Eleonora Marocchini's Research
If I had to describe my identity as a researcher, I would say I am a psycholinguist in autism and neurodiversity studies, focusing on pragmatics and empathy and Theory of Mind, with a thing for Science and Technology Studies (STS) and participatory research.
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As a researcher, I have published in different subfields, from second language acquisition to experimental pragmatics to critical autism studies, and with several institutional affiliations, from the University of Pavia and the IUSS School of Advanced Studies in Pavia, to the University of Genoa, to my current affiliation as an independent researcher at IGDORE Institute, where I can be found among the people in the Social Sciences Unit.
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I am also part of the first autism participatory research group hosted by Sapienza University: ORPA (Officina Ricerca Partecipativa Autismo). Check out the recording of our first Italian workshop on autism participatory research, where I had the pleasure of hosting a panel on language and research practice with Monique Botha (University of Stirling), Heta Pukki (EUCAP, GATFAR), Pietro Cirrincione (Autism Europe). You can find it on YouTube, in 4 parts.
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In this page, you can find self-archive free legal versions of my published work and reference to my academic and science communication work that can be found or bought online.
Academic work
My research and stats can be found on Scholar, Scopus, ResearchGate, and some of my work as an invited peer reviewer can be verified on the Web of Science / Clarivate portal as well as on Frontier's Loop.
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All of my research to date has been published in international peer reviewed journals classified as Class A by the Italian National Agency for the Evaluation of Universities and Research Institutes (ANVUR) for my academic field (psycholinguistics).
2024
Cross-neurotype communication from an autistic point of view:
insights on autistic Theory of Mind from a focus group study
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Abstract. The conceptualisation of autism as a disorder where Theory of Mind (ToM) and pragmatics are fundamentally impaired has prompted a wealth of research on autistic deficits, most of which is characterised by two main assumptions: first, that autistic people would display said deficits, if present, with any conversation partner and in any situation; second, that neurotypical people do not present these deficits, regardless of the conversation partner. However, this is not necessarily reflected in autistic accounts of the way they experience social cognition and pragmatics.
Aims. The present paper aims to investigate the autistic experience of communication with both autistic and neurotypical people, with a particular focus on their perception of the ability of autistic and neurotypical people to understand their communicative intentions.
Methods. Participants, 23 adult Italian autistic people without intellectual disability or language disorders, were recruited online. Two virtual focus groups of 2 hours each were conducted, transcribed and analysed through thematic analysis with a descriptive phenomenological approach by two independent researchers.
Results. Six themes were developed from the analysis, the most relevant being Autistic–Autistic communication and Autistic ToM. The results, in line with the Double Empathy theory, suggest there seem to be important differences between neurotypical and autistic people's ToM. These appear to make it easier for autistic people to communicate with one another, as well as to create difficulties for neurotypical people to understand autistic people, not just the other way around.
Conclusions. These results seem to confirm that challenges in cross-neurotype communication are better interpreted as mutual miscomprehension and reciprocal differences in ToM rather than deficits on the autistic part. This calls for a reframing of ToM and/or the need for autistic ToM as a construct, of which neurotypical people seem to be lacking. Moreover, these insights should be taken into account for speech and language therapy and clinical practice in general, advocating for a neurodiversity-informed view of co-constructed communication as well as for a broader societal change in which therapists can play a crucial role, through participatory approaches or raising awareness in their daily practice.
The article is to be cited as:
Marocchini, E. & Baldin, I. (2024). Cross-neurotype communication from an autistic point of view: insights on autistic Theory of Mind from a focus group study. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1111/1460-6984.13095
A preprint of the pre-peer review version of the article can be found on PsyArXive: https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/evmb8
The dataset is available on the Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/p8ubr). The published version is under embargo for 12 months, but I can provide a copy of the article as published upon reasonable request via email.
2023
Impairment or difference?
The case of Theory of Mind abilities and pragmatic competence in the Autism Spectrum
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Abstract. Psycholinguistic research on pragmatics in the neurotypical population has increasingly framed pragmatic competence and related cognitive skills in terms of individual differences, co-constructed discourse, and meaning negotiation. However, research on pragmatics in the Autism Spectrum has risen from a wide and biased view of autistic communication as fundamentally compromised and autistic pragmatic abilities as impaired. Mostly due to the impactful theory of a deficit in Theory of Mind, early research on autistic communication presumed a unitary pragmatic impairment, only to find that several pragmatic abilities seem to be “preserved.” However, the interpretation of these findings usually takes an ableist turn, as most studies subsequently suggest that surface-level performance should not be interpreted as competence, but rather as a result of “compensatory” strategies. The raising number of contributions from autistic academics and participatory research enriched the field with new perspectives focusing on differences rather than impairments and drawing hypotheses on communication difficulties between neurotypes rather than within a specific neurotype. However, such contributions are hardly ever cited in the most prominent works. In conclusion, the field would benefit from a higher level of citation of autistic-led research and from an epistemological perspective shift within the mostly neurotypical academic community.
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The article is to be cited as:
Marocchini, E. (2023). Impairment or difference? The case of Theory of Mind abilities and pragmatic competence in the Autism Spectrum. Applied psycholinguistics, 44(3), 365-383. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716423000024
The article is available in open access on the Cambridge University Press website.
2022
“Can you read my mind?”
Conventionalized indirect requests and Theory of Mind abilities
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Abstract. Recent proposals in pragmatics identified two types of pragmatics: linguistic-pragmatics and social-pragmatics, as comprehension seems to rely on linguistic and Theory of Mind (ToM) abilities to different extents depending on the phenomenon. In this respect, a clear picture of indirect requests (IRs) processing is lacking. Experimental works suggest non-conventionalized IRs are processed by means of a conversational implicature based on metarepresentation of the whole utterance, therefore belonging to social-pragmatics. However, it is unclear whether this applies to conventionalized IRs, which are globally processed faster than non-conventionalized IRs. Conventionalized IRs are either conversational implicatures requiring ToM, though “short-circuited” (but still derived globally); or a linguistic-pragmatics phenomenon whose processing is triggered locally. Our study investigates to what extent mentalizing is involved in their comprehension. Ninety-one Italian adults (mean age = 35.85(9.85)) performed a self-paced region-by-region reading task where Can you…? forms were presented in a directive, non-directive, and sarcastic condition. Reading times were calculated per sentence and per sentence-region. ToM abilities were also tested. Results suggest that conventionalized IRs processing starts locally, triggered by the Can you. Individual ToM differences had an impact, but mainly on the Can you sentence-region. These findings seem to support a view of conventionalized IRs as a linguistic-pragmatics phenomenon.
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The article is to be cited as:
Marocchini, E., & Domaneschi, F. (2022). “Can you read my mind?” Conventionalized indirect requests and Theory of Mind abilities. Journal of Pragmatics, 193, 201-221. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2022.03.011
A preprint of the pre-peer review version of the article can be found on ResearchGate.
The dataset and code are available on the Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/nfuzd). The published version is under embargo for 12 months, but I can provide a copy of the article as published upon reasonable request via email.
Understanding indirect requests for information in high-functioning autism​
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Abstract. Few works have addressed the processing of indirect requests in High-Functioning Autism (HFA), and results are conflicting. Some studies report HFA individuals’ difficulties in indirect requests comprehension; others suggest that it might be preserved in HFA. Furthermore, the role of Theory of Mind in understanding indirect requests is an open issue. The goal of this work is twofold: first, assessing whether comprehension of indirect requests for information is preserved in HFA; second, exploring whether mind-reading skills predict this ability. We tested a group of (n = 14; 9–12 years) HFA children and two groups of younger (n = 19; 5–6 years) and older (n = 28; 9–12 years) typically developing (TD) children in a semi-structured task involving direct, indirect and highly indirect requests for information. Results suggested that HFA can understand indirect and highly indirect requests, as well as TD children. Yet, while Theory of Mind skills seem to enhance older TD children understanding, this is not the case for HFA children. Therefore, interestingly, they could rely on different interpretative strategies.
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The article is to be cited as:
Marocchini, E., Di Paola, S., Mazzaggio, G. et al. (2022). Understanding indirect requests for information in high-functioning autism. Cognitive Processing 23, 129–153 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-021-01056-z
The article is available in open access on the Springer Nature website.
2020
How to improve social communication in aging: Pragmatic and cognitive interventions​
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Abstract. Among all aspects of the linguistic and communicative competence, pragmatics seems especially vulnerable in aging, due also to cognitive decline. However, pragmatics has never been considered as an intervention target in healthy aging. Here we tested the effects of a novel training program to improve pragmatics (PragmaCom) in older adults, compared with an active cognitive control group in a randomized-controlled-trial design. Both the PragmaCom group and the control group improved in pragmatic skills such as understanding metaphors and avoiding off-topic speech, indicating that it is possible to improve pragmatics in aging both with a specific training and with a cognitive training. Individual cognitive factors predicted pragmatic improvement in the control group, while in the PragmaCom group benefits were less dependent on individual characteristics. We discuss the results in terms of pragmatic plasticity, highlighting the importance of these findings for promoting older adults’ social communication and well-being.
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The article is to be cited as:
Bambini, V., Tonini, E., Ceccato, I., Lecce, S., Marocchini, E., & Cavallini, E. (2020). How to improve social communication in aging: Pragmatic and cognitive interventions. Brain and Language, 211, 104864. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandl.2020.104864
A preprint of the pre-peer review version of the article can be found on ResearchGate.
2017
Politeness strategies in complaints in Italian: A study on IFL learners and Italian native speakers​
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Abstract. This paper reports on a study of Dutch native speakers learning Italian as a foreign language in a guided learning context. The study compares native and non-native realization patterns of complaints, both in terms of the type of expression of judgment and the request for reparation performed (following the classifications suggested by Nuzzo, 2007), and of the use of modifiers. Special attention is given to the potential effects of learners’ language proficiency levels on the native- likeness of their realization patterns and of the quantity and variety of modifiers they used. Methods consisted of a sociolinguistic questionnaire, a written discourse completion test, and a conditional inference trees analysis of the production of 23 learners attending a B1 level course, 19 learners attending a B2 level course, and 23 native Italian speakers..
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The article is to be cited as:
Marocchini, E. (2017). Politeness strategies in complaints in Italian: A study on IFL learners and Italian native speakers. EuroAmerican Journal of Applied Linguistics and Languages, 4(2), 75-96. https://doi.org/10.21283/2376905X.7.98
The article is available in open access on the E-JournALL website.
Academic and science dissemination work in Italian
Experimental Pragmatics - "Pragmatica Sperimentale"
Released in 2022 by Il Mulino, it is the first handbook of experimental pragmatics (i.e., the study by experimental methods of the cognitive processes involved in language use) in Italian.
The first chapter is a contribution I co-authored on the origins of experimental pragmatics, from linguistic pragmatics to the use of methods from experimental psychology neuroscience.
It can be cited as: Domaneschi, F., Marocchini, E. (2022). Alle origini della pragmatica sperimentale. In Domaneschi, F., & Bambini, V. (Eds.), La pragmatica sperimentale. Il Mulino. It can be found on the publisher's website or ordered through any bookshop.
Neurodivergent - "Neurodivergente"
Released and reprinted on May the 2nd, 2024 by Edizioni Tlon, “Neurodivergente” is an in-depth introduction to neurodiversity and neurodivergence-related themes, trying to offer insights on both scientific and clinical views as well as social movements' perspectives.
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It is meant to be a guide to neurodiversity discourse, both on social media and in clinicians' settings, for Italian speakers with little to no access to the anglosphere.
The book was classified among the 10 best science communication books of 2024 in the Health and Life Sciences category by the National Prize for Science Communication, and it is a finalist of the best non-fiction Italian Review Prize for 2024. It can be found on the publisher's website or ordered through any bookshop.
Almanacco TUPS.
"Tipi Umani Particolarmente Strani"
Released in 2022 and presented at AutCamp (Sapienza University), it is not “yet another book on autism” but a polyphonic text that is almost emancipatory research, mainly written by autistic people, as well as clinical and family figures.
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My contribution is a chapter in which I try to touch on bias and positionality in research on the Autism Spectrum.​
Lo puoi citare come: Marocchini, E. (2022). La ricerca neuropsicologica sullo Spettro Autistico: dal concetto di bias a quello di posizionamento. In Neuropeculiar APS, Valtellina, E. (Eds.), Almanacco TUPS. LEM Libraria. It can be found on the publisher's website.