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Mark earned his Bachelors and Masters degrees in psychology at Central Washington University. His undergraduate and masters research experience was supervised by Roger Fouts, and was primarily focused on how sign language trained chimpanzees use pointing when interacting with humans. He then completed his PhD at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville under the supervision of Gordon Burghardt. His dissertation research focused on the development of foraging behavior and chemoreception in neonatal garter snakes. Following this Mark completed a postdoctoral appointment at the University of Texas at Austin where, under the supervision of Michael Domjan, he conducted research on Pavlovian conditioning of sexual behavior in Japanese quail. He did another postdoc focusing on the role of androgens on memory and functional brain activity in humans at Oregon Health and Sciences University. Mark is currently a professor of psychology at Southern Oregon University where he teaches courses in behavioral neuroscience, psychopharmacology, and comparative psychology.   Mark is co-editor (with Karen Hollis and Mauricio Papini) of Evolution of Learning and Memory Mechanisms (Cambridge, 2022) and Pointing: Culture, Development, and Evolution (with Kim Bard and David Leavens, Cambridge, 2026). He is co-author (with Daniel Corts and Stephen Smith) of an introductory psychology textbook published in Canada called Introduction to Psychological Science: Modeling Scientific Literacy. Mark serves on the editorial boards for Journal of Comparative Psychology and Animal Behavior and Cognition. Mark has served as president of Division 6 (Behavioral Neuroscience of Comparative Psychology) of the American Psychological Association. Outside of work, Mark has a wonderful family and is a gym rat who drinks too much coffee and reads a lot of fiction.  mp3 download

Lynne completed a BA at Algoma University in 1995 and quickly realized that she needed more out of academia. She went back to Algoma for two more years to complete a thesis and other courses she needed to move on to graduate studies. After a lot of support and encouragement from her undergraduate mentors (including a certain podcast host), Lynne went on to complete a PhD in Jeff Galef’s social learning lab at McMaster University where she got rats drunk so that they could get other rats drunk. After a post-doctoral fellowship at McMaster and SUNY Binghamton, Lynne joined the Department of Psychology at MacEwan University in 2003. It had been her goal to have a career at a teaching-focused university like her alma mater, so the fit at MacEwan has been ideal. Lynne is known for engaging classes with lots of hands-on learning, and has earned a couple of awards for her efforts. Her annual field school in animal learning (affectionately known by students as “bear camp”) provides students with insights about training and husbandry for captive animals.  Lynne’s research and scholarly work has also focused on students and their learning. She’s a co-author of a popular textbook for learning and behaviour, and her research projects are designed to train students in research rather than to build an enviable CV. In fact, her CV resembles a patchwork quilt with topics including human mate choice, personality, dog greeting behaviour in dog parks, and authentic assessment techniques for undergraduate students. Her most recent project involved a captive bear who needed to deal with his past.  Outside of work, Lynne’s got a lot of hobbies and interests. She fosters and trains dogs for a local animal rescue, travels whenever she and her partner Paul can manage it, and is usually planning at least one trip/tattoo/music festival/home renovation at all times. When she retires she would like to become a pro wrestling manager, preferably for a heel. mp3 download

Jess received her Bachelors in Psychology with Honors in 2007 from the University of Kentucky. She subsequently earned her MS (2010) and Ph.D. (2013) in Experimental Psychology, both completed in Thomas Zentall’s laboratory at the University of Kentucky. She was a Lecturer of Psychology at the University of Florida from 2013-2017, and at Georgia Southern University from 2017-2020. Currently, she is an Associate Professor in the department of psychology at Auburn University at Montgomery.  Her research is in the Cognitive-Behavioral area and centers mainly on decision-making processes and suboptimal choice behavior across species. Her work explores the various conditions under which certain choices occur as well as how aspects, such as personality traits and past reinforcement history, play a role in choice behavior. One of her favorite things about being a faculty member is having the opportunity to introduce students to research and to help them navigate their career path. In addition to mentoring undergraduate researchers in her laboratory, she teaches classes in behavior analysis, cognition, and psychological careers. In 2025, she won the Auburn University at Montgomery’s Distinguished Teaching Associate Professor Award. Jess was a program committee chair for the American Psychological Association Division 6 meeting in 2026 and is currently the President of the Comparative Cognition Society. Away from work, Jess is a mother of three who loves coffee, nature, and watching college basketball and football (War Eagle and Go Cats!). mp3 download

Wait, I think this might be the first Dave on the podcast other than, well, you know.... Dave got his B.A. in Neuroscience from Franklin & Marshall College in 2004, where he worked with rats, capuchins, and macaque monkeys. He then completed an M.A. (2006) and Ph.D. (2010) at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he studied in Aaron Blaisdell’s Comparative Cognition Lab examining the control of behavioral variability. After receiving his Ph.D. he spent three years teaching and doing research at UCLA, working with rats, pigeons, and hermit crabs. In 2012, he received a tenure-track appointment at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, VA, where he is now a Professor of Psychological Science.  He teaches courses in learning, neuroscience, and research methods, and runs his department’s animal research laboratory with its invertebrate and rat vivaria. He is interested in and has published work on basic behavioral processes. He has also published work on theoretical and philosophical matters, specifically as regards Skinnerian radical behaviorism, to which he was a convert after leaving UCLA. He’d like to think he’s known around his department as a friendly killjoy. Off-campus, he enjoys Chicago Cubs baseball, going to the movies, and homebrewing odd and time-intensive beers.  mp3 download

Tanya's research is at the intersection of behavioural ecology, evolution, and animal and plant cognition. The main questions they ask revolves around why and how organisms make the decisions they do and how personality, experiences, and environment impact these decisions. This research is both multi-taxa and multi-methods, spanning empirical investigations of nest-building flexibility in zebra finches during their Undergraduate and Masters at Western University, group decision-making in zebrafish and guppies with manipulated personality compositions, and theoretical modelling of the impact of personality in fruit fly populations for their PhD at Wilfrid Laurier University.  Most recently, Tanya has had the opportunity to construct a theoretical framework of what studying plant information processing should look like as a postdoc at the University of Alberta, along with designing empirical experiments to test the framework.  Tanya plans to continue this line of research in their relatively new position at CUE and is excited to see how the different branches of plant behaviour compare to what we know about animal behaviour.  We talked about a lot of stuff, we made fun of Noam a bit, ok, maybe that was just me, and we of course did a deep dive on Tanya's plant cognition work. mp3 download

Look, I've been waiting to do this one for quite a while. Hell, I'm pretty sure I applied for this sabbatical so I could interview Madeleine. A bit about Maddie: Madeleine Brodbeck completed her BSc in psychology at Algoma University in Sault Ste Marie, ON in 2015 (I was there for a lot of it, well all of it really I suppose).   Maddie then moved on to the University of Western Ontario and the Advanced Facility for Avian Research (AFAR).  At AFAR she worked under the supervision of Scott MacDoguall-Shackelton and David Sherry.   Her PhD work focussed on brain regions associated with electromagnetic field perception in songbirds.  Her MSc work was on memory in brown headed cowbirds (which she is revisiting, stay tuned). She currently works as a research assistant and lab manager for the quantitative linguistics group at the University of Tübingen in Germany. In her non science time she loves travelling, cooking (food in general really) and video games. We talked about science, and some not science, as well as stuff and things.  (I quite clearly do these writeups before the interview, in fact, most of it is written by the guest). mp3 download

Scientist and metal drummer Marisa Hoeschele received an honours B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Philosophy at the University of Guelph, Canada in 2006. After that she completed an M.Sc. and PhD in Psychology with a specialization in Comparative Cognition and Behaviour at the University of Alberta, Canada. In 2013 she moved to Vienna as a post-doc and built the budgie lab at the Department of Cognitive Biology at the University of Vienna. In October 2018 she started her own group, known as the “Musicality and Bioacoustics” group, at the Acoustics Research Institute of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. This institute has researchers from many different disciplines all studying problems in acoustics: however the first animal studies were not conducted on site until this year in April when the budgie lab was moved to the institute. Marisa studies how different animals, including humans, perceive and produce sounds. The broader goal is to understand where music and language come from and what other similar capacities might exist in the animal kingdom. Marisa is the first guest I've had on who had a pop filter on her mic.  That's neither here nor there but it's still a thing. We talked, of course, about how Marisa got into the field in the first place, a bit about Austria and, obviously about her work.  Her work is interdisciplinary and we talked a bit about how this sort of thing is important not just in animal cognition, but in any field. mp3 download

Woo hoo! This one should be fun. Partly because I'm talking to.a friend and colleague from Algoma University. Also because it will be only the second episode I've done face to face. Jenn Foote came by my podcast studio (OK, look, I have two podcasting studios in my house, because I'm me, so to be clear, she came to Studio B). and we talked about her work, her origin story, and other stuff. Jenn Foote completed a BSc. Honours in Biology from St. Mary's University, where her thesis research investigated how neighbour-stranger discrimination in song sparrows was influenced by breeding stage of females. She then moved up the road and completed MSc. in Biology at Dalhousie University where she demonstrated that Eastern song sparrows in NS share songs like west coast birds and unlike other eastern song sparrows. Both her BSc. and MSc. work was supervised by Colleen Barber. Jenn completed a PhD at Queen's with Laurene Ratcliffe where she studied dawn chorus communication networks of black-capped chickadees and demonstrated that males interact vocally at dawn and those interactions sometimes included three or more males. She then did a short postdoc with Dan Mennill at University of Windsor before moving to Algoma University in 2010. She then moved to Algoma University where her lab, the OVEN (Ornithology, Vocalization, and Ecology Network) has been studying vocal behaviour of northern Ontario songbirds. The OVEN does in fact study ovenbirds. mp3 download

OK, look, I won't lie, I do love talking to all of the people who have come on the podcast. But, there is one person I've been hoping to talk to since way back in Season 1. It's FIONA CROSS! Fiona got her BSc (Hons) in Psychology in 2001 before she began working with spiders and then she got her MSc (with Distinction) in Zoology in 2003 and her PhD in Zoology in 2009, with all three degrees being at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. Dr. Cross first went to Kenya to work with spiders in 2006, and has been a Visiting Scientist at the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (in Kenya) since 2010. Her research interests include selective attention, working memory, expectancy violation, and problem solving by spiders. Fiona never used to think that spiders could be particularly interesting, but she has since learned that spiders can do many remarkable things that could keep a person awake at night. Dr. Cross has 46 publications, and her work has featured in many news sources including The New York Times, The Washington Post, National Geographic, BBC, The Guardian, The New Zealand Herald, and Radio New Zealand. Fiona is sorta famous really, to quote her 'I got a fright when I first discovered there is a Wikipedia page about me, and I had to sit down when I discovered that a video about me had been viewed 12,000 times in one day'.  (BTW, that fame is well deserved, she rocks).  As an aside, there used to e a wikipedia page about me, but it was deleted because I suck.... She loves to communicate science, and has so far organized three of her own international speaking tours (one in the UK and two in North America). COVID permitting, she hopes to run a spider event for children at the Christchurch public library in October (the month of the year that arachnologists affectionately refer to as ‘Arachtober’). She's also keen on writing for all ages. You can learn more about her and her work at her website (www.doctorspider.net). mp3 download

Michael J. Beran is Professor of Psychology and Co-Director of the Language Research Center at Georgia State University.  He received his B.A. in Psychology from Oglethorpe University in 1995, his M.A. in 1997, and his Ph.D. in 2002, both from Georgia State University.  His research is conducted with human and nonhuman primates, including chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, orangutans, capuchin monkeys, and rhesus monkeys.  He also has done research with bears, elephants, and robins.  His research interests include perception, numerical cognition, metacognition, planning and prospective memory, self-control, decision making, and language acquisition.   Dr. Beran is a Fellow of Division 3 and Division 6 of the American Psychological Association and a Fellow of the Psychonomics Society.  He was the inaugural Duane M. Rumbaugh Fellow at Georgia State University.  He received the Brenda A. Milner award from the APA in 2005.  He has served as the President of the Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology, the Southeast Psychological Association, and the Society for Behavioral Neuroscience and Comparative Psychology (Division 6 of APA).  He is the current Editor of Animal Behavior and Cognition and has served on numerous editorial boards including Cognition, Animal Cognition, Frontiers in Comparative Psychology, the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition, Comparative Cognition & Behavior Reviews, the Journal of Comparative Psychology, Learning and Behavior, and the International Journal of Comparative Psychology.  He has published over 200 peer-reviewed journal articles and contributed chapters to over 50 edited books and encyclopedia.  He also is the co-editor of Foundations of Metacognition (2012, Oxford University Press), the author of Self-control in Animals and People (2018, Elsevier), and the co-editor of the forthcoming Primate Cognitive Studies (2022, Cambridge University Press).   Mike gets 2 pics because I love this slide His research has been featured on numerous television and radio programs and in magazines, including Animal Planet, BBC, New Scientist, the Wall Street Journal, and Scientific American Mind.  His research is supported by funding from the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the Templeton Foundation, and the European Science Foundation.   In addition to the fun things he gets to do in his lab and with his students and colleagues, he enjoys beekeeping, hiking, paintball with friends (and enemies!), travel, and the occasional good bourbon.  And, of course, ‘Bama football.  Roll Tide. mp3 download

On today's edition of Spit and Twitches: The Animal Cognition Podcast, I'm joined by Aimee Sue Dunlap.  She is an associate professor of biology at the University of Missouri at St. Louis. Aimee got her undergraduate degree in biology, history and English in 2000 from the University of Memphis and then her MS in biology from  Northern Arizona University in 2002 and her PhD in ecology, evolution and behavior from the university of Minnesota in 2009. It should be noted that I'm making a concession to American spelling here and should be commended... Oh we also talked hockey.  Including Liga hockey in Finland. Work in her lab focusses on the evolution of cognition and the adaptive value of cognition and memory, especially in bees.  We talked about her experimental evolution work, as well as her field and lab stuff. mp3 download

Today on the podcast I'm joined by Caroline Strang. Caroline is known for her work with bees, horses, dogs, and scarves. She received her undergraduate degree in psychology from the University of Toronto where she worked closely with someone you have have heard of, Sara Shettleworth. She then went on to work at the University of Western Ontario with someone else who has come up a lot on the podcast, David Sherry.  Once she finished up her PhD she moved down to UT Austin and became a postdoc with Felicity Muth in their biology department.   We talked about her work with David on bumblebee vs. honeybee cognition as well as her stuff on reversal learning in bumblebees.  We also talked a bit about her work during her postdoc and of course other stuff. mp3 download

Only guest with a baseball scholarship Jeff Martin joins me on the podcast this week.  He's actually the first non psychologist on the show.  He's a biologist or something... Jeff attended Northwestern Oklahoma State University (NWOSU) from 2011-2015 on a baseball scholarship. He earned both a BSc in Health and Sports Science and a second BSc in Biology specializing in Natural History. Though they didn’t have a traditional honours program, he did research under the supervision of Dr. Aaron Place investigating simple conditioning in reptiles – mainly snakes. He then moved back home to Canada to attend Western University, obtaining his MSc studying with Dr. David Sherry at the Advanced Facility for Avian Research. His Master’s research focused on how birds respond behaviourally to changes in overwinter temperature Jeff continued at Western and obtained his PhD under the supervision of Drs. David Sherry and Yolanda Morbey. His research focused on caching decisions made by Canada Jays and what factors may influence site- and item-selection. Jeff has just started a post-doc with Dr. Mélanie Guigueno at McGill University in Montréal (Go Habs Go!), where he will be investigating male choosiness in Brown-headed Cowbirds, and the importance of ecologically relevant tasks in animal cognition and behaviour. Thanks to Red Arms for letting me mash up their music. mp3 download

Jenna was wearing PPE before it was coolYES THE PODCAST IS BACK! I'm really happy to be back doing these.  They take some time, so I waited until my next sabbatical.  Well, my next sabbatical is NOW.  Look, OK, I'm pretty psyched for this, but let's not make this all about me. We open up season 2 with Jenna Congdon, who is a postdoc at York University, working with Suzanne MacDonald (who you may remember from such podcasts as 'Spit and Twitches, the Animal Cognition Podcast'). We talked some about her PhD work as well as side projects.  We also talked about her current work at the Toronto Zoo. Jenna started out her career as a biology student at Algoma University in Sault Ste. Marie, ON.  Coincidentally, I work there!  She switched over to psychology, what the cool kids take, when she took an elective with a frenetic but brilliant intro psych prof (me).  Actually, I'm a bit of a hack, don't tell anyone.  After completing her honours thesis project with me she moved on to bigger and brighter things, working with Chris Sturdy at the University of Alberta.  She got her PhD in 2019 and has been teaching as a part time faculty member at Concordia University of Edmonton and at the University of Alberta.   She's currently working with Suzanne MacDonald, as I noted above. Look, I haven't written one of these things in a while, and, well, I'm out of practice... As always, thanks to Red Arms for allowing me to mash up their music in the closing theme, BUY THEIR MUSIC. mp3 download

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} Kristy's subjects seem to like her a lot Kristy Biolsi is an Associate Professor of Psychology at St. Francis College in Brooklyn NY, where she also serves as the Director of the BA/MA Program in Applied Psychology.  She is a co-editor for the journal Aquatic Mammals, serves on the editorial board for the Journal of the Association for the Study of Ethical Behavior and Evolutionary Biology in Literature (ASEBL), is a co-founder of the Evolutionary Studies Collaborative, and is the co-founder and Director of the Center for the Study of Pinniped Ecology and Cognition (C-SPEC) housed at SFC.   She received her B.S. in Psychobiology from Long Island University, Southampton College in 2001 and in 2007 she received her Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC). Her research focus was on marine mammal cognition and while at Long Marine Lab, UCSC, she worked specifically with the Pinniped Cognition and Sensory Systems Lab.  Her current research interests are in comparative cognition, focusing on marine mammals, and she has two main lines of scientific inquiry; laboratory work that is conducted at the Long Island Aquarium and Exhibition Center in Riverhead NY investigating discrimination learning and categorization with two captive, trained, California sea lions and field work which consists of data collection from surveys and naturalisticobservations of the local wild harbor seal population.  We even touched on some theoretical stuff about animal morality. Thanks again to Red Arms for letting me mash up their music with the ending theme, buy their music now. mp3 download