{"id":171,"date":"2022-09-08T09:37:23","date_gmt":"2022-09-08T08:37:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biology.st-andrews.ac.uk\/research\/?post_type=research_group&p=171"},"modified":"2022-12-21T10:20:56","modified_gmt":"2022-12-21T10:20:56","slug":"healy-lab","status":"publish","type":"research_group","link":"https:\/\/biology.st-andrews.ac.uk\/research\/research-group\/healy-lab\/","title":{"rendered":"Healy Lab"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cognition In The Wild<\/h1>\n

\"Hurly-\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Group website: https:\/\/cognitioninthewild.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk\/<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cognition In The Wild Group website: https:\/\/cognitioninthewild.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":72,"featured_media":172,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-171","research_group","type-research_group","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"group_members":"

People<\/h1>\r\nPrinciple Investigator\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>\r\n\r\nProfessor Sue Healy<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>\r\n\r\n\"SueCanada\"<\/a>\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nI have several avenues of research currently underway all stemming from an interest in relationships between behaviour and the correlated neural processing, specifically the processing of spatial information; adaptive specialisation of memory; effects of behavioural experience on the development of the avian hippocampus, particularly in migrant songbirds;\u00a0field tests of spatial memory and context-dependent choice in hummingbirds.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n
\r\n\r\nPostdocs and fellows<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\r\n\r\nPhD and Masters students<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\r\n\r\nInterns<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\r\n\r\n
\r\n\r\nCollaborators<\/a><\/strong><\/span>","publications":"[publications flag='individual' code='sdh11' dois='1' max='10' categorise='1']","research_projects":"

Research<\/h1>\r\n
\r\n

Nest construction<\/h1>\r\n<\/header>\r\n
\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Material structure<\/a><\/td>\r\nMaterial colour<\/a><\/td>\r\nIn the brain<\/a><\/td>\r\nIndividuality\u00a0<\/a><\/td>\r\nSocial learning<\/a><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\nIntroduction<\/strong>\r\n\r\n\u201cIt is a somewhat remarkable fact that not withstanding the extreme popularity of the subject of Birds\u2019 Nests, no book has yet been published entirely devoted to these beautiful and curious objects. And yet their study \u2014 the science of Caliology \u2014 is one of the most fascinating branches of Ornithology, perhaps more intimately connected with those difficult problems and questions relating to the mental attributes of what man in his ignorance is pleased to consider the \u201d lower animals,\u201d than any other. Indeed, there are many of us who would fain deny the existence of any reasoning faculties whatever in birds, classing their expression in a thousand different ways, all under the vague, meaningless and ridiculous term \u201cInstinct.\u201d<\/em>\r\n\r\nA bird\u2019s nest is the most graphic mirror of a bird\u2019s mind. It is the most palpable example of those reasoning, thinking qualities with which these creatures are unquestionably very highly endowed.<\/em>\r\n\r\nEvidence of this reasoning power confronts the student of Birds\u2019 Nests as he gazes upon each procreant cradle, no matter how crude on the one hand, or how elaborate on the other\u2026\u201d<\/em>\r\n
Charles Dixon 1902<\/div>\r\n
\r\n\r\n\"The<\/a>\r\n

Examples of UK birds nests: the nest of a Eurasian goldfinch (left) and a Eurasian wren (right)<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\nThe role of cognition\u00a0<\/strong>\r\n\r\nBuilding a nest to hatch its eggs and raise its young in is probably one of the most important things \u00a0a bird will do in its life time. The choices it makes about what sort of nest to build and what material to build it with will have a significant impact on the success of a nesting attempt.\u00a0Despite some evidence that some learning is involved in such choices, nest building has historically been assumed to be largely genetically predetermined and inflexible. \u00a0However, we believe that the ability to learn about which materials work best and refine building techniques would be so advantageous for improving the nest structure and therefore reproductive success, that learning and memory are probably more important to this process than has previously been considered.\u00a0We are currently investigating the role of learning and memory in material choice and nest construction behaviour in both Weaverbirds and Zebra Finches.\r\n

\r\n\r\n\"Weavernest2\"<\/a>\r\n

The nest of a Southern Masked weaverbird from Botswana.<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n

\r\n

Foraging behaviour<\/h1>\r\n<\/header><\/div>\r\n
\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Colour cues<\/a><\/td>\r\nTaste cues<\/a><\/td>\r\nTiming<\/a><\/td>\r\nContext dependance<\/a><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Traplining<\/a><\/td>\r\nRisk sensitivity<\/a><\/td>\r\nSpatial memory<\/a><\/td>\r\nFood storing<\/a><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\nEfficient exploitation of food resources is vital to animals survival and involves a number of different challenges including: finding food, remembering which resources provide the best quality food (e.g. flowers of a certain colour, in a certain place or at a certain time of day), remembering when food is available, assessing the quality of food (e.g. by taste or post ingestive feedback), choosing between resources of similar quality that differ in how variable they are, and choosing a optimal routes between different locations (e.g. traplining). We are interested in what aspect of resources animals pay attention to, how they assess them and how good they are at learning about and remembering them.\r\n\r\nMost of our work is conducted in the Alberta, Canada\u00a0with wild rufus hummingbirds (Selasphorus rufus<\/em>). These nectar feeding birds are very bold so we can get close to them and are territorial so we can work with one individual at a time. Their simple sugar diet makes it easy for us to calculate how much energy they are obtaining from their meals and as they feed every ten minutes or so we can quickly gather enough data to answer our questions.<\/span>\r\n\r\n\"Hurly-044\"<\/a>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n
\r\n

Vocal learning<\/h1>\r\n<\/header>\r\n
\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Alarm calling by tits<\/a><\/td>\r\nMimicry in bowerbirds<\/a><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\nVocalisations are important cues or\u00a0signals that allow animals to communicate with one another. We are interested in what information vocalisations contain and how they are learnt.\r\n\r\n\"IMG_1220\"<\/a>\r\n\r\n<\/div>","related_theme":false,"related_centre":[{"ID":85,"post_title":"Centre for Biological Diversity","post_content":"The Centre for Biological Diversity (CBD) is an interdisciplinary group of researchers across St\u00a0Andrews focused on the measurement, origin and consequences of biological variation. The Centre's\u00a0objective is to advance scientific understanding of the diversity of life and contribute pro-actively to policy that protects biological diversity.<\/span>\r\n\r\nMain website<\/a>","post_excerpt":"","post_author":"4","post_date":"2022-01-17 16:17:03","post_date_gmt":"2022-01-17 16:17:03","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"centre-for-biological-diversity","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-09-20 13:32:17","post_modified_gmt":"2022-09-20 12:32:17","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/biology.st-andrews.ac.uk\/research\/?post_type=research_centre&p=85","menu_order":0,"post_type":"research_centre","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","comments":false,"id":85}],"contact":"If you are interested in working with us please\u00a0contact\u00a0<\/span>Dr Sue Healy<\/a><\/span>\u00a0to discuss possibilities:\u00a0<\/span>susan.healy@st-andrews.ac.uk<\/span>","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biology.st-andrews.ac.uk\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research_group\/171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biology.st-andrews.ac.uk\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research_group"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biology.st-andrews.ac.uk\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/research_group"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biology.st-andrews.ac.uk\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/72"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biology.st-andrews.ac.uk\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biology.st-andrews.ac.uk\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}