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DySoC/NIMBioS Seminar Series
DySoC and NIMBioS are hosting a series of seminars on topics related to social complexity. Monthly seminars will be held at NIMBioS in Room 206, Claxton Building, 1122 Volunteer Blvd. Light refreshments will be served in Room 205 beginning 30 minutes before each talk. Faculty and students from across the UT community are welcome to join us.
Speaker: Dr. Todd Freeberg, Psychology, Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville; Center for the Dynamics of Social Complexity (DySoC)
Time/Date: Monday, August 27, 2018, 3:30*
Location: Room 206, Claxton Building, 1122 Volunteer Blvd.
Topic: Songbird social psychology: Flock complexity affects Carolina chickadee behavior
Abstract:
We have known for decades that animal behavior is influenced by the genetic and developmental backgrounds of individuals. In human behavior, it is also clear that the immediate social context of an individual powerfully influences her or his behavior. It is becoming increasingly clear that social context also plays an important role in non-human animal behavior. This presentation will outline a few of the experiments we have conducted recently on the vocal and problem-solving behavior of Carolina chickadees, a small songbird common to the southeastern United States. We have found that chickadee flock size and composition influence the complexity and use of calls by individuals, and also their ability to solve novel foraging problems. Our work provides support to the hypothesis that social complexity drives communicative complexity and may drive social intelligence.
Dr. Todd Freeberg is professor and associate head of the Department of Psychology and is a joint faculty member in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. His research focuses on relationships between complexity of social groups and the diversity of communicative s ignals used by individuals in those groups. He is an Associate Editor for the journals Animal Behaviour and the Journal of Comparative Psychology.
*Join us for refreshments at 3 p.m.
Seminar Flyer (pdf)
Live Stream.
Unless otherwise noted, NIMBioS seminars are streamed live.
To view the live stream, visit /videos/livestream.
Live-streamed seminars are archived for later viewing on NIMBIoS' YouTube channel.
For more information about this and other NIMBioS Seminars, visit /announcements/seminars.
NIMBioS
1122 Volunteer Blvd., Suite 106
University of Tennessee
Knoxville,
TN 37996-3410
PH: (865) 974-9334
FAX: (865) 974-9461
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