2026 Research Topics

Below is the list of research topics proposed for the this year's call. The ones without links are UNITN general topics (4 grants available), while the ones with links are topic-specific (9 grants available). It is highly recommended that candidates first review this list and relative researchers before applying, as well as visit the researcher's profile pages and publications. UNITN researchers have profile pages in the UNITN's search field on the top tight hand corner of the page.

Animal Cognition

• Neural mechanisms of social cognition in birds (U. Mayer)
• Neural circuits and cognitive functions of the avian hippocampus (U. Mayer)
• From quantum sensing to neural circuits: unraveling the mechanisms of magnetoreception in insects (A.Haase)
• Comparative visual information processing mechanisms and brain asymmetry, with particular reference to the comparison between vertebrates and invertebrates (G. Vallortigara - G. Stancher)

Computational neuroscience and cognition

• Noise as a computational resource: bridging theory and experiment in neural network optimization (A. Haase)
• Large language models and cognition (J. Szymanik)
• Computational explanations of semantic universals (Szymanik)
• Investigating the effect of naturalistic hierarchical context on neural prediction using MEG-based dynamic RSA (De Vries)

Conceptual representations

• Neural mechanisms of conceptual representation (S. Fairhall)
• Brain connectivity and predictive behavioural modeling (Baldauf)
• Cognitive maps of language and music (Piazza)

Decision making and reasoning

• Human reasoning (K. Tentori)
• Explanatory reasoning (K. Tentori)
• Human–AI collaboration (K. Tentori)
• Machine learning and reasoning (J. Szymanik)

Human-centric machine intelligence

• Interpretable AI models of human cognition (U. Hasson)
• Topographic neural networks (U. Hasson)
• DNN-pruning methods (U. Hasson)

Language

• Neural mechanisms of face-to-face communication: multimodal processing in adults and early representations in infants (S. Benetti-E, Parise)
• Relation between theoretical and computational linguistics (R. Zamparelli)
• Syntax-semantics interface (R. Zamparelli)
• Sentence processing (R. Zamparelli)

Learning/Motivation

• Distractors filtering mechanisms (M. Turatto)    
• The cognitive control of desire (M. Turatto)
• The mechanisms of suggestion (M. Turatto)

Memory

• Connectivity-based decoding approaches of top-down control in imagery, memory, and action (D. Baldauf)

Motor control and action planning

• Decoding the Action Space in the cortico-spinal motor system (L. Turella)

Neurodevelopmental disorders

• Early identification of risk for ASD using eeg (Piazza)
• Learning trajectories in children with specific learning disabilities (Piazza)
• Neuroimaging and electrophysiological biomarkers behind autisms distinguished by disability versus difference over development (M. Lombardo - IIT)

Neuroimaging, brain connectivity and analysis

• The neural correlates of emotions and emotion words (Papagno)
• Cognition in neurodegenerative disease (Dodich)
• Cognition in physiological and pathological ageing (Dodich)
• Brain connectivity profiles of prefrontal cortex (Baldauf)
• Integrated Multimodal Connectomics for Predicting Progression and Outcomes in Neurological Disorders (FBK)*
• Whole brain modelling of mouse brain functional activity (A. Gozzi 1 - IIT)
• Functional Ultrasound Imaging of Large-Scale Mouse Brain Network (A. Gozzi 2 - IIT)

Systems and circuit neuroscience

• Synaptic mechanisms of visual computation and visuo-motor learning (F. Rossi - IIT)
• Psychophysical models of the modular visual system of jumping spiders (P. Neri - IIT)

Vision

• Development and Functional Organisation of the Avian Visual System (Mayer)
• Beyond object recognition in biological and artificial object vision (Bracci)