His interest in neuropsychology flourished during the time spent as a research fellow at the Boston VA Hospital between late 70s and beginning of 80s.

During that time interval, he attended some of the seminars by Jerry Fodor, and his view of a modular mind strongly influenced his future work.

Semenza’s work initially spanned from spatial cognition to aphasia,[3][4][5] but soon started to focus on specific aspects of language processing as proper name anomia.

[9] His later studies encompass other aspects of language, including semantics and morphology, as well as calculation impairments in patients with neurological diseases.

[13] [14] and promoted the importance of taking into account the impact of numerical abilities in the activities of daily living in neurological patients [15][16] Carlo Semenza is now affiliated to several international and national societies, such as the International Neuropsychology Symposium, Academy of Aphasia (member Board of Governors), World Federation of Neurology, and the Società Italiana Neuropsicologia.