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Dr Gianna Cocchini

Staff details

Dr Gianna Cocchini

Position

Senior Lecturer

Department

Psychology

Email

g.cocchini (@gold.ac.uk)

Gianna is a cognitive neuropsychologist interested in distortions of body representation and awareness.

Gianna is a Senior Lecturer in Neuropsychology at Goldsmiths. She is a member of the Goldsmiths Cognition and Neuroscience Group and a co-founder of the BRNet (Body Representation Network; https://bodyrepresentation.wixsite.com/brnet). Gianna has worked with neurological population for several years before becoming an academic (https://giannacocchini.wixsite.com/gcpage). She has a research record of studies aiming to understand the mechanisms underlying specific aspects of neuropsychological syndromes (in particular, neglect and anosognosia). Her research contributions have covered various areas: anosognosia for cognitive and motor impairment, hemispatial neglect, dual task and alertness in dementia, body mental representation and its distortions

Grants and Awards

Gianna has received external grant funding from Wellcome Trust, Stroke Association and EPS to support her work on anosognosia and body representation.

Academic qualifications

  • BSc, PhD, CPsychol

Teaching and supervision

Main teaching subjects:

  • Cognitive and clinical neuropsychology (both undergraduate and postgraduate levels)
  • Biological aspects of brain functions (both undergraduate and postgraduate levels)
  • Research project (various topics) supervisor (both undergraduate and postgraduate levels)

Undergraduate and postgraduate (MSc and PhD) Programmes

Research interests

Gianna’s research mainly focuses on cognitive disorders caused by brain lesions or brain degeneration (such as dementia). Key areas are listed below:
• Anosognosia for motor and cognitive impairment
• Body representation
• Hemispatial neglect syndrome
• Personal neglect
• Psychometric assessment
• Alzheimer’s Disease
• Dual task

Featured publications

Publications and research outputs

Book Section

Cocchini, Gianna. 2012. Cognitive Neuropsychology. In: Nick Braisby and Angus Gellatly, eds. Cognitive Psychology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 399-429. ISBN 978-0-19-923699-2

Cocchini, Gianna and Della Sala, Sergio. 2010. Assessing anosognosia for motor an language impairments. In: George Prigatano, ed. The Study of Anosognosia. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 123-144. ISBN 978-0-19-537909-9

Cocchini, Gianna and Della Sala, Sergio. 2006. Anosognosia. Non ho niente dottore! In: Sergio Della Sala and Nicoletta Beschin, eds. Il cervello ferito. Firenze: Giunti, pp. 159-172. ISBN 88-09-04428-2

Article

Mora, Laura; Committeri, Giorgia; L'Abbate, Teresa and Cocchini, Gianna. 2024. Unlocking the Potential of 'Passive' Modulation: How Sensory Stimulation Shapes Hand and Face Size. Journal of Neuropsychology, ISSN 1748-6653

Caggiano, Pietro; Cocchini, Gianna; De Stefano, Danila and Romano, Daniele. 2024. The different impact of attention, movement, and sensory information on body metric representation. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 77(5), pp. 1044-1051. ISSN 1747-0218

Cocchini, Gianna; Müllensiefen, Daniel; Platania, Ruggero; Niglio, Chiara; Tricomi, Enrica; Veronelli, Laura and Judica, Elda. 2024. Back and front peripersonal space: Behavioural and EMG evidence of top-down and bottom-up mechanisms. Experimental Brain Research, 242(1), pp. 241-255. ISSN 0014-4819

Other

Beschin, Nicoletta; Cocchini, Gianna; Cameron, Annette and Della Sala, Sergio. 2008. The VATAm: visual-analogical test for anosognosia for motor deficit. Giunti O.S., Firenze.

Clinical engagement

Gianna has worked very closely with clinicians in different countries to devise and publish diagnostic tools to assess various aspects of common neuropsychological syndromes. Some of these measures have been translated in several languages and are routinely used in clinical practice and research setting. A list of tests is provided below and a full version of some of these measures is available on a dedicated web page https://giannacocchini.wixsite.com/gcpage:

• Fluff test: A test to assess personal neglect
• VATAm: Visual Analogue Test to Assess Anosognosia for motor impairment
• VATA–L: Visual Analogue Test to Assess Anosognosia for language impairment
• VATAmem: Visual Analogue Test to Assess Anosognosia for memory deficits
• VATA_ADL: Visual Analogue Test to Assess Everyday life difficulties
• BMT: Bimanual Motor task (to assess implicit forms of anosognosia)
• ECT: Errand Choice Test (to assess implicit forms of anosognosia)