Valeria Anna Sovrano

University of Trento, Associate Professor

2014-present

INPEF-National Institute of Family Pedagogy, Master's degree in “Human rights and children's rights, international values and skills”

October 2021-October 2023

INPEF-National Institute of Family Pedagogy, Master's degree in “Criminology, Criminalistics, Investigations and Legal Psychology”

April 2021-February 2023

University of Milan, Postgraduate Degree in “Legal instruments for the prevention and contrast of gender-based violence”

March-June 2022

University of Trento, Research Fellow and Aggregate Professor

2008- 2014

University of Padua, Post-doc

(2004-2008)

Licensed to practice the profession of psychologist and  Registration of Psychologists - Regional Council of Veneto (Italy) (registration number: 4733).

2004-present

Master Degree in Brief Strategic Psychotherapy

2001-2004, Arezzo - Strategic Therapy Center

University of Padua, Ph.D., Experimental Psychology

2004 (Supervisor: Prof. M. Zanforlin)

Visiting Scientist, Sussex University

2000 (Prof. R.J. Andrew)

Master Degree in Neuropsychology and Clinical Psychophysiology

University of Padua, 1999

Degree in Experimental Psychology (Summa cum laude)

University of Padua, 1998

In September 1999, awarded a scholarship of the Univ. of Padua for spending a period of six months at the Sussex Centre for Neuroscience, University of Sussex (Brighton, UK), with the aim of conducting research and training in the use of new techniques for the study of animal brain asymmetries.

From May 28, 2008, she is afferent to the Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science (ex-Department of Cognitive Science and Education) of the University of Trento.

From June 11, 2008, she is affiliated to the research International Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (CIMeC) at the University of Trento.

From June 25, 2008 until February 2019, and from March 2021 she was and she is a member of the School Committee of the Doctoral School in Cognitive and Brain Sciences, University of Trento.

Since 2009, she is in charge of Lower Vertebrates Behavior and Neurobiology Unit at the A.C.N. Lab. (Animal Cognition and Neuroscience Laboratory) of the CIMeC.

From December 4, 2012, she is delegate of the Department of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences (University of Trento) for the educational guidance.

From March 2013 until December 2016, she was Head of the Animal Cognition and Neuroscience Laboratory (A.C.N. Lab.) of the Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (CIMeC) of the University of Trento and, in relation to that office, she sat in the Scientific Committee (Giunta) of the CIMeC .

In February 2014, she got the suitability, based on the documents concerning the approval of the national scientific session 2012, to play the role of Associate Professor for the sector competition 11/E1 (General Psychology, Psychobiology and Psychometrics).

From September 2011, she is acting as a tutor psychologist to professional training of graduate students to be entitled to the profession of psychologist.

During the two-year period 2016-2017 and from April 2019 she is delegate of CIMeC (Center for Mind/Brain Sciences) for Equality & Diversity.

Since August 3, 2021, with the rectoral appointment, she is a member of the Supervisory Committee for equal opportunities, well-being at work and against discriminations (CUG) of the Trento University.

Teaching experience

- Graduate seminars and practicals in neurobiology, neuropsychology, neuro-ethology and animal behavior; undergraduate courses in psychobiology, neurobiology, visual perception at the Dept. of General Psychology, Univ. of Padua, and Department of Psychology, Univ. of Trieste.

- Temporary Adjunct Professor of Ethology at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Padua (2004-2005 and 2005-2006).

- Holder of the courses of “Biological bases of social behavior” (2009-2010; 2018-2020), "Psychobiology of stress and social behavior" (2011-2018), “Behavioural Neuroscience” (2012-2014), “Biological Basis of the Behavior” (2014-2018), “Psychobiology and evaluation of work stress” (2018-2020); practicals for the course of “Foundations of Neurosciences” (2009-2012) and for the course of “Animal Cognition” (2018-2019); assignment of teaching in the special enabling paths (PAS 65 - Anatomy and physiology of the human body at the Department of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, University of Trento.

- In November 2012, she was examiner of a doctoral thesis for Macquarie University, Australia.

- From 1999, she oversaw and/or coordinated the internship projects with students of the Faculty of Psychology (University of Padua), the Faculty of Cognitive Science, the Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science and the Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (University of Trento).

- From 2014, she oversaw the doctoral projects and thesis of her CIMeC PhD students.

- From 2018 to today, at the Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science (DiPSCo) of the University of Trento, she holds both the course of "Biological basis of social behavior" and the course of "Psychobiology and evaluation of work stress". He also conducts laboratory exercises and lectures for the course of "Animal cognition" (holder: Prof. G. Vallortigara).

I am studying the animal behavior and cognition mainly in the following areas of scientific interest:

- comparative cognition;

- brain asymmetries and laterality in vertebrates;

- spatial memory and geometric module in fish and reptiles;

- perception of visual illusions in fish;

- discrimination and categorization of visual stimuli in fish;

- numerical skills in fish;

- circadian rhythms.

https://www.cimec.unitn.it/en/593/fish-group

I did my early research activity on the neurobiological mechanisms underlying circadian rhythms in lizards (Bertolucci et al., 2000) at the Dept. of Biology at the University of Ferrara. Then I turned to research on cerebral and behavioral asymmetries in lower vertebrates (mainly fish and amphibians) at the Dept. of General Psychology at the University of Padua. I found clear evidence in a variety of teleost fish for a preferential use of the left visual hemi-field in response to social stimuli (Sovrano et al., 1999; De Santi et al. 2000; Sovrano et al., 2001; Bisazza et al., 2002; Dadda et al., 2003; Sovrano & Andrew, 2006) and, more generally, in the estimation of the degree of familiarity of a visual stimulus (Sovrano, 2004). This was also confirmed using the artificial selection technique (Bisazza et al., 2001). I also did similar work in a species of birds, tested for hemi-field use in the conspecific individual recognition (Valenti et al., 2003; Zucca & Sovrano, 2008). In a study with the fish Danio rerio I found that the general preference for the left eye, during inspection of their mirror image, is punctuated by a series of events of very short duration and specific cyclicality (about 160 seconds), during which the opposite eye and contralateral (left) hemisphere tend to be used (Andrew et al., 2009). In this same species of fish, the preference for the use of the left visual hemi-field in the inspection of conspecifics in the mirror is, moreover, strongly sensitive to the type of luminous wavelengths present during the development in ovo: only the 'exposure to natural light / dark cycles, but not to complete darkness or to monochromatic light cycles (green, red or violet) / dark, would be able to guarantee the formation of normal neural patterns useful for manifesting letarality of the social response (Sovrano et al., 2016). A study conducted with a species of seawater fish from the coral reef has, instead, highlighted an inversion of the laterality pattern in the recognition of conspecifics in the mirror, in particular in the presence of environmental pollutants (Besson et al., 2017). Recent studies investigate eye/brain preferences also in the explorative behavior of lizards (Bonati et al., 2012; 2013) and social mirror behavior of tortoises (Sovrano et al., 2018).

Another field of interest has been the spatial cognition. I provided the first evidence that fish could use geometry for spatial reorientation and that they also integrate geometric and landmark information to reorient themselves (Sovrano et al., 2002; 2003). These findings raised interest even outside the field of the animal cognition, in particular in the human developmental sciences (see e.g. the review of Wang & Spelke, 2002 in Trends in Cognitive Sciences) and they have been widely quoted. Research that I carried out using domestic chicks as models further revealed that the right hemisphere of the brain is particularly suited to encode geometric information (Vallortigara et al. 2004). Moreover, parallel research carried out with fish and chicks revealed that, similarly to human infants, the use of geometric information is predominant in small spatial environment, whereas the use of landmark information is predominant in large spatial environments (Vallortigara, Feruglio, Sovrano, 2005; Sovrano et al., 2007; Chiandetti et al., 2007). I developed a model to explain these phenomena, based on the different encoding of metric and sense (right-left) information in environments of different spatial scale (Sovrano & Vallortigara, 2007). I investigated how the encoding of the environmental geometry and the integrative capacities of conspicuous spatial cues is already preponderant since the earliest juvenile phases in fish (Sovrano & Chiandetti, 2017). Current studies relate to the development of a paradigm of working memory for the spatial reorientation with animals, instead of reference memory, for a better comparison with the results obtained in the human species (Lee et al., 2012; 2013; 2015; Sovrano et al., 2020; Baratti et al., 2020; 2021; 2022). I have also carried on studies on the spatial cognition in insects, with the aim of extending my investigation of the geometric knowledge to a “Phylum” phylogenetically remote from vertebrates (Sovrano et al., 2012; 2013). Recently I have conducted studies on the encoding of environmental geometry in spatial orientation, with particular attention to the use of non-visual sensory modalities (lateral line) in fish (Sovrano et al., 2018; 2020), in collaboration with the University of Ferrara.

Moreover, I investigated some early visual mechanisms in fish, showing that they are capable of amodal completion, perception of subjective contours (Sovrano & Bisazza, 2008; 2009) and they are susceptible to optical illusions (Sovrano et al., 2014; 2015; Rosa Salva, Sovrano, Vallortigara, 2014; Sovrano et al., 2015; 2016; Albertazzi et al., 2017; Sovrano et al., 2022); on the other hand, analyzing mechanisms of local vs. global perception in the so-called Navon effect and in the Ebbinghaus illusion, fish show a dominance of global-type stimulus analysis (Truppa, Sovrano et al., 2010; Sovrano et al., 2016).

Recently I also collaborated in research on the proto-mathematical and numerical skills of fish (Stancher et al., 2013; Potrich et al., 2015; 2019; Messina et al., 2020; 2021) and I carried out a problem-solving test to detour obstacles in fish (Sovrano et al., 2018).

Reviewer for: “Cognitive Psychology”, “Psychological Science”, “Fish Biology”, “Cognition”, "Physiology and Behavior", “Behavioural Brain Research”, “Laterality”, "Animal Cognition", “Behavioural Processes”, “Animal Behaviour”, “Animal Behaviour & Cognition”, “Frontiers in Neural Circuits”, “Learning & Behavior”, “Symmetry”, “The Journal of Fish Biology”, “Journal of Animal Ecology”, “Animals”, “Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology”, “Pharmaceuticals”, “Applied Animal Behavior Science”, “Frontiers in Psychology”.

She was associate of the Behavioural Brain Sciences journal and member of the Association for Psychological Science (APS).

From May 28, 2008, she is afferent to the Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science (ex-Department of Cognitive Science and Education) of the University of Trento.

From June 11, 2008, she is affiliated to the research International Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (CIMeC) at the University of Trento.

From June 25, 2008 until February 2019 and from March 2021, she was and she is a member of the School Committee of the Doctoral School in Cognitive and Brain Sciences, University of Trento.

Since 2009, she is in charge of Lower Vertebrates Behavior and Neurobiology Unit at the A.C.N. Lab. (Animal Cognition and Neuroscience Laboratory) of the CIMeC.

From March 2013 until December 2016, she was Head of the Animal Cognition and Neuroscience Laboratory (A.C.N. Lab.) of the Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (CIMeC) of the University of Trento and, in relation to that office, she sat in the Scientific Committee (Giunta) of the CIMeC .

Since January 2017, she is a member of the "Ethics Committee for the examination of observational and ethological studies of animal behavior and cognition", established by the MCR Foundation - Civic Museum of Rovereto (TN).

Since August 2021, she has a member of the UniTrento's Supervisory Committee (CUG) for equal opportunities, well-being at work and against discriminations.

She is also registered in the Albo of Psychologists (since 2004, Regional Council of Veneto, n. 4733) and she act as a tutor psychologist within professional training of graduate students to be entitled to the profession of psychologist.

Award of AIP (Italian Association of Psychology) “Section of Experimental Psychology” for young researchers;

Alghero (September 24-26,  2000)

Awards “Le Scienze – Mente & Cervello” (the Italian edition of “Scientific American Mind”) and “Gold Medal of the President of Italian Republic” for research excellence in Psychobiology (December 13, 2007)

 International conferences

• Bertolucci C., SOVRANO V.A., Casaroli E., Foà A. (1998). Role of the SCN in the entrainment of locomotor circadian rhythms in the lacertid lizard Podarcis sicula. Joint Meeting of 18° Convegno della Società Italiana di Etologia and Summer Meeting of the Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour, Urbino, Italy, 2-4 September 1998, Abstract Book, p. 19.
• SOVRANO V.A., Rainoldi C., Bisazza A., Vallortigara G. (1999). Preferential left-eye use during mirror inspection in five species of fishes. Neural Plasticity, suppl. 1, p. 183. (Abstracts of the Annual general Meeting of the European Brain and Behaviour Society – EBBS, 29 September – 2 October, 1999; Rome, Italy).
• SOVRANO V.A., Bisazza A., Vallortigara G. (2000). Lines of fishes selected for opposite direction of lateralization show consistency of left-right asymmetry among different behavioural tasks. European Journal of Neuroscience, vol. 12, suppl. 11, p. 90. (Abstract Book, Forum of European Neuroscience 2000, 24th-28th June, Brighton, UK).
• SOVRANO V.A., Bisazza A., Vallortigara G. (2000). Consistency among different tasks of left-right asymmetries in lines of fish originally selected for opposite direction of lateralization in a detour task.. ASAB Summer Meeting: “Constraints on Perfection”, 26-28 July 2000; King’s College, Cambridge, U.K.
• SOVRANO V.A., Bisazza A., Vallortigara G. (2001). Spatial reorientation using geometric and featural properties of an environment by fish (Xenotoca eiseni). Advances in Ethology, 36 Supplements to Ethology, p.265 (Abstract Book, XXVII International Ethological Conference, 22-29 August 2001, Tübingen, Germany).
• SOVRANO V.A., Bisazza A., Vallortigara G. (2001). Fish use of geometric and non-geometric properties of an environment for spatial reorientation. Behavioural Pharmacology, vol. 11, suppl.1, p. S97 (Abstract Book, The First Joint Meeting of the European Brain and Behaviour Society and The European Behavioural Pharmacology Society, 8-12 September 2001, Marseille, France).
• SOVRANO V.A., Bisazza A., Vallortigara G. (2002). Lateralization of response to social stimuli in fishes (Abstract Book). 3rd Forum of European Neuroscience (FENS), 13-17 July 2002, Paris, France.
• SOVRANO V.A., Bisazza A., Vallortigara G. (2002). The geometric module of fish. Review of Psychology, pp. 107, 6th Alpe-Adria Congress of Psychology, 3-5 october 2002, Rovereto, Italy.
• SOVRANO V.A., Bisazza A., Vallortigara G. (2003). Preferential left and right eye-use in fish: Concordance between different methods. Acta Neurobiologiae Experimentalis, vol. 63, p. 27. (Abstracts of the Annual general Meeting of the European Brain and Behaviour Society – EBBS, 17-20 September, 2003; Barcelona, Spain).
• Dadda M., SOVRANO V.A., Bisazza A. (2003). Lateralization of response to social stimuli in tadpoles. Acta Neurobiologiae Experimentalis, vol. 63, p. 86. (Abstracts of the Annual general Meeting of the European Brain and Behaviour Society – EBBS, 17-20 September, 2003; Barcelona, Spain).
• SOVRANO V.A. (2004). Lateralization by fish of response to familiar and unfamilliar stimuli. (Abstract Book, pp. 401-402). 4rd Forum of European Neuroscience (FENS), 10-14 July 2004, Lisbon, Portugal.
• Vallortigara G., SOVRANO V.A. (2004). Animals' reorientation by geometric and landmark information in environments of different spatial scale. ("Symbols and Connection", Abstracts, p. 1, 29-31 October; San Servolo, Venice, Italy).
• SOVRANO, V.A., Bisazza, A., Vallortigara, G. (2005). Animals’ reorientation by geometric and landmark information. Abstracts of the XXIX International Ethological Conference, Budapest, Hungary, August 20-27, 2005, pp. 207.
• SOVRANO, V.A. (2005). Visual lateralization in fish: Responses to familiar and unfamiliar stimuli. Abstracts of the XXIX International Ethological Conference, Budapest, Hungary, August 20-27, 2005, pp. 208.
• Vallortigara, G., SOVRANO, V.A. (2007). A sense-linkage for metric and landmark information in animals’ spatial reorientation. 39th Annual General Meeting of the European Brain and Behaviour Society, Trieste, Italy, 16-19 September 2007.
• Frassine, L., SOVRANO, V.A., Truppa, V., Bisazza, A. (2007). Perceptual grouping in fish: global and local visual processing. 39th Annual General Meeting of the European Brain and Behaviour Society, Trieste, Italy, 16-19 September 2007.
• SOVRANO, V.A., Bisazza, A. (2007). Perception of object unity in fish. 39th Annual General Meeting of the European Brain and Behaviour Society, Trieste, Italy, 16-19 September 2007.
• SOVRANO V.A., Truppa V., Spinozzi G., Bisazza A. (2009). Processing of visual hierarchical stimuli by fish (Xenotoca eiseni). CogEvo, Rovereto, Italy 11-13 June 2009.
• Zucca P., SOVRANO V.A., Bugnyar T. (2009). Does preferential visual hemifield use allow inferring the emotional state of birds? The examples of Quails and Ravens. Proceedings of the 10th European Conference of the Association of Avian Veterinarians. Antwerp, Belgium, 159-160.
• SOVRANO V.A. (2010). Visual interpolation in fish vision. Workshop on Cognition and Evolution - CogEvo, Rovereto, Italy, 17-20 June 2010.
• Truppa V., SOVRANO V.A., Spinozzi G., Bisazza A. (2011) Processing of visual hierarchical stimuli by fish (Xenotoca eiseni). Workshop "Comparative approaches on perceptual organization", University of Leicester, UK, 7 April 2011.
• SOVRANO V.A., Rigosi E., Vallortigara G. (2011). Reorientation by geometry in bumblebees. 43rd European Brain and Behaviour Society Meeting – EBBS, Seville, Spain, 9-12 September 2011.
• Rausch N., SOVRANO V.A. (2011). Effects of rearing in environments of different geometry on spatial reorientation in redtail splitfins fish (Xenotoca eiseni). 43rd European Brain and Behaviour Society Meeting – EBBS, Seville, Spain, 9-12 September 2011.
• SOVRANO, V.A. (2012). Perception of object unity by fish. Workshop on Science of Experiential and Qualitative Spaces – SEQS, Rovereto (TN, Italy), 19-22 February 2012.
• SOVRANO, V.A., Rigosi, E., Vallortigara, G. (2012). The encoding of  geometry in bumblebees. Workshop on Science of Experiential and Qualitative Spaces – SEQS, Rovereto (TN, Italy), 19-22 February 2012.
• SOVRANO, V.A., Truppa, V., Spinozzi, G., Bisazza, A. (2012). Hierarchical stimuli in fish perception. Workshop on Science of Experiential and Qualitative Spaces – SEQS, Rovereto (TN, Italy), 19-22 February 2012.
• Lee, S.A., Vallortigara, G., Spelke, E., Flore, M. SOVRANO, V.A. (2012). Fish Reorient Specifically by Distance Relationships in the 3D Surface layout. Workshop on Concepts, Actions and Objects - CAOs, Rovereto (TN, Italy), 14-17 May 2012.
• Bonati, B., Csermely D., SOVRANO, V.A. (2012). Visual asymmetry of predator response in Podarcis muralis lizards. Workshop on Cognition and Evolution - CogEvo, Rovereto, Italy, 28 June – 1 July 2012.
• Rigosi, E., SOVRANO, V.A., Vallortigara, G. (2012). The use of geometric information in spatial navigation of bumblebees. CogEvo, Rovereto, Italy, 28 June – 1 July 2012.
• Lee, S.A., Vallortigara, G., Spelke, E., SOVRANO, V.A. (2012). Isolated Zebrafish Spontaneously Use Various Spatial Cues in Search of Conspecific. Workshop on Cognition and Evolution - CogEvo, Rovereto, Italy, 28 June – 1 July 2012.
• Lee, S.A, SOVRANO, V.A., Spelke, E., Vallortigara, G. (2012). Domain-Specific Cognitive Systems Underlying Geometric Knowledge. Workshop on Cognitive Modules and Interfaces, Trieste, Italy, 18-19 September 2012.
• Lee, S.A., Tucci, V., SOVRANO, V.A., Vallortigara, G. (2013). Dissociable systems of spatial representation in mice. Royal Society meeting: Space in the brain: cells, circuits, codes and cognition. Buckinghamshire, UK, 01-03 May 2013.
• Potrich, D., Stancher, G., SOVRANO, V.A. (2013). Discrimination of small quantities by fish (Xenotoca eiseni). Workshop on Concepts, Actions and Objects – CAOs, Rovereto (TN, Italy), 23-26 May 2013.
• Potrich, D., Stancher, G., SOVRANO, V.A. (2014). Numerical discrimination by fish (Redtails splitfin Xenotoca eiseni). Workshop on Cognition and Evolution - CogEvo, Rovereto, Italy, 7-9 July 2014.
• SOVRANO, V.A., Albertazzi, L., Rosa Salva, O. (2014). The Ebbinghaus illusion in a fish (Xenotoca eiseni). Workshop on Cognition and Evolution - CogEvo, Rovereto, Italy, 7-9 July 2014.
• SOVRANO, V.A., Da Pos, O., Albertazzi, L. (2014). The Müller-Lyer illusion in fish (Xenotoca eiseni). Workshop on Cognition and Evolution - CogEvo, Rovereto, Italy, 7-9 July 2014.
• Potrich, D., Stancher, G., SOVRANO, V.A. (2014). Discrimination of small quantities by fish (Xenotoca eiseni). Workshop on Science of Experiential and Qualitative Spaces - SEQS, Rovereto, 2-3 December 2014.
• Rosa Salva, O., Albertazzi, L., Cavazzana, A., Regolin, L., Rugani, R., SOVRANO, V.A., Vallortigara, G. (2015). The Ebbinghaus illusion in chicks and fish. Workshop on Concepts, Actions and Objects - CAOs, Rovereto (TN, Italy), 7-10 May 2015.
• Rosa Salva, O., Albertazzi, L., Cavazzana, A., Regolin, L., Rugani, R., SOVRANO, V.A., Vallortigara, G. (2015). The Ebbinghaus illusion in chicks and fish. European Brain and Behaviour Society Meeting – EBBS, Verona, Italy, 12-15 September 2015.
• Potrich, D., SOVRANO, V.A., Stancher, G., Vallortigara, G. (2015). Quantity discrimination by zebrafish (Danio rerio)". European Brain and Behaviour Society Meeting – EBBS, Verona, Italy, 12-15 September 2015.
• Rosa Salva, O., Albertazzi, L., Cavazzana, A., Regolin, L., Rugani, R., SOVRANO, V.A., Vallortigara, G. (2015). The perception of the Ebbinghaus illusion in two distant vertebrates: domestic chicks and redtail splitfins. Rovereto Attention Workshop – RAW, Rovereto (TN), Italy, 5-8 November 2015.
• SOVRANO, V.A., Da Pos, O., Potrich, D., Albertazzi, L. (2015). The Müller-Lyer illusion in a species of teleost fish (Xenotoca eiseni). Rovereto Attention Workshop – RAW, Rovereto (TN), Italy, 5-8 November 2015.
• Potrich, D., SOVRANO, V.A., Stancher, G., Vallortigara, G. (2016). Quantity discrimination by zebrafish. International Society for Neuroetology (ICN), Montevideo, Uruguay, 30 March – 3 April 2016
• Potrich, D., SOVRANO, V.A., Stancher, G., Vallortigara, G. (2016). Quantity discrimination by zebrafish. Workshop on Concepts, Actions and Objects - CAOs, Rovereto (TN, Italy), 5-8 May 2016.
• SOVRANO, V.A., Bertolucci, C., Frigato, E., Foà, A., Rogers, L.J. (2016). Influence of exposure in ovo to different light wavelengths on the lateralization of social response in zebrafish larvae. Workshop on Cognition and Evolution - CogEvo, Rovereto, Italy, 6-9 July 2016.
• Potrich, D., SOVRANO, V.A., Stancher, G., Vallortigara, G. (2016). Discrimination of numerical quantities by zebrafish. Workshop on Cognition and Evolution - CogEvo, Rovereto, Italy, 6-9 July 2016.
• Potrich, D., Rugani, R., SOVRANO, V.A., Regolin, L., Vallortigara, G. (2016). Mapping numerosities into space by zebrafish (Danio rerio). Workshop on Cognition and Evolution - CogEvo, Rovereto, Italy, 6-9 July 2016.
• Messina, A., Potrich, D., SOVRANO, V.A., Vallortigara, G. (2019). Neural bases of quantity estimation of zebrafish. 9° European Conference on Comparative Neurobiology, Univercity of Murcia, Spain, 24-26 April 2019.
• SOVRANO, V.A., Da Pos. O., Albertazzi, L. (2019). The Muller-Lyer illusion in the teleost fish Xenotoca eiseni. Workshop on Concepts, Actions and Objects - CAOs, Rovereto (TN, Italy), 2-4 May 2019.
• Baratti, G., Potrich., D., SOVRANO, V.A. (2019). A detour task in four species of fishes. Workshop on Concepts, Actions and Objects - CAOs, Rovereto (TN, Italy), 2-4 May 2019.
• Potrich, D., Bertolucci, C., Foà, A., SOVRANO, V.A. (2019). Extra-visual systems in the spatial reorientation of cavefish. Workshop on Concepts, Actions and Objects - CAOs, Rovereto (TN, Italy), 2-4 May 2019.
• Stancher, G., & SOVRANO, V.A. (2019). Lateralized behavior of tortoises in front of mirrors. Workshop on Cognition and Evolution - CogEvo, Rovereto (TN), Italy, 10-12 July 2019.
• Messina, A., Potrich, D., SOVRANO, V.A., Vallortigara, G. (2019). Investigating the Neural bases of quantity estimation in zebrafish. Workshop on Cognition and Evolution - CogEvo, Rovereto (TN), Italy, 10-12 July 2019.
• Potrich, D., Rugani, R., SOVRANO, V.A., Regolin,, L., Vallortigara, G. (2019). Ordinal counting by zebrafish. Workshop on Cognition and Evolution - CogEvo, Rovereto (TN), Italy, 10-12 July 2019.
• Baratti, G., Potrich, D., SOVRANO, V.A. (2019). A detour task in fishes. Workshop on Cognition and Evolution - CogEvo, Rovereto (TN), Italy, 10-12 July 2019.
• SOVRANO, V.A., Potrich, D.,  Foà, A., Bertolucci, C. (2019).The geometry as a fish feels it: Extra-visual systems in the spatial reorientation of cavefish. Workshop on Cognition and Evolution - CogEvo, Rovereto (TN), Italy, 10-12 July 2019.
• Messina, A., Potrich, D., Sheardown, E., Torres-Perez, J., Luu, P., Schiona, I., SOVRANO, V.A., Miletto Petrazzini, M.E., Fraser, S., Brennan, C.H., Vallortigara, G. (2021). Neurons in the dorso-central pallium of zebrafish respond to change in visual numerosity. 20th HFSP (Human Frontier Science Program) Awardees Meeting, online, 5-8 July 2021.
• Messina, A., Potrich, D., Gobbo, A., Burato, A., SOVRANO, V.A., Fraser, S.E., Brennan, C.H., Vallortigara, G. (2023). Quantities in the brain: Behavioral and neurobiological evidence in zebrafish. European Workshop on Cognitive Neuropsychology - EWCN, Bressanone (BZ), Italy, 22-27 January 2023.
• SOVRANO, V.A., Potrich., D., Messina, A., Bertolucci, C., Baratti, G. (2023). The environmental geometry as a fish feels it. Workshop on Cognition and Evolution - CogEvo, Rovereto (TN), Italy, 5-7 July 2023.
• Messina, A., Potrich, D., Gobbo, A., Burato, A., SOVRANO, V.A., Fraser, S.E., Brennan, C.H., Vallortigara, G. (2023). Quantities in the brain: Behavioral and neurobiological evidence in zebrafish. Workshop on Cognition and Evolution - CogEvo, Rovereto (TN), Italy, 5-7 July 2023.
• Baratti, G., Potrich, D., Rosà, T., Mazza, V., SOVRANO, V.A. (2023). “Classifying-together” phenomenon in fish (Xenotoca eiseni). Workshop on Cognition and Evolution - CogEvo, Rovereto (TN), Italy, 5-7 July 2023.
• Sgadò, P., SOVRANO, V.A., Baratti, G., Musa, A., Adiletta, A., Messina, A. (2023). Valproic acid exposure affects social visual lateralization and asymmetric gene expression in zebrafish larvae. Workshop on Cognition and Evolution - CogEvo, Rovereto (TN), Italy, 5-7 July 2023.

National conferences

• SOVRANO V.A. (2000). Pesci davanti allo specchio: l’emisfero destro codifica l’informazione sociale? Riassunti delle comunicazioni, Congresso Nazionale AIP della Sezione di Psicologia Sperimentale, pp. 139-140, Carlo Delfino ed.; 24-26 settembre 2000; Alghero.
• SOVRANO V.A., Bisazza A., Vallortigara G. (2000). Consistenza nella direzione della lateralità in linee di pesci selezionate. Riassunti delle comunicazioni, Congresso Nazionale AIP della Sezione di Psicologia Sperimentale, pp. 250-251, Carlo Delfino ed.; 24-26 settembre 2000; Alghero.
• SOVRANO V.A., Bisazza A., Vallortigara G. (2000). Asimmetrie comportamentali in linee di pesci selezionate: consistenza nella direzione destra-sinistra della lateralità in cinque differenti test. Riassunti delle comunicazioni e dei poster, 19° Convegno della Società Italiana di Etologia, p. 250; 4-6 ottobre 2000; San Giuliano Terme (PI).
• SOVRANO V.A., Bisazza A., Vallortigara G. (2002). Spatial reorientation by geometric and non-geometric properties of an environment in fish (Xenotoca eiseni). Atti del 20° Convegno della Società Italiana di Etologia (SIE), p. 82-83 ; 17-20 settembre 2002; Torino e Alessandria.
• SOVRANO V.A., Bisazza A., Vallortigara G. (2002). Processi di riorientamento spaziale basati sulla geometria dell'ambiente in Xenotoca eiseni. 63° Congresso Nazionale dell'Unione Zoologica Italiana (UZI), 22-26 settembre 2002, Cosenza.
• SOVRANO V.A., Bisazza A., Vallortigara G. (2004). Effetti delle dimensioni dell'ambiente nei processi di riorientamento spaziale in Xenotoca eiseni. Riassunti delle comunicazioni e dei poster, 21° Convegno della Società Italiana di Etologia, p. 108-109; 15-17 settembre 2004, Padova.
• SOVRANO V.A., Bisazza A., Vallortigara G. (2004). I pesci usano l'emisfero destro per la codifica di stimoli sociali: concordanza tra differenti metodi e specie. Riassunti delle comunicazioni e dei poster, 21° Convegno della Società Italiana di Etologia, p. 109-110; 15-17 settembre 2004, Padova.
• SOVRANO, V.A. (2005). Amodal completion in fish. Annual Kanizsa Meeting on Perception and Cognition, Trieste, October 2005.
• SOVRANO, V.A., Bisazza, A. (2006). Riconoscimento di oggetti parzialmente occlusi nel pesce teleosteo Xenotoca eiseni. 22° Convegno della Società Italiana di Etologia, p. 89; 18-22 settembre 2006, Erice.
• SOVRANO, V.A. (2006). Il “modulo geometrico” negli animali. Congresso Nazionale AIP della Sezione di Psicologia Sperimentale, pp. 27, 13-15 settembre 2006, Rovereto.
• Rigosi, E., Vallortigara, G., SOVRANO, V.A. (2012). Spatial cognition: Bumblebees in a rectangular arena. VI Convegno Nazionale del CODISCO: “Animals, Humans, Machines. The Whereabouts of Language”, 24-26 settembre 2012, Roma.
• Ruga, V., Potrich, D., SOVRANO V.A. (2013). In che modo i pesci codificano le proprietà geometriche e non geometriche dell’ambiente? Seconda grande festa della matematica, 23-24 marzo 2013, Riccione.
• Stancher, G., Quaresmini, C., SOVRANO, V.A. (2014). Lateralization in spatial orientation and self-recognition in tortoises (Testudo hermanni). V Convegno Nazionale della Ricerca nei Parchi, 10-12 ottobre 2014, Parco Natura Viva, Bussolengo (Verona).
• Potrich, D., Vallortigara, G., SOVRANO, V.A. (2015). Learning of Geometry and Features in Bumblebees (Bombus terrestris). Workshop on INSECT MODELS OF BEHAVIOUR: ecology, genetics, evolution, pest management; 4 settembre 2015, Rovereto.
• Potrich, D., SOVRANO, V.A., Stancher, G., Vallortigara, G. (2016). Discrimination of numerical quantities by zebrafish. VII Convegno Nazionale della Ricerca nei Parchi. Conoscere per proteggere. 1-4 ottobre 2016, Parco Natura Viva, Bussolengo (Verona).
• Potrich, D., SOVRANO, V.A., Stancher, G., Vallortigara, G. (2017). Quantitiy Discrimination by Zebrafish. Zebrafish Italian Meeting (ZFIM), 2-3 febbraio 2017, Dipartimento di Biologia, Università di Padova.
• Messina, A., Potrich, D., SOVRANO V.A., Vallortigara, G. (2019). Neural bases of quantity estimation in zebrafish. Zebrafish Italian Meeting (ZFIM), 30 gennaio-1 febbraio 2019, Pisa.
• Potrich, D., Rugani, R., SOVRANO, V.A., Regolin, L., Vallortigara, G. (2019). Ordinal numerical competence in zebrafish. Zebrafish Italian Meeting (ZFIM), 30 gennaio-1 febbraio 2019, Pisa.
• Potrich, D., SOVRANO, V.A., Rugani, R., Stancher, G., Vallortigara, G. (2019). La cognizione numerica in zebrafish (Danio rerio). XXV Congresso AIP Sezione Sperimentale, 18-20 settembre 2019, Milano-San Raffaele.
• Baratti, G., Potrich, D., SOVRANO, V.A. (2019). Aggirare ostacoli sott’acqua. Risoluzione di un compito di detour in quattro specie di pesci ossei. XXV Congresso AIP Sezione Sperimentale, 18-20 settembre 2019, Milano-San Raffaele.
• Messina, A., Potrich, D., Burato, A., SOVRANO, V.A., Fraser, S.E., Brennan, C.H., Vallortigara, G. (2022). Exploring the sense of number in zebrafish: a neurobiological approach. 3rd Italian Zebrafish Meeting, 9-11 febbraio 2022, Napoli, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II.
• Baratti, G., Potrich, D., SOVRANO, V.A.. (2022). The geometry in spatial learning by zebrafish (Danio rerio). 3rd Italian Zebrafish Meeting, 9-11 febbraio 2022, Napoli, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II.
• SOVRANO, V.A., Baratti, G., Messina, A., Potrich, D., Bertolucci, C. (2022). Extra-visual use of spatial-geometry in zebrafish remains unaffected after pharmacological ablation of the lateral line. XXXIX Convegno della Società Italiana di Etologia – SIE, 12-14 settembre 2022, Padova.
• Baratti, G., Stancher, G., Pecchia, T., SOVRANO, V.A.. Uncovering spatial learning skills of non-nomadic tortoises: Use of environmental geometry and landmark for reorientation. XXXIX Convegno della Società Italiana di Etologia – SIE, 12-14 settembre 2022, Padova.

Training and specific skills in the field of psychobiological methodologies

During the period spent in the laboratory of Prof. Augusto Foà, at the Department of Evolutionary Biology at the University of Ferrara, she learned the methods of stereotaxic surgery and the main histological techniques used in the field of behavioral neuroscience.

At the laboratory of Prof. Richard J. Andrew, at the University of Sussex, and of Prof. Angelo Bisazza and Mario Zanforlin, at the University of Padua, she learned and studied the use of behavioral and developmental biology techniques applied to the study of brain asymmetries in fish and amphibians, as well as operant conditioning techniques for the study of learning, spatial memory and visual discrimination in animals.

Scientific divulgation

- March 18, 2010: she held in Rovereto the seventh appointment of the Third Edition of "Aperitifs of neuroscience", organized by CIMeC (Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento), entitled “Silently. Thoughts (or cognitive skills) of creatures without verbal language”.  https://www.cimec.unitn.it/191/terza-edizione-aperitivi-neuroscientifici

- June 16, 2010: she wrote for the national newspaper ‘La Stampa’, into the rubric ‘TuttoScienze’ on the motif "What is the intelligence?”, her article: "Do not say anything. I already know what you're thinking”.

- May 20, 2012: she gave a talk on the intelligence of animals, in the third appointment of the Fifth Edition of "Aperitifs of neuroscience", organized by CIMeC (Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento), entitled "Day of the ethology". https://www.unitn.it/archivio/events/aperitivineuroscientifici5.html

- January 30, 2015: interview for the BBC, (‘How a fish’s brain is like yours’, by Melissa Hongenboom; http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150130-do-fish-really-see-illusions).

- February 4, 2015: interview for ‘Science & Tech’ (‘The optical illusions that trick FISH: Mind-bending patterns reveal similarities between human and aquatic brains’,  by Ellie Zolfagharifard; http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2940037/The-optical-illusions-trick-FISH-Mind-bending-patterns-reveal-similarities-human-aquatic-brains.html);

- April, 2016: interview about optical illusions in fish for the ‘German magazine Gehirn und Geist": ‘Mit den Augen eines Vogels’, by Von Katrin Weigmann’.

- April 20, 2022: interview on the role of ethology in relation to environmental protection, within the series of conferences "Let's acclimate: The meaning beyond man", organized by UDU Trento - Unione degli Universitari. Available on the YouTube channel at the link: https://youtu.be/JU4IBXy1bhE

-September 29, 2023, at the Research Night, at the MUSE in Trento, presentation of the "Phytopharmaceuticals & Cognition" project, in collaboration with the young researcher Greta Baratti. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7107286997857116161/;

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/cimecunitrento_cimec-unitrento-on-instagram-cimec-scientists-activity-7115704387997437952-cyQc?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

Organization of scientific conferences

Co-organizer of CogEvo - Rovereto Workshop on Cognition and Evolution, Palazzo Piomarta, C.so Bettini 84, Rovereto (TN), https://event.unitn.it/cogevo/

- 17-20 June 2010;

- 28 June-1 July 2012;

- 7-9 July 2014.

- 6-9 July 2016

- 10-12 July 2019

-6,7 July 2023

Orientation and interaction initiatives with high schools

-From 2012 to 2021, she was DiPSCo delegate for school guidance, organizing, coordinating and participating in all the "Open days" events and sitting at the Delegates' Table for school guidance of the University of Trento.

- In the academic years 2014-2015 and 2015-2016, 2020-2021, she coordinated and supervised, as a tutor, the internship activity of students of high school students in the province of Trento, within the "UNITN - Scuole_alternanza scuola lavoro”, often in collaboration with the Rovereto Civic Museum Foundation (TN).

- In August 2016 and 2017: the CIMeC "Fish Lab", which she coordinates, took part in the third and fourth edition of the "University Choice Orientation Week" for students in the penultimate year of upper secondary school, which saw the collaboration between the University of Trento and the Free University of Bolzano.

Dissemination initiatives aimed at children and young people

- May 6, 2016. She was among the organizers, as CIMeC delegate, of the "Con Noi all'University" day as part of the Family audit actions at the University of Trento, an event dedicated to UniTn employees and their families (children in particular) and friends.

- September 4-8, 2017. She was among the organizers, as CIMeC's Equity & Diversity delegate, of the SummerLabs Week (Scientific and cultural laboratories), an event dedicated to children (6-13 years), children of UniTn employees.

- June 11-15, 2018; June 10-14,  2019; June 19-23, 2023: she was among the organizers of the Summer Camps days (summer colonies) in Rovereto, an opportunity dedicated to children (6-13 years) of UniTn employees. Specifically, she dedicated herself to the realization of the event at the laboratories of Palazzo Ex-Manifattura (June 13, 2018; June, 14, 2019; June 19, 2023).

Public awareness activities

December 1, 2022: on the occasion of the event "Out of the shadows - red benches. Tools for reflection on gender-based violence", with the institutional role of representative of the UniTrento Supervisory Committee for equal opportunities, well-being at work and against discriminations (Comitato Unico di Garanzia - CUG), she presented the project, the CUG's activity and role, during the inauguration of the red bench at the Department of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences (UniTrento).

Current position: Associate professor at the Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (CIMeC) of the University of Trento (obtained the suitability on February 25, 2014, on the basis of the documents relating to the national scientific qualification of the 2012 session, to carry out the role of Associate Professor for the sector 11/E1 (General Psychology, Psychobiology and Psychometrics), then officially entering service in October 2014).