Check out this online seminar on #applying to grad school from UMich's #Psychology Department (open to all; register her: lsa.umich.edu/psych/underg...)

Proud of UMich grad student Rosa Muñoz for being awarded an @leakeyfoundation.org grant for her dissertation research on "The evolution and psychology of possession in macaques." Congrats Rosa, and all the new grantees!

leakeyfoundation.org/introducing-...

We also applied a 'scaling ToM' approach from developmental science and found that - surprisingly - gaze following seemed to be the most 'difficult' task for monkeys to pass, and knowledge attribution the easiest (thanks to Henry Wellman for the suggestion!)

We found that rhesus and Barbary macaques are similarly successful at several metrics of social cognition, including gaze following, goal attribution & knowledge attribution, but rhesus are much bolder. This is despite major differences in their social behavior.

Interestingly, chimpanzees become more #selective in where they use tools with #age: younger chimpanzees are more likely to try tools at alternative locations than older ones, suggesting they learn over #development where to most efficaciously use drinking tools

KCP chimps primarily drink from streams without tools, & also rarely use tools at puddles. But when they drink from tree holes they preferentially use tools like #leafsponges, also at similar rates for males & females. We argue chimps use tools to access out-of-reach (rather than stagnant) water.

We are hiring! Jointly with the Social Minds Lab at UMich, we are accepting applications for a full-time lab coordinator for research on cognition in #children, adults, and #primates. Read more at: sites.lsa.umich.edu/cognitive-ev...

Congrats to @megancole.bsky.social for a great dissertation defense on chimpanzee aging, biomarkers, and social status!

To our surprise, the juvenile monkeys approached the apparatus, and engaged in appropriate information seeking when it was necessary, at rates similar to adults (with some evidence that the oldest adults engaged in more 'unnecessary' information-seeking)

We used a one-shot #informationseeking tasks to test metacognitive inferences in both juvenile and adult semi-free-ranging monkeys

Proud of #UMich grad student Rosa Muñoz and lab coordinators Charlie Mackenzie and Skylar Brodnan for giving their first conference talks at #AABA2025! Work on food transfers, tool use, and social attention in sanctuary and wild #chimpanzees, in collaboration with Zarin Machanda and many others!

#standupforscience2025 #Lansing

We are hiring! We have an open position for a new lab coordinator in #primate #cognition and #behavior in the Cognitive Evolution Group at University of Michigan - Ann Arbor. Find out more at: sites.lsa.umich.edu/cognitive-ev...