COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENTIST
CLICK OUTSIDE THE BOX.
Insight problem solving, creative cognition, and cognitive flexibility converge on a fundamental question: how do minds generate original ideas, discover new solutions, and shift perspective when the obvious path no longer works?
EXPLORE THE RESEARCH →
INSIGHT · CREATIVITY · COGNITIVE FLEXIBILITY
My research traces insight across levels of analysis—from the insight accuracy effect and oculometric signatures of sudden solutions to their neural substrates. Using eye tracking and pupillometry, neuroimaging, and non-invasive brain stimulation, this work has identified converging markers of insight and demonstrated the causal contribution of the right temporal cortex to successful restructuring.
READ: MARKERS OF INSIGHT →
CAROLA SALVI’S BRAIN
How an initial representation is reorganized and a previously inaccessible solution suddenly becomes available. This work examines attentional disengagement, eye and pupil markers, neural connectivity, and the causal contribution of brain systems involved in insight.
Why Aha! moments feel compelling, when they signal accuracy, and how insight changes what is remembered. This work connects the phenomenology of discovery with learning, reward, and adaptive updating.
How insight interacts with divergent and convergent thinking, associative search, incubation, and the emergence of original ideas. Current work examines multiple routes to creative ideation, including discontinuous insight-like transitions.
How reasoning and problem-solving processes relate to misinformation, conspiracy beliefs, overconfidence, and polarization—and how flexibility in restructuring representations may support adaptive evaluation of information.
My scientific career has developed across Italy and the United States, moving between experimental psychology and cognitive neuroscience. I worked across academic, medical, and interdisciplinary research environments, including rehabilitation institutes and psychiatric departments. Working with neurological populations (e.g., individuals with focal brain lesions and Parkinson’s disease) brought a clinical dimension to my research and complemented experimental approaches with lesion mapping and the study of neuropsychological function. This trajectory has shaped a research approach that integrates behavioral experimentation with clinical and neuroscientific methods to investigate cognition across multiple levels of analysis.
Ph.D., Experimental Psychology, Linguistics, and Cognitive Neuroscience
University of Milano-Bicocca
M.Sc., Psychology of Organizations and Consumer Behavior
University of Milano-Bicocca · 110/110, Magna cum laude
B.S., Psychology
University of Milano-Bicocca
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore · Milan
Lecturer of Psychology
Lorenzo De’ Medici Institute · Florence
Assistant Professor of Psychology
John Cabot University · Rome
Affiliate Faculty
UT Austin Dell Medical School · Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences
Research Associate
UT Austin Dell Medical School · Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences
Instructor
Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine
Lecturer
Loyola University Chicago · Psychology
Postdoctoral Researcher
Shirley Ryan AbilityLab · Think and Speak Laboratory
Postdoctoral Researcher
Northwestern University · Creative Brain Laboratory
Edited by Carola Salvi, Jennifer Wiley, and Steven M. Smith.
Cambridge University Press, 2024. An interdisciplinary volume examining how insight emerges, how it can be measured, and what it reveals about problem solving and creative cognition.
VIEW AT CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS ↗Books, chapters, and peer-reviewed scientific publications.
INTERVIEWS · VIDEO · PRESSArt against domestic violence.
The Power of the Other Hand uses art to raise awareness of domestic violence against women. Through exhibitions and community engagement, the project encourages women to stand together in shaping a society in which women and girls are respected, empowered, and protected.
Witte Museum — San Antonio, TX, USA
Art Exhibition and Fundraiser to Support Domestic Violence Survivors · May 20
UT Austin Law School — Austin, TX, USA
Domestic Violence Awareness Month · October 25
UCSF Mission Bay Campus — San Francisco, CA, USA
When Art Meets Science — Art Exhibition, Talk and Fundraiser to Support Domestic Violence Survivors · March
Rome Art Week — Rome, Italy
Domestic Violence Awareness Month · November
SENSARTE — Genoa, Italy
Domestic Violence Awareness Month · November
