Our Team.

My research interests concern the evolution of cognition. My students, collaborators, and I focus primarily on spatial and social cognition. Our comparative work on spatial cognition examines how animals, as diverse as dogs, ants, rodents, birds, and humans, use information within their environment to orient and navigate. My research has examined issues such as how ecology and experience influence spatial cue use or how aging and the underlying mechanistic changes affect orientation and navigation. Within the area of social cognition, my laboratory focuses primarily on how food-storing birds use information when engaged in caching behavior. We have examined whether sociality influences cache protection strategies used by food-storing corvids.

I am currently a Professor in Psychology, with a cross-appointment in Biological Sciences. I am also an Associate Member of the Graduate Program in Biomedical Engineering as well as an Associate Member of the Center on Aging. Additionally, I am currently the Editor-in-Chief for Animal Cognition.

I am a Master’s student in Biological Sciences in Dr. Kelly’s lab. I am primarily interested in how spatial cognition in certain species has evolved to deal with the specific challenges in their environment. I have previously received my B.Sc. in Biology at the University of Western Ontario. I have conducted an undergraduate thesis under the supervision of Dr. Scott A. MacDougall-Shackleton, assessing sex-specific spatial memory differences in Brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater).