Behaviour And Evolution Research Group At University Of Stirling

Tonight we have Dr. Roxanne Hawkins from the University of West Scotland, giving a talk about “Pets and Mental Health: do the benefits outweigh the costs?”.
This looks to be a really interesting talk so please do come along and join the discussion!
The meeting will be held in the Psychology department common room (3A94) at 17:30 with drinks and nibbles provided.

Last week, the Primate Society of Great Britain (PSGB) awarded their Osman Hill Medal to BERG’s Prof Hannah Buchanan-Smith for her research on animal welfare, her service to PSGB and her contributions to primatology. The award was presented at last week’s EFP/PSGB conference in Oxford, where Prof Buchanan-Smith delivered the Osman Hill Lecture titled “Promoting Primate Welfare – Past, Present and Future”. Congratulations Hannah from all at BERG for this well-deserved prize!

Hi BERGers,
Prof. Hannah Buchanan-Smith is going to be giving a keynote presentation at the International Conference on Environmental Enrichment in Japan next month.
If you are about this evening (Wednesday 22nd May), then please come along to the Psychology Common Room (3A94) for 5:30pm (starting promptly).
... The talk title is:
Enrichment for primates in laboratories and zoos: Same principles, different constraints
and it is supposed to be about 25 minutes long. Things that Hannah would appreciate feedback on are: timing, content, flow etc.
Drinks and nibbles will be provided.
Hope to see a few folk there!
See More

BERG is delighted to share the news that our very own Professor Hannah Buchanan-Smith has been awarded the 2019 Osman Hill Medal for her research on animal welfare, her service to PSGB and her contributions to primatology.
Hannah will be delivering the Osman Hill Lecture at the EFP/ PSGB conference in Oxford in September.

BERG are delighted to announce that our very own Professor Hannah Buchanan-Smith has been awarded the 2019 Osman Hill Medal for her research on animal welfare, her service to PSGB and her contributions to primatology.
Hannah will be delivering the Osman Hill Lecture at the EFP/ PSGB conference in Oxford in September.

Hello, All!
This week, we have Sobana Wijeakumar (hosted by Liz Renner) giving a talk titled "Shedding light on Stone Tool Making".
As usual, BERG will start at 5:30pm in the common room - all welcome!
... To add new members to our mailing list using the following link: http://lists.stir.ac.uk/cgi-bin/mailman/l istinfo/berg

For a regularly updated BERG schedule, follow this link: https://stir.box.com/s/e3nuylt8aacxjyzdw4 0zqv4zpv6afil0
​​​See you soon! Gemma
See More

Hello, All
This week, we have Zsuzsa Lugosi giving a talk titled "Enhancing zoo education with Virtual Reality".
In 1997 Zoo Atlanta developed an experience that allowed middle schoolers to become gorillas for a short while in a Virtual Reality (VR) experience. At that time, this technology was still in its early stages, but with more widespread commercial use, these experiences can become breath-taking. In a zoo setting, VR experiences could have all the characteristics of a... keeper’s talk: introducing the species and communicating welfare and conservations messages to the wider public. According to Moss and Esson (2010) visitors spend about a minute to observe animals in an exhibit, and even that minute is dependent on the species, where charismatic or active mammals are highly preferred by visitors. With a VR experience 3-5 minutes long, animals could get undivided attention from visitors, while the zoo would have the opportunity to send specific messages. I will conduct a research in Edinburgh Zoo early next year to evaluate whether visitors like this method of education and how it might impact their behaviour regarding the issues raised in the experience. ​
See you all in the common room tomorrow at 5:30pm!
Gemma
See More

BERG is delighted to share the news that Dr. Liz Williamson, BERG-er and Honorary Senior Research Fellow here at Stirling, has been awarded the Margot Marsh Biodiversity Foundation Excellence in Primate Conservation Award. Dr. Williamson has received this award in recognition of her continued efforts to promote gorilla conservation. For example, Dr. Williamson has been influential in a number of senior roles in conservation organisations and groups (e.g. the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, IUCN SSC Primate Specialist Group, IUCN Red List), and is series editor of the IUCN Best Practice guidelines for great ape conservation (http://www.primate-sg.org/best_practices ).

Dear BERG folks,
This week we have PhD candidate Jade Hooper giving her interesting talk entitled:
Exploring Social and Locality Variations of Dog Bites in Scotland Using Administrative Data Sources
... Abstract Rates of hospital admissions due to dog bite incidents have risen considerably over the last 10 years (HSCIC, 2015). Of particular concern is the finding that hospital admissions for dog bites are highest in the most deprived areas across England and Wales (HSCIC, 2014; 2015). However, there is a paucity of research which aims to explore why this may be or how this issue may be addressed. Whilst there is a public interest in these figures in Scotland, thus far there has been no rigorous empirical investigation into social inequalities in dog related injuries. Through an innovative and ambitious analysis of linked by-product data, the current study hopes to address this gap. The study will use a range of data sources to examine both individual and area-based characteristics which may help uncover some of the reasons why these patterns may exist, and how they can be addressed. Health data from dog bite incidents will be requested and linked with census records. Microchip data will also be requested in a bid to account for dog populations which in the past have not be considered when links with social disadvantage and dog bite injuries have been found. Through this analysis, the study aims to help inform policy for the reduction of dog bites and aid in effective identification and targeting of interventions for areas and individuals most at risk. This presentation will discuss some of the difficulties associated with the research area and specific challenges related to the project. The floor will then be opened to allow for more general discussion surrounding the subject area.
Start time 5:30pm sharp – drinks and munchies provided.
See More

Dear BERG folks,
This week at BERG we have our very own Dr Eoin O’Sullivan giving his interesting talk entitled:
Searching for a psychological science of social learning in the 20th century’s schools of behaviour and cognition.
... The field of social learning research has a long history in psychology, beginning with Edward Thorndike’s early studies of dogs, cats, and chickens, and culminating in a modern, thriving, multi-disciplinary science. While the past 20 years has seen interest in the field surge, researchers are still largely guided by the theoretical schools of cognitive and behavioural science developed in the early and mid-20th century. Here, I will reflect upon how the cognitive, behaviourist, and ethological schools have guided my exploration of social learning mechanisms in human and nonhuman primates. Specifically, I will focus on how these perspectives have informed my approach to the ontogeny of imitative ability in children and capuchin monkeys. I will also expand on how lessons learned from these theoretical schools can guide future work in the science of social learning.
We look forward to seeing you all there at 5:30pm sharp! Drinks and munchies provided.
See More

Dear BERGers,
This week we have Dr Joana Carvalho giving a presentation entitled: Where to go? Impact of global environmental changes on African apes
Abstract... Recent global food crises have greatly contributed towards the intensification and major expansion of tropical agriculture. Sub-Saharan Africa is suffering from widespread food insecurity, malnutrition and poverty, and is the region expected to experience the greatest human population growth in coming decades. Moreover, it is a region with a considerable proportion of land potentially suitable for agriculture. Globally, Africa is the continent most vulnerable to the effects of climate change (CC). Here, future droughts and other extreme weather events are likely to prompt the relocation of agricultural areas into more humid areas, which are rich in biodiversity, including African ape populations (AAPs). A key question is how to mitigate the effects of future CC and land-use/cover changes (LULCC) on AAPs by maintaining connectivity across landscapes, whilst guaranteeing food security and improving livelihoods of local populations. This project will a) make a fundamental contribution to understanding the effects of future CC on AAPs, b) studies on AAPs, carbon stocks and food security employing an integrative, interdisciplinary approach so far are lacking, and c) provide compelling arguments for the relevance of aligning biodiversity conservation with sustainable intensification of agriculture and CC that can benefit biodiversity and rural populations.
5:30pm sharp! Drinks and munchies provided.
See More

Dear BERG people,
This week Christine Caldwell and her research team will be doing a practice run of a session that they will run at the Edinburgh International Science Festival next week, and they would really appreciate input from as many of you as possible. The event is titled “The Culture Club” and audience members will be introduced to research methods that can be used to investigate cultural transmission in humans and other animals under laboratory conditions. The event... will be a bit longer than our usual BERG presentations so we will start early at 5pm. Come along for some interactive fun!
EISF social media links: F: /EdinburghScienceFestival T: @EdSciFest
See More

This week, PhD Candidate Paxton Culpepper will be giving a talk about his latest study, entitled:
New Religions: Pathogen threat and cultural divergence
Abstract:... There is wide variation between cultures and their underlying belief systems, e.g. their religion. Evidence suggests that religion may function to promote prosocial cooperation among unrelated individuals but this alone cannot explain these variations. Cultures and their associated religions are based on and influenced by the society’s values, which are reflected in its social rules. However, pathogen stress may impact values and affect cultural and religious trajectory by influencing the extent to which assortative social or prosocial rules are favoured. We tested this via the thought experiment: ‘what if humans could start a new society founded on a newly developed set of basic social rules – on what rules would you build this new society?’ Forty participants were asked to build a rule system they think would be most supported by potential citizens of the society. First, they rated either a set of pathogen-salient (PS) or pathogen-free (PF) images and then selected and ranked in importance, 15 rules from a list of 60 social rules (20 prosocial, assortative social, and pathogen-management). Analysis revealed that PS-viewers favoured (proportion and weighting) assortative social rules compared with the PF-viewers, who favoured prosocial rules. Selection of pathogen-management rules showed no group difference but were favoured less than prosocial rules and more than assortative social rules by PF-viewers. This may help explain how prolonged pathogen stress can increase in-group assortative sociality and lead to divergence and variation of cultures and their belief systems.
Since we have two speakers this week, we will be starting the meeting at 5:15pm (apologies if this isn’t convenient for some of you). Drinks and munchies provided!
See More

Dear BERG peeps,
This week BERG will be hosting two speakers. PhD Candidate Paxton Culpepper will be giving a talk on his research, but we are also hosting a briefly visiting PhD student, Zsófia Csajbók, from University of Charles, Prague, who wanted a chance to experience the friendly BERG atmosphere while she was in town.
We will hear first from Zsófia. She will be discussing a piece of research her and her colleagues have been conducting, entitled:...
Continue Reading

Hello BERG people,
This Wednesday (March 14th) we have PhD Candidate, Juliet Dunstone, giving a talk on her interesting research, entitled:
How do I know, that you know, that you know? Using dual-tasks to investigate metacognitive learning strategies for cumulative cultural evolution.
... Abstract Cumulative cultural evolution is an apparently human unique ability to change and improve the behaviours or artefacts we use, which leads us to have artefacts and societies that no human could have invented within their lifetime. One current theory about why this ability is unique to humans is that humans are able to use metacognition (knowledge about one’s own knowledge) to make effective strategic decisions about what information to use and where to get this information from. However, there is little to no empirical evidence to test this theory. This is partly due to methodological difficulties in testing for metacognition in lab conditions. In this talk I will explain how I am using dual-task methods to try to overcome this methodological issue, and how I chose the particular methods that I am using in current and future testing.
We hope to see you all there at 5:30pm sharp. As usual, drinks and munchies provided.
See More

Dear BERG tribe,
This week we have an exciting talk from PhD candidate Sophia Daoudi and Prof Phyllis Lee, entitled: Defining Animal Groups.
They have asked me to circulate an article for your own interest and for preparation for the talk/discussion (not that you must be ‘prepared’, but the paper is worth reading nonetheless!). Please contact me if you would like the details of this article.
... We are excited to see everyone back, alive and well at BERG - Wednesday, 07 March, 5:30pm sharp. Drinks and munchies provided.
See More

Dear BERG snow-beasts,
I am very sorry to say (especially for Jade) that due to the adverse weather, BERG is being cancelled tonight. However, we promise to hear Jade’s talk at the end of the semester – it has been moved to April 18th.
If the weather subsides by next week, we hope to see you all next Wednesday for Sophia and Phyllis’ talk.
... Enjoy the snow and be safe! Paxton
See More