Research has been conducted in groups of subjects with atypical development from childhood to old age. The atypical development groups considered are: high-functioning autistics; girls and young women with Rett syndrome; boys and young men at risk of depression in developmental age; visually impaired and blind children; profoundly deaf children and young men. Mentalistic abilities have been studied in elderly subjects in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease with the aim of identifying characteristic patterns of deterioration of these abilities, from precursors to advanced skills, assessed in parallel with cognitive deterioration.

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As in the case of typical development, also for research on atypical developmental conditions, various tools have been used that have been developed, translated and adapted for the purpose of assessing the abilities in question in the specific atypical situations examined. The adaptation of paper-pencil tests for administration in functional magnetic resonance imaging to elderly subjects in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease has been part of this area of ​​investigation.