معرفی
Maria Chiara Passolunghi is a Full Professor in Developmental and Educational Psychology (MPSI/04) at the University of Trieste's Department of Life Sciences. She serves as a member of the Department's Board, Boards of Studies, and multiple Doctoral Studies Boards for the Neural and Cognitive Sciences program across various cycles (XXVIII-XXXIX). She leads the Evolutivamente LAB research group focused on typical and atypical development during the lifespan within the Psychology research area.
Her primary research interests center on developmental mathematics and mathematics learning disabilities in children, with particular focus on working memory and mathematical cognition. Her work spans five main research lines: precursors of mathematical learning and their training, math-gender stereotypes, the Approximate Number System and its relationship with mathematics, math anxiety, and Executive Functions in both typical and atypical development. She investigates cognitive and emotional aspects involved in mathematical learning, with emphasis on early identification of risk factors and development of intervention programs.
Analysis of her recent publications reveals consistent focus on mathematical cognition, with particular attention to the intersection of cognitive and emotional factors in mathematical learning. Her work demonstrates strong emphasis on practical applications, including development of training programs for math anxiety, executive function interventions, and assessment tools for early identification of mathematical learning disabilities. The research spans diverse populations including typically developing children, those with mathematical learning disabilities, and children in highly deprived contexts such as Yazidi genocide survivors.
Professor Passolunghi has secured significant research funding from multiple sources including A.B.C. Associazione per i Bambini Chirurgicos del Burlo Onlus, Auxilia Onlus, AIPD Associazione Italiana Persone Down, and Fondazione Beneficientia Stiftung. She also collaborates with institutional partners including Trieste Town Hall, Region FVG, and I.R.C.C.S. Burlo Garofolo of Trieste on various projects related to cognitive development, math learning, and interventions for at-risk populations.
She leads the Evolutivamente LAB research group which includes Researcher Sandra Pellizzoni and PhD students Chiara De Vita, Martina Fontana, and Marjia Zivkovic. The lab focuses on exploring domain-specific and domain-general abilities involved in learning, with particular emphasis on precursors of mathematical ability and disability, working memory and number sense training, and emotional-motivational factors influencing learning disabilities. Current projects include studies on math anxiety in early primary school and development of specific training programs.
