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Giorgio Vallortigara

Giorgio Vallortigara

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Psychology
Italy
2026

D-Index & Metrics

Neuroscience

D-Index
100
Citations
31377
World Ranking
762
National Ranking
21

Psychology

D-Index
98
Citations
30096
World Ranking
684
National Ranking
7

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2026 - Research.com Psychology in Italy Leader Award
  • 2025 - Research.com Psychology in Italy Leader Award

Overview

Giorgio Vallortigara is affiliated with the University of Trento in Italy. Their research primarily spans the fields of neuroscience and psychology, with a significant focus on cognitive neuroscience and social psychology. Additional subfields of study associated with their work include statistics and probability, developmental and educational psychology, and developmental biology.

The scientist's research focuses on a range of topics, notably in animal behavior and cognition. Key topics include:

  • Primate Behavior and Ecology
  • Cognitive and developmental aspects of mathematical skills
  • Hemispheric Asymmetry in Neuroscience
  • Animal Vocal Communication and Behavior
  • Child and Animal Learning Development
  • Animal Behavior and Reproduction
  • Mathematics Education and Teaching Techniques

Recent papers authored by Giorgio Vallortigara cover various aspects of behavioral neuroscience and cognition. Notable publications include:

  • "Brain and Behavioral Asymmetry: A Lesson From Fish," 2020, Frontiers in Neuroanatomy
  • "Sensitive periods for social development: Interactions between predisposed and learned mechanisms," 2021, Cognition
  • "Number neurons in the nidopallium of young domestic chicks," 2022, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
  • "A sense of number in invertebrates," 2020, Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications
  • "Response to change in the number of visual stimuli in zebrafish: A behavioural and molecular study," 2020, Scientific Reports

Frequent publication venues for their work include:

  • bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
  • Scientific Reports
  • iScience
  • Animal Cognition
  • Laterality Asymmetries of Body Brain and Cognition

Collaborations feature prominently in their research output, with frequent co-authors including Mirko Zanon, Elena Lorenzi, Andrea Messina, Bastien Lemaire, and Scott E. Fraser.

In addition to research articles, Giorgio Vallortigara has contributed to book publications. One such work is titled "Born Knowing," published in 2021 by The MIT Press.

Best Publications

  • Survival with an asymmetrical brain: Advantages and disadvantages of cerebral lateralization

    Giorgio Vallortigara;Lesley J. Rogers

  • Advantages of having a lateralized brain.

    Lesley J. Rogers;Paolo Zucca;Giorgio Vallortigara

  • The Origins of Cerebral Asymmetry: A Review of Evidence of Behavioural and Brain Lateralization in Fishes, Reptiles and Amphibians

    Angelo Bisazza;L J. Rogers;Giorgio Vallortigara

  • Origins of the Left & Right Brain

    Peter F. Macneilage;Lesley J. Rogers;Giorgio Vallortigara

  • Divided Brains: The Biology and Behaviour of Brain Asymmetries

    Lesley J. Rogers;Giorgio Vallortigara;Richard J. Andrew

  • Number-space mapping in the newborn chick resembles humans’ mental number line

    Rosa Rugani;Rosa Rugani;Giorgio Vallortigara;Konstantinos Priftis;Lucia Regolin

  • Possible evolutionary origins of cognitive brain lateralization

    G Vallortigara;L.J Rogers;A Bisazza

  • Visually Inexperienced Chicks Exhibit Spontaneous Preference for Biological Motion Patterns

    Giorgio Vallortigara;Lucia Regolin;Fabio Marconato

  • The evolution of brain lateralization: a game-theoretical analysis of population structure

    Stefano Ghirlanda;Giorgio Vallortigara

  • Comparative neuropsychology of the dual brain: a stroll through animals' left and right perceptual worlds.

    Giorgio Vallortigara

  • Geometric modules in animals' spatial representations: a test with chicks (Gallus gallus domesticus).

    Giorgio Vallortigara;Mario Zanforlin;Giovanna Pasti

  • Left-right asymmetries of behaviour and nervous system in invertebrates.

    Elisa Frasnelli;Giorgio Vallortigara;Lesley J. Rogers

  • Asymmetric tail-wagging responses by dogs to different emotive stimuli.

    A. Quaranta;M. Siniscalchi;G. Vallortigara

  • Modularity and spatial reorientation in a simple mind: encoding of geometric and nongeometric properties of a spatial environment by fish.

    Valeria Anna Sovrano;Angelo Bisazza;Giorgio Vallortigara

  • The evolutionary psychology of left and right: costs and benefits of lateralization.

    Giorgio Vallortigara

  • Population lateralisation and social behaviour: a study with 16 species of fish.

    Angelo Bisazza;Claudio Cantalupo;Maurizio Capocchiano;Giorgio Vallortigara

  • Origins of the left and right brain

    Peter F. MacNeilage;Lesley J. Rogers;Giorgio Vallortigara

  • Arithmetic in newborn chicks.

    Rosa Rugani;Laura Fontanari;Eleonora Simoni;Lucia Regolin

  • Lateralisation of predator avoidance responses in three species of toads.

    Giuseppe Lippolis;Angelo Bisazza;Lesley J. Rogers;Giorgio Vallortigara

  • Perception of partly occluded objects by young chicks

    Lucia Regolin;Giorgio Vallortigara

  • Modularity as a fish (Xenotoca eiseni) views it: conjoining geometric and nongeometric information for spatial reorientation.

    Valeria Anna Sovrano;Angelo Bisazza;Giorgio Vallortigara

Frequent Co-Authors

Lucia Regolin
Lucia Regolin University of Padua
Lesley J. Rogers
Lesley J. Rogers University of New England
Luca Tommasi
Luca Tommasi University of Chieti-Pescara
Richard J. Andrew
Richard J. Andrew University of Sussex
Francesca Simion
Francesca Simion University of Padua
Vittorio Girotto
Vittorio Girotto Università Iuav di Venezia
Verner P. Bingman
Verner P. Bingman Bowling Green State University
Elizabeth S. Spelke
Elizabeth S. Spelke Harvard University
Giuliana Mazzoni
Giuliana Mazzoni Sapienza University of Rome
David A. Leavens
David A. Leavens University of Sussex

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