Dr. Marietta Dindo
Background
I began my study of non-human primates at the Living Links Capuchin Lab while I was an undergraduate at Emory University. After receiving my Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from Emory in 2002, I began supervising the Living Links Capuchin Lab. During my two-year tenure, I conducted experiments including mirror self-recognition, inequity aversion, and social facilitation of food consumption in capuchins monkeys. In 2004, I became Lead Research Specialist for the Living Links Chimpanzee Lab at the Yerkes Field Station. My research with chimpanzees involved computer-based tasks using a Match-to-Sample research paradigm. The following year, I began my PhD in Evolutionary Psychology at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. Having studied capuchins for years, I was most interested in understanding how their social surroundings within the group affected their day-to-day behavior at both the individual and group levels. My dissertation research focused on these kinds of questions, particularly: (1) the role of social facilitation on the rate of individual learning, (2) the fidelity of learning from localized stimulus enhancement and object-movement re-enactment, and (3) the quality of individual relationships in the social transmission of novel foraging techniques.
Current Research
While I enjoy presenting capuchins with experimental ‘puzzles’ and watching their minds at work, it’s also quite satisfying to relay these scientific findings to others. As a postdoctoral research fellow for the Mind, Brain and Evolution Cluster at the George Washington University, I am continuing with my research efforts to understand the minds of non-human primates. My job is two-fold: to increase what is known about ape cognition through research and publications, and also to increase public awareness of these finds and the minds of all animals through daily research talks at the National Zoo’s Think Tank exhibit.
