[1][2][3] Sagvolden's research career started with his work for his PhD, which he obtained in 1979 from the University of Oslo based on a thesis entitled Behavioral Changes in Rats with Septal Lesions: Effects of Water-Deprivation Level and Intensity of Electrical Shocks.

[2][5] Over the next decades, he then went on to demonstrate that this strain is a valid animal model for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

[11] Sagvolden was the founding editor-in-chief of the scientific journal Behavioral and Brain Functions, from the time of its establishment in 2005 to his death in 2011.

[1][15] Sagvolden was a member at large of the executive committee of the European Brain and Behaviour Society from 1986 to 1989 and its secretary from 1990 to 1995.

[2] Over the last two decades of his life, he was an active supporter of the Society of Neuroscientists of Africa (SONA) and in 1993 played a significant role in its founding.