Michelle Spierings

My main interest is investigating animal cognition by comparing pattern recognition abilities across species. Here, I’m focusing on complex patterns both in the acoustic production as well as perception of zebra finches, budgerigars, other parrots, non-human primates and humans. I intent to connect the cognitive capabilities underlining vocal communication and to understand more about how vocal learning, musicality and language might have evolved.

Judith Varkevisser

I am interested in using the comparative approach to study the evolutionary roots of human language and musicality. I also teach in several courses related to animal behaviour in the BSc and MSc Biology tracks at Leiden University.

Julia Grabner

My PhD thesis is part of the Dynamates project, in which researchers from cognitive biology, cognitive neuroscience and computational modelling are studying human and non-human primates’ perception and prediction of acoustic stimuli moving through space and time. Under the supervision of dr. Michelle Spierings and Prof. Thomas Bugnyar my main focus is on common marmosets’ (Callithrix jacchus) ability to locate stationary and moving sound stimuli to ultimately get insight into their dynamic decision-making process and compare the underlying sensory predicion mechanisms to those found in humans. Furthermore I investigate whether and how marmosets use vocal information to differentiate between unfamiliar and familiar conspecifics and humans.

Nick Dam

Do parrots share the same musical abilities with us humans? In the Bird Singalong Project, we study whether parrots have relative pitch perception and other musical abilites using citizen science techniques.