In July, an aviary was installed in the Science Center and stocked with budgerigars, or “budgies,” small Australian parrots. The birds allow ongoing research in budgie vocalizations.
Psychology Researchers: Meredith Frey, assistant professor, and Cynthia Laurie-Rose, professor Research project: Frey and Laurie-Rose are beginning the second year of a two-year project funded by the U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences to develop unbiased predictors of cognitive abilities to assist in selection of personnel. The researchers are developing a computer battery that more directly measures the basic processes of intelligence and is not susceptible to environmental effects. In addition to Otterbein students being the subjects of this research, the professors currently employ five undergraduate student research assistants in their lab to program tasks and to collect and analyze data. Student researcher: Psychology major Amanda Zamary ’14 started doing research at the beginning of her sophomore year, studying children and media. During her junior year, she began working with Frey and Laurie-Rose, who were revising a paper that they and a recent graduate, Aristi Ennis ’10, had submitted to a journal. Zamary collected more data for them at a local elementary school, analyzed some of the data and became an additional author on the paper. She continued working with Frey and Laurie-Rose on the Army Reserve Institute project. Last summer, she interned with the Summer Research Experience in Brain and Cognitive Science (SREBCS) at the University of South Carolina. “My mentors think I have ideas worth listening to and I feel important knowing I have contributed to the work,” Zamary said. “We have worked through relentless problems, sorting through and figuring out our data. It is the most rewarding experience I have ever had.”
zoo and conservation science Researcher: Anna Young, director of the Zoo and Conservation Science program Research project: When Young came to Otterbein, she brought with her a research interest in vocal learning, behavior and social stress in captive budgerigars or “budgies,” small Australian parrots that are vocal learners. In July, an aviary was installed on the first floor of the Science Center and stocked with 40 male budgies. The aviary provides a new research opportunity for students and allows Young to continue her research. Student researchers: Kelly McElroy ’13 and Marie Paquette ’14 are looking at individual signatures within budgerigar vocalizations. Each budgie produces a call that appears to have elements unique to that bird, even if the call type is the same for many individuals — similar to people who all say “hello,” but one can tell two friends apart just by hearing their “hello.” By splitting them into smaller social groups or mixing up social groups, students can analyze how their vocalizations change. McElroy is looking at individual signatures across call types, Paquette at signatures across time. Kelly Pruchnicki ’14 is designing an experiment about UV signaling in budgerigars, which have UV patches on their heads that humans can’t detect with their eyes. The UV patches play a role in mate selection and possibly in other social behaviors.
O tte r b e in To w e r s | Fall 2013 |
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