World's Best Scientists 2026 revealed!

D-Index & Metrics

Neuroscience

D-Index
58
Citations
17297
World Ranking
4106
National Ranking
1866

Psychology

D-Index
55
Citations
15037
World Ranking
4343
National Ranking
2417

Overview

Giovanni Pezzulo is affiliated with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in the United States. Their research focuses extensively on neuroscience and psychology, with a substantial number of publications in cognitive neuroscience and related subfields. They have contributed to numerous studies at the intersection of neural dynamics, brain function, and embodied cognition.

Their recent published papers include the following:

  • The secret life of predictive brains: what's spontaneous activity for? (2021), published in Trends in Cognitive Sciences
  • From allostatic agents to counterfactual cognisers: active inference, biological regulation, and the origins of cognition (2020), published in Biology & Philosophy
  • The evolution of brain architectures for predictive coding and active inference (2021), published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences
  • Simulating homeostatic, allostatic and goal-directed forms of interoceptive control using active inference (2022), published in Biological Psychology
  • The road towards understanding embodied decisions (2021), published in Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews

They have frequently collaborated with several coauthors, including:

  • Francesco Donnarumma
  • Karl Friston
  • Domenico Maisto
  • Gian Luca Lancia
  • Ivilin Peev Stoianov

Giovanni Pezzulo has published in a variety of scientific venues. Their most frequent publication outlets are:

  • bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
  • arXiv (Cornell University)
  • Physics of Life Reviews
  • PLoS Computational Biology
  • Cognitive Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience

Their work spans fields and subfields including:

  • Neuroscience
  • Psychology
  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Social Psychology
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Developmental and Educational Psychology
  • Psychiatry and Mental Health

Key topics covered by their research include:

  • Embodied and Extended Cognition
  • Neural Dynamics and Brain Function
  • Action Observation and Synchronization
  • Memory and Neural Mechanisms
  • Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
  • Cognitive Science and Mapping
  • Motor Control and Adaptation

Giovanni Pezzulo has also contributed to book literature, including a publication with The MIT Press titled Active Inference (2022), which has received academic citations.

Best Publications

  • Consensus Paper: The Cerebellum's Role in Movement and Cognition

    Leonard F. Koziol;Deborah Budding;Nancy Andreasen;Stefano D’Arrigo

  • Active inference: A process theory

    Karl Friston;Thomas FitzGerald;Francesco Rigoli;Philipp Schwartenbeck

  • Active inference and epistemic value

    Karl Friston;Francesco Rigoli;Dimitri Ognibene;Christoph Mathys

  • Active Inference, homeostatic regulation and adaptive behavioural control.

    Giovanni Pezzulo;Francesco Rigoli;Karl Friston

  • Active inference and learning

    Karl Friston;Thomas FitzGerald;Francesco Rigoli;Philipp Schwartenbeck

  • Navigating the Affordance Landscape: Feedback Control as a Process Model of Behavior and Cognition

    Giovanni Pezzulo;Paul Cisek

  • Consensus Paper: Towards a Systems-Level View of Cerebellar Function: the Interplay Between Cerebellum, Basal Ganglia, and Cortex.

    Daniele Caligiore;Giovanni Pezzulo;Gianluca Baldassarre;Andreea C. Bostan

  • Active Inference

    Unknown

  • Active Inference, Curiosity and Insight

    Karl J. Friston;Marco Lin;Christopher D. Frith;Giovanni Pezzulo

  • Hierarchical Active Inference: A Theory of Motivated Control

    Giovanni Pezzulo;Francesco Rigoli;Karl J. Friston

  • Knowing one's place: a free-energy approach to pattern regulation

    Karl Friston;Michael Levin;Biswa Sengupta;Giovanni Pezzulo

  • Words as social tools: Language, sociality and inner grounding in abstract concepts.

    Anna M. Borghi;Anna M. Borghi;Laura Barca;Ferdinand Binkofski;Cristiano Castelfranchi

  • Endogenous Bioelectric Signaling Networks: Exploiting Voltage Gradients for Control of Growth and Form.

    Michael Levin;Giovanni Pezzulo;Joshua M. Finkelstein

  • The mechanics of embodiment: a dialog on embodiment and computational modeling.

    Giovanni Pezzulo;Lawrence W. Barsalou;Angelo Cangelosi;Martin H. Fischer

  • Computational Grounded Cognition: a new alliance between grounded cognition and computational modeling.

    Giovanni Pezzulo;Lawrence W. Barsalou;Angelo Cangelosi;Martin H. Fischer

  • Internally generated sequences in learning and executing goal-directed behavior

    Giovanni Pezzulo;Matthijs A.A. van der Meer;Carien S. Lansink;Cyriel M.A. Pennartz

  • Human Sensorimotor Communication: A Theory of Signaling in Online Social Interactions

    Giovanni Pezzulo;Francesco Donnarumma;Haris Dindo

  • The Mixed Instrumental Controller: Using Value of Information to Combine Habitual Choice and Mental Simulation

    Giovanni Pezzulo;Francesco Rigoli;Fabian Chersi

  • Embodied choice: how action influences perceptual decision making.

    Nathan F. Lepora;Giovanni Pezzulo

  • A fuzzy approach to a belief-based trust computation

    Rino Falcone;Giovanni Pezzulo;Cristiano Castelfranchi

  • Grounding Procedural and Declarative Knowledge in Sensorimotor Anticipation

    Giovanni Pezzulo

Frequent Co-Authors

Cristiano Castelfranchi
Cristiano Castelfranchi National Research Council (CNR)
Karl J. Friston
Karl J. Friston University College London
Anna M. Borghi
Anna M. Borghi Sapienza University of Rome
Cyriel M. A. Pennartz
Cyriel M. A. Pennartz University of Amsterdam
Henrik Jörntell
Henrik Jörntell Lund University
Giorgia Committeri
Giorgia Committeri University of Chieti-Pescara
Hugo J. Spiers
Hugo J. Spiers University College London
Christopher Summerfield
Christopher Summerfield University of Oxford
Marcello Costantini
Marcello Costantini University of Chieti-Pescara
Paul Cisek
Paul Cisek University of Montreal

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