CV Science

Manuela Piazza PhD Cognitive neuroscience

Course and current status

2005-present: Researcher. Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit, INSERM (French national institute for medical research), France. Director : S. Dehaene.

2007-present: Research collaborator. Faculty of Cognitive Science. University of Trento, Italy. CIMeC (Center for Mind/Brain sciences), Director: A. Caramazza. 

2003-2005: Post-Doctoral Fellow (European Marie Curie Individual Fellow). Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit, INSERM, Orsay, France.

2003: PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience. Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, UK.

2002: European Diploma in Cognitive and Brain Sciences. The Max Planck-Institute for Psychological Research, München, Germany.

 1997: Laurea (BSc) in Experimental Psychology (grade: 110/110 Summa cum Laude). University of Padova, Italy.

Scientific summary

(1) Editorial responsibilities:

- Editorial board: Cognitive Neuropsychology. 2007-present.

- Ad-hoc reviewer for scientific journals: Current Biology, Journal of Neuroscience, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, Cerebral Cortex, NeuroImage, Cognition, Cognitive Neuropsychology, Journal of Experimental Psychology:HPP, Animal Cognition, Cortex, Laterality, Neuropsychology, Neuropsychologia, Perception & Psychophysics, Vision research, Journal of Vision, PLoSOne.

(2) Clinical activity

- Consulting in preparing a computer-based Educational and Rehabilitational Game for calculation (“The number catcher”). Paris, 2011.

- Consulting in preparing a test for diagnosis of developmental dyscalculia (“Dyscalculia Screener”, by B. Butterworth, nferNelson Publisher). London, UK. 2000.

(3) Student-Post-Doc mentoring: 

Post-Doc:

- Quing Cai: ”The development of the parietal mosaic and its relation to math achievement in children and adults: fMRI/DTI/behaviour”. Present

- Michael Andres: ”Number and finger representations in the intraparietal cortex: fMRI/behaviour”. 2007-2009.

- Andre Knops: “Parietal cortex saliency map underlying subitizing and visuo-spatial working memory: fMRI”. 2008-2010.

2 PhD:

- A. Chinello: “The development of numerical abilities in relation to other parietal functions: cross-sectional and longitudinal behavioral studies”. 2007-2010.

- S.K. Revkin: ”The relation between subitizing and numerical estimation: studies with neuropsychological patients and healthy human adults”. 2005-2008.

(4) Publications

Articles in preparation: 

2. S.K. Revkin, M. Piazza, V. Izard, D. Samri, M. Kalafat, S. Dehaene, and L. Cohen. “Numerical processing in a simultanagnosic patient: investigation of approximate numerical judgements in the context of a counting deficit”.

1. S. Revkin, P. Vuilleumier, and M. Piazza. “Subitizing and large numerosity estimation in the neglected space”.

Articles under revision:

6. M. Andres, M. Buiatti, and M. Piazza. “Motor interference during lexico-semantic processing of action verbs”.

5. M.Piazza, V. Izard, E.Spelke, P.Pica, and S. Dehaene. “Numeracy enhances the acuity of the pre-verbal approximate number system”.

4. A. Chinello, F.Feltrinelli, and M. Piazza. "Individual differences in fingers, and approximate number estimation, but not in subitizing, correlate with math achievements in first graders".

3. A. Chinello, V. Cattani, C. Bonfiglioli, S. Dehaene, and M. Piazza. “Numbers, fingers, and space: clustering of parietal lobe functions in preschoolers and adults”.

1. D. Melcher, A. Fumarola, A. Chinello, and M. Piazza. “A map of attentional priority and saliency underlies capacity limits in enumeration and visual working memory”. 

Articles published/in press:

19. M. Piazza, A. Fumarola, and D. Melcher. (2011) “Subitizing reflects visuo-spatial object indexing capacity". Cognition, 121(1): 147-153.

18. M.Piazza (2010) “Neurocognitive start-up tools for symbolic number representations”. Trends in Cognitive Science, Special issue: Space, Time, and Number. 14(12): 542-551.

17. M. Piazza, A. Facoetti, A.N. Trussardi, I. Berteletti, S. Conte, D. Lucangeli, S.Dehaene, and M. Zorzi (2010) ” Developmental trajectory of number acuity reveals a severe impairment  in developmental dyscalculia”. Cognition, 116(1): 33-41.

16. I. Berteletti, D. Lucangeli, M. Piazza, S. Dehaene, ad M. Zorzi (2010) “Numerical representations in preschoolers”. Developmental Psychology, 46(2): 545-551.

15. M. Piazza and V. Izard (2009) “What is an (abstract) neural representation of quantity?. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 32 : 348-349.

14. M. Ranzini, S. Dehaene, M. Piazza, and E. Hubbard (2009) “Neural mechanisms of attentional shifts due to irrelevant spatial and numerical cues”. Neuropsychologia, 47(12): 2615-2624.

13. E.M. Hubbard, M Ranzini, M. Piazza, and S. Dehaene (2009) “What information is critical to elicit interference in number-form synaesthesia?”. Cortex, 45(10): 1200-1216.

12. M. Piazza & V. Izard. (2009) “How humans count: numerosity and the parietal cortex”. The Neuroscientist. 15(3):261-73.

11. S.K. Revkin, M. Piazza, V. Izard, L. Zamarian; E. Karner, and M. Delazer (2008). “Verbal numerosity estimation deficit in the context of spared semantic representation of numbers: A neuropsychological study of a patient with frontal lesions”. Neuropsychologia, 46(10), 2459-2471.

10. S.K. Revkin, M. Piazza, V. Izard, L. Cohen, and S. Dehaene (2008). “Does subitizing reflect numerical estimation?”. Psychological Science, 19(6), 606-613.

9. M. Piazza, P.Pinel, D. LeBihan, and S. Dehaene (2007). “A magnitude code common to numerosity and number symbols in human intraparietal cortex”. Neuron. 53(2), 293-305.

- Commented by Ansari (2007). Neuron 53, 165-167.

- Commented by Welberg (2007). Nature Reviews Neuroscience 8, 168-169.

8. M. Piazza, A. Mechelli, C. Price, and B. Butterworth (2006). “Exact and approximate judgments of visual and auditory numerosity: an fMRI study”. Brain Research, 1106(1), 177-188.

7. M. Piazza, P. Pinel, and S. Dehaene (2006). “Objective correlates of an unusual subjective experience: a single-case study of number-form synaesthesia”. Cognitive Neuropsychology. 23(8): 1162–1173.

6. E.M. Hubbard, M. Piazza, P. Pinel, and S. Dehaene (2005). “Interactions between number and space in parietal cortex”. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 6(6): 435-48.

5. M. Piazza, V. Izard, P. Pinel, D. LeBihan, and S. Dehaene (2004). ”Tuning curves for approximate numerosity in the human parietal cortex”. Neuron, 44(3): 547-555.

- Commented by Nieder (2004). Neuron 44:407-409.

4. P. Pinel, M. Piazza, D. Le Bihan, and S. Dehaene (2004). “Distributed and overlapping representations of number, size, and luminance in parietal cortex during comparative judgments”. Neuron, 41(6): 983-993.

3. M. Piazza, E. Giacomini, D. Le Bihan, and S. Dehaene (2003). ”Single-trial classification of parallel pre-attentive and serial attentive processes using fMRI”. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London: Biological sciences, 270: 1237-1245.

2. S. Dehaene, M. Piazza, P. Pinel, and L. Cohen (2003). “Three parietal circuits for number processing”. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 20(3): 487-506.

1. M. Piazza, A. Mechelli, B. Butterworth and C. Price (2002). “Are subitizing and counting implemented as separate or functionally overlapping processes?”. NeuroImage, 15(2): 435-446.

Book chapters: 

4. Hubbard, E.M., Piazza, M., Pinel, P. and Dehaene, S. (2009). Numerical and spatial intuitions: A role for posterior parietal cortex? In L. Tommasi, L. Nadel and M.A. Peterson (Eds.) Cognitive Biology: Evolutionary and Developmental Perspectives on Mind, Brain and Behavior, pages 221-246. MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.

3. M. Piazza and S. Dehaene (2004). “From number neurons to mental arithmetic: the cognitive neuroscience of number sense “. In “The Cognitive Neuroscience, 3rd Ed” by Gazzaniga et al. pp. 865-875.

2. S. Dehaene, M. Piazza, P. Pinel, and L. Cohen (2004). “Three parietal circuits for number processing”. In “Handbook of Mathematical Cognition”. Psychological press, New York.

1. M. Piazza (2002). “Les processus de quantification: subitizing, estimation et dénombrement”, Chapter 5; In “L’arithmétique cognitive”. Traités de Science Cognitive. X. Seron & M. Pesenti Ed. Hermes, Bruxelles.