Previously: Post-doctoral fellow at the Istc-CNR Unit of Cognitive Primatology & Primate Center

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Short bio

I have a PhD in Animal Behaviour and I am currently a post-doc scientist at CNR, Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, Rome. I graduated with full honors in Biology at the University "La Sapienza" of Rome with a thesis entitled "Relationship between grooming, aggressions and coalitions in the Japanese macaque (Macaca fuscata)". During my career, I was a visiting scientist at the Department für Neurobiologie und Kognitionsforschung of the University of Wien (Austria) to carry out a comparative analysis on cooperative behaviors and conflict management strategies between wild groups of monkeys (Cebus apella) and ravens (Corvus corax). I also spent almost an year collecting data on conflict management tactics on a wild group of capuchin monkeys living in the Parque National de Iguazu (Argentina). I gave numerous presentations in seminars and conferences and authored several publications in scientific journals.

Research interests

At the beginning of my career, I focused on the study of social behaviors. I explored cooperation in group-living animals, especially in non-human primates (Japanese macaques and capuchin monkeys). Specifically, I addressed the cognitive implications of reciprocation and exchanges of "social services" as grooming and coalitionary behaviors. Then, I continued this line of research focusing on the cognitive and social implications of conflict management strategies. During the last years, I have broaden my research interest toward a more complexity-based approach of animal social behavior and I am currently exploring new tools of analysis, such as social simulation and social network analysis. I have been recently involved in different research projects, from studies investigating the intrinsic motivation that drives exploratory behaviors and learning in capuchin monkeys to the evolutionary roots of property and ownership.

Personal page

http://www.istc.cnr.it/it/people/eugenia-polizzi-di-sorrentino