Notables

• Several students and faculty members from the Animal Behavior Program presented their research at the Southwestern Psychological Comparative Association (SCPA) annual meeting held in conjunction with SWPA in San Antonio April 7-9.  Psychology Professor Jesse Purdy presented a paper titled “Exploring the Interaction Between New Technology and Old Ideas.” Purdy and seniors Elizabeth Anne Wilson and Alex Hall presented a paper titled “Retention of Learned Association following Metamorphosis in African Claw-toed Frogs.” Senior Carissa Winland and Psychology Professor Fay Guarraci presented a paper titled “Nice Guys Finish Last”: Mate Choice, Reproductive Success, and Testosterone in Rats. Senior Morgan Mingle presented a paper titled “Chimpanzee See; Chimpanzee Do: A Study of Social Learning and Handedness,” which was done in collaboration with William Hopkins from Agnes Scott College, Sarah Brosnan from Georgia State University, Lydia Hopper, Susan Lambeth, and Steven Schapiro from The University of Texas- M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Mingle also presented a paper titled “Acoustic Preference for World Music in Chimpanzees,” which was done with Victoria Horner and Timothy Eppley from The Living Links Center at Yerkes National Primate Research Center and Frans B. M. de Waal from Emory University. 

• Morgan Mingle, a junior majoring in animal behavior, was selected to participate in a research program at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, which is the nation’s oldest and largest primate center. Mingle will be working on a project involving chimpanzees and vocal behavior with Frans de Waal, the C.H. Candler Professor of Psychology at Emory University and director of Living Links Center. Mingle was one of 11 undergraduates selected out of more than 600 applicants to participate in this program.