Serena Castellotti
Research Associate at the Neuroscience Department of the University of Florence
CV
Curriculum Vitae
Contacts
Current research and interests
Fast vision and efficient coding of information
Eye movements and visual saliency
Covert and overt attention
Cognitive modulation of pupillary responses
Education
- 2019-2022: PhD in Neuroscience - Dottorato Toscano di Neuroscienze
- 2019-2020: Traineeship - Institute of Neuroscience of la Timone, Marseilles, France
- 2017: Internship at Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, Turku, Finland
- 2016-2019: Master’s degree in Psychology (curriculum: Neuropsychology and Cognitive Assessment), University of Florence, Italy
- 2013-2016: Bachelor’s degree in Psychological Sciences and Techniques, University of Florence, Italy
Research laboratories
- Department of Neurofarba, University of Florence, Italy
- Department of Physics, University of Pisa, Italy
2025
- Serena Castellotti, Elisa Gragnoli, Giada Baglioni, Roberta Criminisi, Barbara Giangrasso, & Maria Del Viva
Art-induced psychological well-being: Individual traits shape the beneficial effects of aesthetic experiences
PLOS ONE
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. pone.0332321 - Serena Castellotti, Irene Petrizzo, Roberto Arrighi, & Elvio Blini
Dimensionality reduction techniques in pupillometry research: a primer for behavioral scientists
Behavior Research Methods
Downloadhttps://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-025-02786-0 - Serena Castellotti, Marija Soldo, Tina Plank, Maria Del Viva, & Mark Greenlee
Visual search performance depends on the congruency of olfactory sensations
Scientific Reports
Downloadhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-25995-1 - Serena Castellotti, Giacomo Mazzotta, Alessandro Benedetto, & Maria Del Viva
Optimal Feature Encoding in Early Vision
Scientific Reports
Downloadhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-07644-9 - Serena Castellotti, Elisa Castaldi, Elvio Blini, & Roberto Arrighi
Pupil size as a biomarker of cognitive (dys)functions: Toward a physiologically informed screening of mental states
Acta Psychologica
Download https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2025.104720
2024
- Serena Castellotti & Maria Michela Del Viva
Neural Substrates for Early Data Reduction in Fast Vision: A Psychophysical Investigation
Brain Sciences
Downloadhttps://doi.org/ 10.3390/brainsci14080753 - Serena Castellotti, Ottavia D'Agostino, Maria Michela Del Viva
Effectiveness of labels in digital art experience: psychophysiological and behavioral evidence
Frontiers in Psychology
Downloadhttps://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1342667
2023
- Maria Michela Del Viva, Serena Castellotti, & Galina V. Paramei
The Italian colour lexicon in Tuscany: elicited lists, cognitive salience, and semantic maps of colour terms
Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 10(1), 900
Downloadhttps://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-023-02393-4 - Serena Castellotti, Martin Szinte, Maria Michela Del Viva, & Anna Montagnini
Saccadic trajectories deviate toward or away from optimally informative visual features
IScience, 107282
Downloadhttps://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2023.107282 - Serena Castellotti, Ottavia D’Agostino, Angelica Mencarini, Martina Fabozzi, Raimondo Varano, Stefano Mastandrea, Irene Baldriga, & Maria Michela Del Viva
Psychophysiological and behavioral responses to descriptive labels in modern art museums
PLoS One 18, e0284149
Downloadhttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0284149 - Ottavia D’Agostino, Serena Castellotti, & Maria Michela Del Viva
Time estimation during motor activity
Front. Hum. Neurosci. 17:1134027
Download https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2023.1134027 - Serena Castellotti, Ottavia D’Agostino, & Maria Michela Del Viva
Fast discrimination of fragmentary images: the role of local optimal information
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 17
Downloadhttps://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2023.1049615
2022
- Serena Castellotti, Ottavia D’Agostino, Alessandra Biondi, Luigi Pignatiello, & Maria Michela Del Viva
Influence of Motor and Cognitive Tasks on Time Estimation
BrainSci.2022,12,404.
Downloadhttps://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12030404 - Castellotti, S., Montagnini, A., & Del Viva, M. M.
Information-optimal local features automatically attract covert and overt attention
Scientific Reports, 12(1), 9994
Downloadhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-14262-2
2021
- Castellotti, S., Scipioni, L., Mastandrea, S., & Del Viva, M. M.
Pupil responses to implied motion in figurative and abstract paintings
PLOS ONE, 16(10), e0258490.
Downloadhttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258490 - Castellotti, S., Francisci, C., & Del Viva, M. M.
Pupillary response to real, illusory, and implied motion.
PLOS ONE, 16(7), e0254105.
Downloadhttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0254105 - Castellotti, S., Montagnini, A., & Del Viva, M. M.
Early visual saliency based on isolated optimal features
Frontiers in Neuroscience, 15, 645743.
Downloadhttps://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2021.645743
2020
- Castellotti, S., Conti, M., Feitosa-Santana, C., & Del Viva, M. M.
Pupillary response to representations of light in paintings
Journal of Vision, 20(10), 14–14.
Download https://doi.org/10.1167/jov.20.10.14
2019
- Grassini S., Revonsuo A., Castellotti S., Petrizzo I. Benedetti V., Koivistoa M.
Processing of natural scenery is associated with lower attentional and cognitive load compared with urban ones.
Journal of Environmental Psychology, 62, 1-11.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2019.01.007