Skip to main content
European Commission logo print header

Predisposed mechanisms for social orienting: A comparative neuro-cognitive approach

Objective

Predispositions for newly hatched/born vertebrates, including humans, to attend to and preferentially learn about conspecifics, are pervasive and can be of vital biological importance. Such predispositions are, however, very poorly understood. Studying them, and their physiological, genetic, molecular and neural bases, is crucial for an understanding of typical and atypical human development. Indeed, some have suggested that lack of such predispositions may contribute to autism. We will develop a detailed animal model of vertebrate social predispositions using the domestic chick, relating this work closely to equivalent behavioural and neural measures in human newborns including those at risk of autism, for which there is no widely accepted animal model. We aim to:(1) identify in chicks neural systems underlying known social predispositions; (2) study their physiological, genetic and molecular bases; (3) pursue behavioural parallels between chick and human predispositions; (4) study brain structures activated in human newborns as they view social stimuli; (5) by studying social attachment in chicks not expressing specific predispositions, develop a secure animal model of autism.

Call for proposal

ERC-2011-ADG_20110406
See other projects for this call

Coordinator

UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI TRENTO
EU contribution
€ 2 367 922,00
Address
Via calepina 14
38122 Trento
Italy

See on map

Region
Nord-Est Provincia Autonoma di Trento Trento
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Principal investigator
Giorgio Vallortigara (Prof.)
Administrative Contact
Vanessa Ravagni (Ms.)
Links
Total cost
No data

Beneficiaries (1)