The European Research Council assigned Giorgio Coricelli almost 2 million euro and he chose the Center for mind/brain sciences of the University of Trento. He is a neuroeconomist and associate professor at the department of economics and psychology at the University of Southern California. He was also awarded an “ERC Consolidator Grant 2013” for his research project “Transfer Learning within and between brains”.
The research project focuses on learning processes in individual and social contexts. The main aim of the project is to identify the neural ground of transfer, which means to understand how the brain acquires rules and processes that will then be useful in other decision-making situations in the future.
«Building knowledge and transferring it from one area to another, with no connection between the two and of which we do not have direct experience is not given enough credit but is actually a critical phase of learning» professor Coricelli explained. «Thanks to sophisticated neuroimaging methodologies, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and Magnetoencephalography (MEG), as well as advanced computational models (machine learning), we will compare the transferring abilities of different ways of learning in order to identify general principles of social learning and make them official through mathematical algorithms and then observe them using functional magnetic resonance while we make decisions».
«The project lasts five years and is a broad, consistent and homogeneous research project about how past experiences are put into categories and how they influence our behaviour when we have to make a decision, through the creation of models of such processes» explained the neuroeconomist. «We hope that the results of our studies can offer important elements to define new pedagogical methods and therapies to improve the life conditions of people with social interaction issues».
An important recognition for everyone’s work. «We are honoured to have such an excellent researcher with us, as is professor Coricelli and this ERC confirms our ability to attract the best talents regardless of nationality. 14 CIMeC researchers out of 37 are not Italian. The percentage rises if we consider our research fellows too » explains the director at CIMeC Giorgio Vallortigara. «I would like to thank everyone who made this possible, because being awarded seven ERCs in four years, along with 10 million euro is a success for the Centre, the University and the whole of Trentino».
Giorgio Coricelli:
After graduating in economics at La Sapienza di Roma, Giorgio Coricelli finished his Phd in economics in 2002 at the University of Arizona, in Tucson in the USA where he worked with Nobel prize winner Vernon L. Smith.
Today he is tenured professor at the University of Trento and carries out his research activity at CIMeC in Mattarello. He is associate professor at the department of economics and psychology at the University of Southern California, in Los Angeles. He was Chargé de Recherche at the Centre de Neurosciences Cognitives, Institut des Sciences Cognitives at the University of Lion and at the École normale supérieure in Paris.
Further information is available in the CIMEC press release in the attachment.