People
Dr Valentina Giuffrida
- Postdoctral Research Associate Biosciences Institutes, Faculty of Medical Sciences
- Email: Valentina.Giuffrida@newcastle.ac.uk
Valentina’s research investigates how the brain predicts and interprets complex sensory information, with a focus on perceptual inference. Within the predictive coding framework, the brain is thought to generate internal models and update them by minimizing mismatches between sensory input and top-down expectations. Yet, it remains unclear how different cortical regions integrate information streams, and how these computations are implemented through laminar-specific circuit motifs that enable bidirectional inference.
Her work aims to address these questions by investigating the neural mechanisms underlying perceptual inference: how these processes can be mapped onto laminar-specific cell populations and how information flows both across cortical layers within a single area and between different brain regions. She combines laminar electrophysiology, multi-area recordings, computational modelling, and behavioural analysis.
Before joining the Kikuchi Lab, she completed her PhD at Sapienza University of Rome, where she investigated how reward expectation shapes neural network organisation in the dorsal premotor cortex of non-human primates during adaptive decision-making. Understanding how the brain interprets external signals and adjusts behaviour according to contextual demands and expected outcomes is essential for explaining the flexibility of goal-directed behaviour; an idea that continues to guide her broader research interests.
