The comparative approach of the Laboratory of Animal Cognition is a cross-domain link of the multiple souls animating the Department of Life Sciences.

Specifically, the present research questions are centered on the innateness and the development of core cognitive functions, both typically and under the influence of specific environmental factors.

By comparing a range of animal models while performing similar tasks, core knowledge are investigated to understand what abilities are predisposed, need maturation or learning to show up in its complete form, and if they change across the lifespan or under environmental factors shaping their expression. Through this approach is also possible to understand the connection between impairment of such predisposed building blocks of cognition and developmental cognitive deficits.

Current projects

1) musical preferences rooted in biological predispositions

Are there basic musical features appreciated by all organisms? If so, why? For what reason did they evolve? The project investigates the common basic mechanisms shared between species by parallel studies conducted in singing and non-singing birds (from parrots to domestic chickens), higher vertebrates and lower invertebrates (from dogs to crayfish). The hypothesis holds that organisms could be endowed with mechanisms that probably evolved initially for the recognition of living organisms at birth. Such innate acoustic abilities would represent the basis of acoustic processing that, in other species, bloom in musical and linguistic skills, and deficits in these acoustic building blocks could lead to linguistic difficulties and disorders.

2) what cognitive abilities assist invertebrates to survive environmental changes?

Each animal lives in its own sensory universe. Humans interfere with that of other species, transforming the environment to suit their own needs. With this project we want to understand the impact of such transformations on the cognition and behavior of invertebrates, the largest group of animals on Earth. We will study the detrimental impact caused by different forms of pollution - such as light pollution or microplastics - by conducting in-lab experimental monitoring of the anthropogenic elements generating them as well as automated cognitive testing. We will examine the advantages that eco-friendly urban design and environmental restoration provide to the contemporary and sustainable cohabitation of spaces between humans and invertebrates.

3) development of cerebral lateralization

What are the genetic and environmental factors determining cerebral lateralization and behavioural asymmetries? Studies on the young of the domestic fowl can help understanding the role of environmental stimulation on predetermined genetic factors, both in the embryo (light stimulation in egg in different time windows) and post-hatching (rearing with individuals of the same/different degree of lateralization). The analysis of brain tissue can be used to unveil light stimulation effects on epiphyseal and habenular areas and their role in the establishment of cerebral asymmetries.