, especially when you’re faced with complex questions and don’t quite know where to begin. It’s easy to feel like you’re not doing enough. My advice would be to trust the process. Over time, ideas start to take shape in ways you don’t expect, especially as you read and talk to the people around you. I’m now working on an eye-tracking project that I am deeply interested in, something I hadn’t planned at the start, and it’s reassuring to see how everything gradually comes together. All of this makes me genuinely excited about what the next steps will bring.