Luigi Baciadonna (Marie Curie Research Fellow)

I am a comparative psychologist with a research interest in the evolution of cognition and in the expression and perception of emotions across different species from invertebrates to vertebrates. The current project, supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowship program (FEER-BEES), adopts a multicomponent approach, including behavioural, neuro-physiological, and cognitive analyses to characterize potential emotional states in invertebrates. I am focussing on fear in honey bees (Apis mellifera) given the tractability of these insects for all levels of analysis. The overall goal of the project is to advance our knowledge on the presence of emotional states in honey bees by unravelling the underlying neural mechanisms and the phylogenetic link between these mechanisms and those of mammals, including humans. The question as to whether invertebrates have basic forms of emotions is relevant and timely considering the current debates around non-human animals capacity of experiencing subjective feelings. I work primarily at the Institute of Biology Paris Seine (IBPS), Sorbonne University, Paris – France under the supervision of Prof Martin Giurfa. Currently, I am on a six months secondment at Baracchi’s lab.