Biopsychology Area Chair Professor, Psychology and Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
About
Additional Research Interests: Social Behavior, Communication
I am interested in social behavior and social cognition from an evolutionary perspective. My research on social cognition in primates focuses on the cognitive abilities that underlie social behavior. Specifically, I look at how dominance and family relationships structure primate social groups and then ask what do the members of these groups know about this structure? Ultimately, I am interested in the causal connections between sociality and cognition. I am also interested in vocal communication, primarily as it relates to other social behaviors. How do vocalizations mediate social interactions? What social factors might favor larger vocal repertoires? Much of my research addresses sexual selection, looking at how primates assess competitors and potential mates. Recently, I have become interested in hormone-behavior interactions. I use non-invasive hormone sampling as a way to both measure the physiological consequences of behavior and to assess potential determinants of behavior. Finally, I am interested in the ways that ecology shapes social systems and behaviors. My research addresses these questions in three types of free ranging primates: 1) baboons (members of the genus Papio) in Ethiopia and Botswana, 2) gelada monkeys (Theropithecus gelada) in Ethiopia, and 3) howler monkeys (members of the genus Alouatta) in Mexico. My research involves observation, vocal recordings, hormonal and genetic sampling, as well as playback experiments.
Recent Representative Publications:
Bergman TJ, Beehner JC (2015) Measuring social complexity. Animal Behaviour 103: 203-209.
Snyder-Mackler N, Alberts SC, Bergman TJ. (2014) The Socio-genetics of a complex society: female gelada relatedness patterns mirror association patterns in a multilevel society. Molecular Ecology 23(24): 6179-6191
Bergman TJ. (2013) Speech-like vocalized lip-smacking in geladas. Current Biology 23(7):R268-R269.
le Roux A, Snyder-Mackler N, Roberts EK, Beehner JC, Bergman TJ (2013) Evidence for tactical concealment in a wild primate. Nature Communications 4:1462.
Bergman TJ, Sheehan MJ (2013). Social knowledge and signals in primates. American Journal of Primatology. 75(7): 683-694
Snyder-Mackler N, Alberts SC, Bergman TJ. (2012) Concessions of an alpha male? Cooperative defence and shared reproduction in multi-male primate groups. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 279(1743):3788-3795.
Gustison ML, le Roux A, Bergman TJ. (2012) Derived vocalizations of geladas (Theropithecus gelada) and the evolution of vocal complexity in primates. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 367(1597):1847-1859.
For a list of publications, visit Research ID.
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