Research Interests
My research interests are in the area of animal cognition and behavioral complexity, particularly with regard to issues of mental representation and cognitive evolution. My laboratory research focused on the evolution of color patterns in prey organisms, which I explored using a virtual prey population attacked by live blue jays. I have also investigated the evolution of social cognition, using comparative studies of related species of jays and have conducted extensive field research on the comparative ethology of parrots, particularly keas, kakas, and kakapos, exploring the implications for the evolution of behavioral flexibility. I officially retired from the University of Nebraska in February 2015, and I am no longer supervising graduate students.