Elisabetta Versace

Living beings come to this world equipped with unlearned capacities to interact with the environment. For instance, chicks do not need any training to preferentially approach animate objects, orient in space and recognize familiar individuals. Other predispositions include specialized mechanisms for learning that are used in filial imprinting and language. My research is focused on the evolution of the fundamental building blocks of behaviour and cognition, predisposed behaviours and specialized learning mechanisms. My analyses span from behavioural to genomic data. Precocial species (e.g. chicks of the domestic fowl, tortoises) and insects are valuable models to conduct these studies.