Tommaso Pecchia

Tommaso Pecchia is a fellow at the Animal Cognition and Neuroscience Lab.

Main interests

He is interested in comparative spatial cognition. During his Ph.D. course, he investigated the capability of the domestic chick to reorient in landmark’s array and geometrically defined enclosures. Also, he carried out some basic works to examine the electrophysiological activity of single units from the hippocampus of freely moving chicks and he is still working on this issue. He is also interested in the homing capabilities of pigeons, a beautiful model used to investigate the navigation in natural environment. Interestingly, these birds rely on olfactory cues when released from unfamiliar sites. He has explored the functional asymmetries of the olfactory system in these birds.

Research Projects

My research focuses on spatial reorientation in avian species, using homing pigeons and Domestic chicks as the animal models. Recent findings suggest that chicks rely on a view-based (purely egocentrated) strategy to re-orient themselves in a familiar environment. My research goal in to further specify the contents of this representation in chicks and to explore the possibility that other vertebrate species, including human infants, may rely on a comparable strategy for spatial reorientation. I’m still working on olfactory lateralization in pigeons. When released from unfamiliar sites, pigeons rely on olfactory cues to find their way home. I’m planning a series of experiments, based on the GPS technology, aimed to investigate the relative contribution of the left and the right hemispheres in this spatial process.

Scientific Publications

Pecchia, T., Vallortigara, G. (2012) Spatial reorientation by geometry with freestanding objects and extended surfaces: a unifying view. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. Available on-line before print

Tommasi, L., Chiandetti, C., Pecchia, T., Sovrano, A., Vallortigara, G. (2011) From natural geometry to spatial cognition. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews. Available on-line before print

Pecchia, T., Gagliardo, A., Vallortigara, G. (2011) Stable panoramic views facilitate snap-shot like memories for spatial reorientation in homing pigeons. PLoS ONE 6(7): e22657.

Gagliardo, A., Filannino, C., Ioalè, P., Pecchia, T., Wikelski, M., Vallortigara, G. (2011) Olfactory lateralization in homing pigeons: a GPS study on birds released with unilateral olfactory inputs. The Journal of Experimental Biology 214, 593-598.

Pecchia, T., Vallortigara, G. (2010) View-based strategy for reorientation by geometry. The Journal of Experimental Biology 213, 2987-2996.

Pecchia, T., Vallortigara, G. (2010) Re-orienting strategies in a rectangular array of landmarks by domestic chicks (Gallus gallus). Journal of Comparative Psychology 124, 147–158.

Gagliardo, A., Pecchia, T., Savini, M., Odetti, F., Ioalè, P., Vallortigara, G. (2007) Olfactory lateralization in homing pigeons: initial orientation of birds receiving a unilateral olfactory input. European Journal of Neuroscience 25, 1511-1516.

Della Chiesa A., Pecchia T., Tommasi L., Vallortigara G. (2006) Multiple landmarks, the encoding of environmental geometry and the spatial logics of a dual brain. Animal Cognition; 9, 281-293.

Gagliardo A., Odetti F., Ioalé P., Pecchia T., Vallortigara G. (2005) Functional asymmetry of left and right avian piriform cortex in homing pigeons' navigation. European Journal of Neuroscience 22, 189-194.