Caterina Villani
@caterinavillani.bsky.social
Cognitive scientist. Language, Categorization, social interactions.
Lover of sea, dance & cats 🍉🌈
🎓 Postdoctoral researcher for ABSTRACTION ERC project at University of Bologna. @abstractionerc.bsky.social
Lover of sea, dance & cats 🍉🌈
🎓 Postdoctoral researcher for ABSTRACTION ERC project at University of Bologna. @abstractionerc.bsky.social
Don't miss this!!
📣 November's Abstraction seminar is all set too!
🗓️ 19 November, 11:30 - 12:30 (CEST)
📍 Bologna (in presenza) or 💻 Microsoft Teams (link: shorturl.at/xW7mF )
🎆 Join us, details in the figure!
👉 Save the date & spread the word!
📣 November's Abstraction seminar is all set too!
🗓️ 19 November, 11:30 - 12:30 (CEST)
📍 Bologna (in presenza) or 💻 Microsoft Teams (link: shorturl.at/xW7mF )
🎆 Join us, details in the figure!
👉 Save the date & spread the word!
November 5, 2025 at 8:43 AM
Don't miss this!!
📣 November's Abstraction seminar is all set too!
🗓️ 19 November, 11:30 - 12:30 (CEST)
📍 Bologna (in presenza) or 💻 Microsoft Teams (link: shorturl.at/xW7mF )
🎆 Join us, details in the figure!
👉 Save the date & spread the word!
📣 November's Abstraction seminar is all set too!
🗓️ 19 November, 11:30 - 12:30 (CEST)
📍 Bologna (in presenza) or 💻 Microsoft Teams (link: shorturl.at/xW7mF )
🎆 Join us, details in the figure!
👉 Save the date & spread the word!
Reposted by Caterina Villani
Happy with this popular science article about our work (with @lindadrijvers.bsky.social and @judithholler.bsky.social), showing that listeners use co-speech hand gestures to predict upcoming meaning ✋ www.medscape.com/viewarticle/...
What Using Our Hands While Speaking Reveals About Our Brains
Researchers now have fascinating insights into how our brains function while we communicate — and our hand gestures hold the key.
www.medscape.com
October 15, 2025 at 8:12 AM
Happy with this popular science article about our work (with @lindadrijvers.bsky.social and @judithholler.bsky.social), showing that listeners use co-speech hand gestures to predict upcoming meaning ✋ www.medscape.com/viewarticle/...
Reposted by Caterina Villani
Conversational turn-taking feels effortless, but it's a complex dance. We find social context—who you're talking to and what you're talking about—fundamentally changes conversational dynamics in both autistic & TD children. 1/
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... w @chrismmcox.bsky.social
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... w @chrismmcox.bsky.social
Social Context Matters for Turn‐Taking Dynamics: A Comparative Study of Autistic and Typically Developing Children
Engaging in fluent conversation is a surprisingly complex task that requires interlocutors to promptly respond to each other in a way that is appropriate to the social context. In this study, we dise...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
October 15, 2025 at 9:28 AM
Conversational turn-taking feels effortless, but it's a complex dance. We find social context—who you're talking to and what you're talking about—fundamentally changes conversational dynamics in both autistic & TD children. 1/
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... w @chrismmcox.bsky.social
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... w @chrismmcox.bsky.social
Reposted by Caterina Villani
📣 November's Abstraction seminar is all set too!
🗓️ 19 November, 11:30 - 12.30 (CEST)
📍 Bologna (in presenza) or 💻 Microsoft Teams (link: shorturl.at/xW7mF )
🎆 Join us, details in the figure!
👉 Save the date & spread the word!
✨
@abstractionerc.bsky.social
🗓️ 19 November, 11:30 - 12.30 (CEST)
📍 Bologna (in presenza) or 💻 Microsoft Teams (link: shorturl.at/xW7mF )
🎆 Join us, details in the figure!
👉 Save the date & spread the word!
✨
@abstractionerc.bsky.social
September 25, 2025 at 12:32 PM
📣 November's Abstraction seminar is all set too!
🗓️ 19 November, 11:30 - 12.30 (CEST)
📍 Bologna (in presenza) or 💻 Microsoft Teams (link: shorturl.at/xW7mF )
🎆 Join us, details in the figure!
👉 Save the date & spread the word!
✨
@abstractionerc.bsky.social
🗓️ 19 November, 11:30 - 12.30 (CEST)
📍 Bologna (in presenza) or 💻 Microsoft Teams (link: shorturl.at/xW7mF )
🎆 Join us, details in the figure!
👉 Save the date & spread the word!
✨
@abstractionerc.bsky.social
Reposted by Caterina Villani
📣 Abstraction seminars are back!
🗓️ 17 October, 10:00 (CEST)
📍 Bologna (in presenza) or 💻 Microsoft Teams (link: shorturl.at/RjrOU)
🎆 Join us for another seminar, details in the figure!
👉 Save the date & spread the word!
✨
@abstractionerc.bsky.social
🗓️ 17 October, 10:00 (CEST)
📍 Bologna (in presenza) or 💻 Microsoft Teams (link: shorturl.at/RjrOU)
🎆 Join us for another seminar, details in the figure!
👉 Save the date & spread the word!
✨
@abstractionerc.bsky.social
September 18, 2025 at 10:21 AM
📣 Abstraction seminars are back!
🗓️ 17 October, 10:00 (CEST)
📍 Bologna (in presenza) or 💻 Microsoft Teams (link: shorturl.at/RjrOU)
🎆 Join us for another seminar, details in the figure!
👉 Save the date & spread the word!
✨
@abstractionerc.bsky.social
🗓️ 17 October, 10:00 (CEST)
📍 Bologna (in presenza) or 💻 Microsoft Teams (link: shorturl.at/RjrOU)
🎆 Join us for another seminar, details in the figure!
👉 Save the date & spread the word!
✨
@abstractionerc.bsky.social
Reposted by Caterina Villani
📣 Abstraction seminars are back!
🗓️ 16 October, 15:00 (CEST)
📍 Bologna (in presenza) or 💻 Microsoft Teams (link: shorturl.at/0fw5a)
🎆 Join us for a thought-provoking seminar, details in the figure!
👉 Save the date & spread the word! ✨
@abstractionerc.bsky.social
🗓️ 16 October, 15:00 (CEST)
📍 Bologna (in presenza) or 💻 Microsoft Teams (link: shorturl.at/0fw5a)
🎆 Join us for a thought-provoking seminar, details in the figure!
👉 Save the date & spread the word! ✨
@abstractionerc.bsky.social
September 11, 2025 at 11:44 AM
📣 Abstraction seminars are back!
🗓️ 16 October, 15:00 (CEST)
📍 Bologna (in presenza) or 💻 Microsoft Teams (link: shorturl.at/0fw5a)
🎆 Join us for a thought-provoking seminar, details in the figure!
👉 Save the date & spread the word! ✨
@abstractionerc.bsky.social
🗓️ 16 October, 15:00 (CEST)
📍 Bologna (in presenza) or 💻 Microsoft Teams (link: shorturl.at/0fw5a)
🎆 Join us for a thought-provoking seminar, details in the figure!
👉 Save the date & spread the word! ✨
@abstractionerc.bsky.social
📣The chapter "𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝘁𝘆: 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗡𝗼𝗿𝗺𝘀"
w/@mariannabolog.bsky.social is now online & forthcoming in the #ElsevierEncyclopedia of Language & Linguistics
🔍 Theoretical overview, quantification tools, and behavioral evidence on specificity.
👉 Read: urly.it/31c4nm
@abstractionerc.bsky.social
w/@mariannabolog.bsky.social is now online & forthcoming in the #ElsevierEncyclopedia of Language & Linguistics
🔍 Theoretical overview, quantification tools, and behavioral evidence on specificity.
👉 Read: urly.it/31c4nm
@abstractionerc.bsky.social
September 18, 2025 at 8:57 AM
📣The chapter "𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝘁𝘆: 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗡𝗼𝗿𝗺𝘀"
w/@mariannabolog.bsky.social is now online & forthcoming in the #ElsevierEncyclopedia of Language & Linguistics
🔍 Theoretical overview, quantification tools, and behavioral evidence on specificity.
👉 Read: urly.it/31c4nm
@abstractionerc.bsky.social
w/@mariannabolog.bsky.social is now online & forthcoming in the #ElsevierEncyclopedia of Language & Linguistics
🔍 Theoretical overview, quantification tools, and behavioral evidence on specificity.
👉 Read: urly.it/31c4nm
@abstractionerc.bsky.social
No better way to finish my post-doc than with a new publication on #specificityeffect in semantic processing!
I’ll really miss the @abstractionerc.bsky.social team, but exciting projects are still underway. Thrilled and optimistic about what’s next! 💫
I’ll really miss the @abstractionerc.bsky.social team, but exciting projects are still underway. Thrilled and optimistic about what’s next! 💫
New Paper Alert 🚨🆕
"Specificity Effect in Concrete/Abstract Semantic Categorization Tasks"
doi.org/10.1007/s103...
We observed faster response times for specific words compared to general words in a semantic decision task, regardless of their level of concreteness.
"Specificity Effect in Concrete/Abstract Semantic Categorization Tasks"
doi.org/10.1007/s103...
We observed faster response times for specific words compared to general words in a semantic decision task, regardless of their level of concreteness.
Specificity effect in concrete/abstract semantic categorization task - Cognitive Processing
Concrete concepts (banana) are processed faster and more accurately than abstract ones (belief). This phenomenon, supported by empirical studies, is known as the concreteness effect. However, recent r...
doi.org
September 6, 2025 at 9:33 AM
No better way to finish my post-doc than with a new publication on #specificityeffect in semantic processing!
I’ll really miss the @abstractionerc.bsky.social team, but exciting projects are still underway. Thrilled and optimistic about what’s next! 💫
I’ll really miss the @abstractionerc.bsky.social team, but exciting projects are still underway. Thrilled and optimistic about what’s next! 💫
Reposted by Caterina Villani
Navigating Open Research: A Guide for Early Career Researchers. Great work from the CONUL Research Group. Free to download zenodo.org/records/1702... #irishResearch #openResearch
September 2, 2025 at 9:36 AM
Navigating Open Research: A Guide for Early Career Researchers. Great work from the CONUL Research Group. Free to download zenodo.org/records/1702... #irishResearch #openResearch
Reposted by Caterina Villani
@caterinavillani.bsky.social presenting our collaboration between @abstractionerc.bsky.social and PRIN 2022 Wemb at #Cogsci2025 in San Francisco: "Development of Linguistic- Mediated Abstraction: Insights from Word Ladders Task".
Well done! 💫
Well done! 💫
July 31, 2025 at 10:18 PM
@caterinavillani.bsky.social presenting our collaboration between @abstractionerc.bsky.social and PRIN 2022 Wemb at #Cogsci2025 in San Francisco: "Development of Linguistic- Mediated Abstraction: Insights from Word Ladders Task".
Well done! 💫
Well done! 💫
Reposted by Caterina Villani
Because nothing says “ready to present” like literally wearing your findings at #CogSci2025
Ham Huang leveled up from poster session to superhero mode! 🦸
Ham Huang leveled up from poster session to superhero mode! 🦸
July 30, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Because nothing says “ready to present” like literally wearing your findings at #CogSci2025
Ham Huang leveled up from poster session to superhero mode! 🦸
Ham Huang leveled up from poster session to superhero mode! 🦸
Kicking off #CogSci2025 at the iconic #InternetArchive with incredible speakers!
Big focus on LLMs— #McClelland asks: Are humans still smarter than AI? Yes: we learn from less data & generalize better!
Big focus on LLMs— #McClelland asks: Are humans still smarter than AI? Yes: we learn from less data & generalize better!
July 30, 2025 at 11:55 PM
Kicking off #CogSci2025 at the iconic #InternetArchive with incredible speakers!
Big focus on LLMs— #McClelland asks: Are humans still smarter than AI? Yes: we learn from less data & generalize better!
Big focus on LLMs— #McClelland asks: Are humans still smarter than AI? Yes: we learn from less data & generalize better!
Reposted by Caterina Villani
Just in time for the @cogscisociety.bsky.social conference and the Rumelhart 25th Anniversary Event, the 2023 Rumelhart Prize Issue Honoring Nick Chater is out in TopiCS in Cognitive Science, edited by Mike Oaksford and me:
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/17568765...
🧵 1/3
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/17568765...
🧵 1/3
July 28, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Just in time for the @cogscisociety.bsky.social conference and the Rumelhart 25th Anniversary Event, the 2023 Rumelhart Prize Issue Honoring Nick Chater is out in TopiCS in Cognitive Science, edited by Mike Oaksford and me:
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/17568765...
🧵 1/3
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/17568765...
🧵 1/3
Getting ready for #COGSCI2025 in San Francisco!
📆 July 31st, 02:37pm
I’ll present a longitudinal study (w/@mariannabolog.bsky.social & @adeleloia.bsky.social) on how school-aged children build taxonomies using the #WordLadders task developed by @abstractionerc.bsky.social
Catch up with us there!
📆 July 31st, 02:37pm
I’ll present a longitudinal study (w/@mariannabolog.bsky.social & @adeleloia.bsky.social) on how school-aged children build taxonomies using the #WordLadders task developed by @abstractionerc.bsky.social
Catch up with us there!
July 29, 2025 at 5:08 PM
Getting ready for #COGSCI2025 in San Francisco!
📆 July 31st, 02:37pm
I’ll present a longitudinal study (w/@mariannabolog.bsky.social & @adeleloia.bsky.social) on how school-aged children build taxonomies using the #WordLadders task developed by @abstractionerc.bsky.social
Catch up with us there!
📆 July 31st, 02:37pm
I’ll present a longitudinal study (w/@mariannabolog.bsky.social & @adeleloia.bsky.social) on how school-aged children build taxonomies using the #WordLadders task developed by @abstractionerc.bsky.social
Catch up with us there!
Reposted by Caterina Villani
🌟 Had a great time presenting our poster at #ACL2025!
It was a great experience sharing our work with researchers interested in conceptual categories, #abstraction and #generalization, thanks for the insightful discussions and feedback!
wt @andreapdr.bsky.social @mariannabolog.bsky.social
#NLProc
It was a great experience sharing our work with researchers interested in conceptual categories, #abstraction and #generalization, thanks for the insightful discussions and feedback!
wt @andreapdr.bsky.social @mariannabolog.bsky.social
#NLProc
July 28, 2025 at 3:15 PM
🌟 Had a great time presenting our poster at #ACL2025!
It was a great experience sharing our work with researchers interested in conceptual categories, #abstraction and #generalization, thanks for the insightful discussions and feedback!
wt @andreapdr.bsky.social @mariannabolog.bsky.social
#NLProc
It was a great experience sharing our work with researchers interested in conceptual categories, #abstraction and #generalization, thanks for the insightful discussions and feedback!
wt @andreapdr.bsky.social @mariannabolog.bsky.social
#NLProc
🔊 New paper on #pragmatics!
Rising or falling nuclear accentual movement on the sentence-final word is the key #prosodic cue for distinguishing questions from statements in Italian.
👉 l1nq.com/I8G4d
W/@tomasellor.bsky.social @isabellaboux.bsky.social & #FPulvermüller at #FreieUniversitätBerlin.
Rising or falling nuclear accentual movement on the sentence-final word is the key #prosodic cue for distinguishing questions from statements in Italian.
👉 l1nq.com/I8G4d
W/@tomasellor.bsky.social @isabellaboux.bsky.social & #FPulvermüller at #FreieUniversitätBerlin.
New publication on #experimentalpragmatics!
When do listeners recognize speaker´s #communicativefunction conveyed by #prosody?
Work led by @caterinavillani.bsky.social collab @isabellaboux.bsky.social and #FPulvermüller
shorturl.at/NDXFM
@freieuniversitaet.bsky.social @humboldtuni.bsky.social
When do listeners recognize speaker´s #communicativefunction conveyed by #prosody?
Work led by @caterinavillani.bsky.social collab @isabellaboux.bsky.social and #FPulvermüller
shorturl.at/NDXFM
@freieuniversitaet.bsky.social @humboldtuni.bsky.social
June 10, 2025 at 8:28 AM
🔊 New paper on #pragmatics!
Rising or falling nuclear accentual movement on the sentence-final word is the key #prosodic cue for distinguishing questions from statements in Italian.
👉 l1nq.com/I8G4d
W/@tomasellor.bsky.social @isabellaboux.bsky.social & #FPulvermüller at #FreieUniversitätBerlin.
Rising or falling nuclear accentual movement on the sentence-final word is the key #prosodic cue for distinguishing questions from statements in Italian.
👉 l1nq.com/I8G4d
W/@tomasellor.bsky.social @isabellaboux.bsky.social & #FPulvermüller at #FreieUniversitätBerlin.
Very proud and lucky to work with such a young, brilliant, and enthusiastic researcher. Well done @adeleloia.bsky.social
👏 👏 Next step: we'll bring this work to #CogSci2025🧠✨
👏 👏 Next step: we'll bring this work to #CogSci2025🧠✨
@adeleloia.bsky.social presenting our joint collaboration between @abstractionerc.bsky.social and PRIN 2022 WEMB at the Phd CLUB international conference in Bologna today:
THE DEVELOPMENT OF LANGUAGE-MEDIATED ABSTRACTION IN SCHOOL CHILDREN
THE DEVELOPMENT OF LANGUAGE-MEDIATED ABSTRACTION IN SCHOOL CHILDREN
June 5, 2025 at 10:07 PM
Very proud and lucky to work with such a young, brilliant, and enthusiastic researcher. Well done @adeleloia.bsky.social
👏 👏 Next step: we'll bring this work to #CogSci2025🧠✨
👏 👏 Next step: we'll bring this work to #CogSci2025🧠✨
Reposted by Caterina Villani
Informal moment with @abstractionerc.bsky.social two new postdocs: Laura Occhipinti on the left and Paola Vernillo on the right, both with white shirts. Welcome!
June 4, 2025 at 10:33 AM
Informal moment with @abstractionerc.bsky.social two new postdocs: Laura Occhipinti on the left and Paola Vernillo on the right, both with white shirts. Welcome!
Reposted by Caterina Villani
It was such a pleasure to have you here and discuss how abstraction plays out in conversations! (interactingminds.au.dk/events/singl...)
May 28, 2025 at 10:49 AM
It was such a pleasure to have you here and discuss how abstraction plays out in conversations! (interactingminds.au.dk/events/singl...)
Reposted by Caterina Villani
Thought-provoking and #openaccess, Andy Clark reflects on the challenges and potentials of emerging human-AI collaborations in his new commentary "Extending Minds with Generative AI", published by @natcomms.nature.com:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
May 22, 2025 at 6:27 PM
Thought-provoking and #openaccess, Andy Clark reflects on the challenges and potentials of emerging human-AI collaborations in his new commentary "Extending Minds with Generative AI", published by @natcomms.nature.com:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Kicked off my visiting week in #Aarhus with a great talk by @thaliawheatley.bsky.social and inspiring chats with the @interacting-minds.bsky.social group! Many thanks to @fusaroli.bsky.social for hosting me and to @abstractionerc.bsky.social for supporting my work on abstract language in dialogue!
May 20, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Kicked off my visiting week in #Aarhus with a great talk by @thaliawheatley.bsky.social and inspiring chats with the @interacting-minds.bsky.social group! Many thanks to @fusaroli.bsky.social for hosting me and to @abstractionerc.bsky.social for supporting my work on abstract language in dialogue!
The recordings from our @abstractionerc.bsky.social workshop are now online — definitely worth a listen!
▶️ site.unibo.it/abstraction/...
▶️ site.unibo.it/abstraction/...
The recordings of our @abstractionerc.bsky.social Workshop "Conversational Dynamics: How Abstraction and Abstractness Ebb and Flow in Interaction" are online (work in progress).
site.unibo.it/abstraction/...
site.unibo.it/abstraction/...
April 16, 2025 at 5:10 PM
The recordings from our @abstractionerc.bsky.social workshop are now online — definitely worth a listen!
▶️ site.unibo.it/abstraction/...
▶️ site.unibo.it/abstraction/...
If you′re going to San Francisco
Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair 🌸 see you there!!!
Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair 🌸 see you there!!!
🎉Our paper
"Development of Linguistic-Mediated Abstraction: Insight from Word Ladders task", led by @caterinavillani.bsky.social was accepted as a talk at CogSci 2025!
Great collab between @abstractionerc.bsky.social & PRIN 2022 "Wemb" project
See you in SF - July 30- August 2! 🌉
#CogSci2025
"Development of Linguistic-Mediated Abstraction: Insight from Word Ladders task", led by @caterinavillani.bsky.social was accepted as a talk at CogSci 2025!
Great collab between @abstractionerc.bsky.social & PRIN 2022 "Wemb" project
See you in SF - July 30- August 2! 🌉
#CogSci2025
April 4, 2025 at 9:45 PM
If you′re going to San Francisco
Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair 🌸 see you there!!!
Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair 🌸 see you there!!!
Reposted by Caterina Villani
We just played analogical word ladders here :-)
April 3, 2025 at 5:36 PM
We just played analogical word ladders here :-)
It was such a meaningful experience organizing this Workshop! Big thanks to @abstractionerc.bsky.social and all the speakers for your incredible talks and the rich discussions!
@annaborghi.bsky.social @fusaroli.bsky.social @dingemansemark.bsky.social @catemauri.bsky.social @bodowinter.bsky.social
@annaborghi.bsky.social @fusaroli.bsky.social @dingemansemark.bsky.social @catemauri.bsky.social @bodowinter.bsky.social
April 4, 2025 at 7:18 AM
It was such a meaningful experience organizing this Workshop! Big thanks to @abstractionerc.bsky.social and all the speakers for your incredible talks and the rich discussions!
@annaborghi.bsky.social @fusaroli.bsky.social @dingemansemark.bsky.social @catemauri.bsky.social @bodowinter.bsky.social
@annaborghi.bsky.social @fusaroli.bsky.social @dingemansemark.bsky.social @catemauri.bsky.social @bodowinter.bsky.social