We are interested in the mechanisms of animal behavior and how those mechanisms evolve. The lab employs a diverse array of approaches, ranging from computational models to the molecular analysis of gene expression. This work is strongly anchored in empirical studies of animal behavior in both the laboratory and field. Current projects are aimed at understanding the role of the vasopressin V1a receptor in rodent social behaviors. We would like to know why the vasopressin receptor shows so much within and between species variation in brain expression, and how this variation in neural phenotype contributes to social behaviors. The behaviors we study include the formation of pair-bonds in the monogamous prairie vole, and the production and perception of advertisement calls in the singing mouse. These projects involve substantial field components in both the U.S. and Central America.

Behavioral ecology and social cognition

Proximate mechanisms in behavioral evolution

Social cognition and molecular neuroscience