Autor: Maria Garraffa

Maria Garraffa is currently Researcher at the NPO (a non-profit social organisation) Marica De Vincenzi Foundation. She obtained her PhD in Cognitive Science with distinction from the University of Sienna, Italy. Her specialism is Theoretical Linguistics and Psycholinguistics. Her linguistic research focuses on aspects of morphosyntax in Romance languages and variations in locality conditions (such as in agreement configurations and relative clauses), and on the interaction between syntax and neurolinguistics, more specifically on syntactic computation in acquired and developmental disorders. This work has been supported by a grant from the Fondazione Caritro.Her practical aim is to develop theoretical instruments to investigate language impairments and to define empirical paradigms for studying first language acquisition in typical and atypical conditions. In her research she is attempting to define the interactions that linguistic input/output systems need to establish in order to attain full competence in a natural language. Her research experience in language pathologies is based on teamwork and an interdisciplinary approach to research that brings together linguists, speech therapists and neuropsychologists. She has published her research in international peer-reviewed journals and in national journals. She has experience as a visiting researcher in foreign institutions (CNL-lab, Cognitive Neuropsychology Laboratory, Harvard University, University of Edinburgh), and she collaborates with research groups at the University of Milan Bicocca, CISCL-Interdepartmental Centre for Cognitive Studies on Language in Sienna, University of Trento and University of Chieti.