Psychology

Bridget Waller

Dr. Bridget Waller

Senior Lecturer

Psychology

bridget.waller@port.ac.uk

Profile

PhD Psychology
MSc Evolutionary Psychology
BSc Zoology (Hons)

Background

I joined the department as a Lecturer in Psychology in 2006 and am a member of The Centre for the Study of Emotion and the Animal Behaviour Research Group.  I completed my PhD in 2005, working on the Chimpanzee Facial Action Coding Scheme project (with Kim Bard, Lisa Parr, Sarah-Jane Vick and Marcia Smith Pasqualini). Prior to working at the University of Portsmouth I was a Research Assistant in Cognitive Psychology at Glasgow Caledonian University, completed my Masters in Evolutionary Psychology at the University of Liverpool and studied Zoology as an undergraduate at Royal Holloway University of London.  I am a member of the Primate Society of Great Britain, The International Primatological Society and The International Society for Facial Expression.

Personal Homepage:  www.bridgetwaller.com

Teaching responsibilities

I teach on the undergraduate degree programmes for BSc Psychology, BSc Forensic Psychology and BSc Psychology with Criminology.  I teach Biological Psychology (Unit Coordinator), Evolutionary Psychology (Unit Coordinator) and Personality and Individual Differences.  I also supervise undergraduate dissertations on facial expression, emotion, evolutionary psychology and primate behaviour.

Research Interests

The overarching focus of my work is the evolution of social communication.  I am particularly interested in human and non-human primate facial expression and emotion, and how these signals contribute to sociality and social bonding.  I am a certified FACS (Facial Action Coding System) coder and was part of the development team for ChimpFACS – a modification of FACS for use with chimpanzees (The Chimpanzee Facial Action Coding System: funded by the Leverhulme Trust, PI Kim Bard).

Current research projects

    • Comparing emotional expression across species - GibbonFACS. A Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) funded project within the Excellence initiative Languages of Emotion (Project leaders: Katja Liebal, Bridget Waller and Anne Burrows)
    • Function of ‘smiling’ and ‘laughing’ in chimpanzee play
    • Individual variation in human facial muscles (with Anne Burrows, Duquesne University)
    • "Measuring expressive movement in monkeys" R03 grant to Dr. Lisa Parr, Emory University, USA, with Bridget Waller, Co-Investigator, 2007-2009, from National Institutes of Mental Health (NIH- NIMH), US


    Indicative publications

    Samson, A.V.M. & Waller, B.M. (in press).  Not smiling but growling: New interpretations of the bared-teeth motif in the precolumbian Caribbean. Current Anthropology

    Burrows, A.M., Waller, B.M. & Parr, L.A. (2009).  Facial musculature in the rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta): evolutionary and functional contexts with comparisons to chimpanzees and humans. Journal of Anatomy, 215, 320-334.

    Stewart, P.A. & Waller, B.M. & Schubert, J.N. (2009).  Presidential speech making style: Emotional response to micro-expressions of facial affect. Motivation and Emotion, 33, 125-135.

    Stafford, L.D, Salehi, S, Waller, B.M. (2009).  Odours cue memory for odour associated words. Chemosensory Perception, 2, 59-69.

    Rogers, C.R., Mooney, M.P., Smith, T.D., Weinberg, S.M., Waller, B.M., Parr, L.A., Docherty, B.A., Bonar, C.J., Reinholt, L.E., Deleyiannis, F.W.B, Siegel, M.I., Marazita, M.L., & Burrows, A.M. (2009). Comparative microanatomy of the orbicularis oris muscle between chimpanzees and humans: evolutionary divergence of lip function. Journal of Anatomy, 214 (1), 36-44.

    Waller, B.M., Cray, J.J. & Burrows, A.M. (2008).  Selection for universal facial emotion.  Emotion, 8(3), 435-439.

    Waller, B.M., Parr, L.A., Gothard, K.M., Burrows, A.M. and A.J. Fuglevand. (2008).  Mapping the contribution of single muscles to facial movements in the Rhesus Macaque.  Physiology & Behaviour, 95(1-2), 93-100.

    Parr, L.A., Waller, B.M. & Heintz, M. (2008).  Facial expression categorization by chimpanzees using standardised stimuli.  Emotion, 8(2), 216-231.

    Waller, B.M., Bard, K.A., Vick, S.J. & Smith Pasqualini, M.C.  (2007). Perceived differences between chimpanzee and human facial expressions are related to emotional interpretation. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 121(4), 398-404.

    Parr, L.A., Waller, B.M. & Vick, S.J. (2007).  New developments in understanding emotional facial signals in chimpanzees.  Current direction in Psychological Science, 16, 117-122.

    Parr, L.A., Waller, B.M., Vick, S.J. & Bard, K.A. (2007). Classifying chimpanzee facial expressions by muscle action. Emotion, 7(1), 172-181.

    Vick, S.J., Waller, B.M., Parr, L.A., Smith Pasqualini, M.C. & Bard, K.A. (2007). A cross-species comparison of facial morphology and movement in humans and chimpanzees using the facial action coding system (FACS). Journal of Nonverbal Behaviour, 31, 1-20.

    Parr, L.A. & Waller, B.M. (2006).  Understanding chimpanzee facial expression: Insights into the evolution of communication. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. 1, 221-228.

    Waller, B.M., Vick, S.J., Parr, L.A., Bard, K.A., Smith Pasqualini, M.C., Gothard, K. & Fuglevand,  A. (2006). Intramuscular stimulation of facial muscles in humans and chimpanzees: Duchenne revisited. Emotion, 6(3), 367-382.

    Burrows, A., Waller,  B.M. & Parr, L.A. & Bonar, C.J. (2006). Muscles of facial expression in the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes):  Descriptive, comparative, and phylogenetic contexts. Journal of Anatomy, 208(2), 153-168.

    Parr, L.A., Waller,  B.M. & Fugate, J. (2005). Emotional communication in primates: Implications for neurobiology. Current Opinion in Neurobiology,  15(6), 716-720.

    Waller, B.M. & Dunbar, R.I.M. (2005). Differential behavioural effects of silent bared teeth display and relaxed open mouth display in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Ethology 111, 129-142.

    Bethell, E.J. & Waller,  B.M. (2005). Altruism or cooperation in captive chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes?  Folia Primatologica,  76, 242-244.

    Brodie, E.E., Wyatt, R., & Waller, B.M. (2004) Drawing upon representations: An empirical study of artists depicting the human face. Empirical Studies of the Arts  22(2), 171-180.

    Brodie, E.E., Whyte, A. & Waller, B.M.  (2003). Increased motor control of a phantom leg in humans results from the visual feedback of a virtual leg.  Neuroscience Letters 341, 167-169.

    Book chapters

    Parr, L.A. & Waller, B.M. (in press). The evolution of social cognition. In: Handbook of Social Neuroscience, Oxford University Press.

    Parr, L.A. & Waller, B.M. (2007). The Evolution of Human Emotion.  In T.M. Preuss & J.H. Kaas (Eds.), The Evolution of Primate Nervous Systems.  London: Elsevier.


    Invited talks

    Waller, B.M. (2009) Primate facial expression: Form and function. Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology, Sept 2009.

    Waller, B.M. (2009). Universal facial expression: How do basic emotions emerge from facial muscle signatures? Oxford University Psychology Society Seminar Series, May 2009.

    Waller, B.M. (2008). What can variation tell us about universality? How basic emotions emerge from individual facial muscle signatures. University of Manchester Psychology Seminar Series, October, 2008.

    Waller, B.M.  (2007).  Facial muscles in humans, chimpanzees and rhesus macaques: establishing anatomically based facial expression coding systems.  British Psychological Society Seminar Series ‘Gestural and vocal expression of emotion in primates’ University of Portsmouth, Sept 2007.  

    Waller, B.M.  (2007).  The evolutionary psychology of facial communication.  Evolutionary Psychology and Behavioural Ecology Research Group Seminar Series, University of Liverpool, March, 2007

    Waller, B.M.  (2006). Comparing faces: Development and application of the ChimpFACS.  Psychology Departmental Seminar Series, University of Durham, Feb 10, 2006

    Waller, B.M.  (2005). Facial muscle function in humans and chimpanzees.  Oral presentation at The Facial Measurement and Meaning Conference, University of Durham, Sept 13-16, 2005


    Presentations

    Waller, B.M. (2008). How uniform are human facial muscles? Implications for the evolution of universal facial emotion. Symposium: Facial expression in primates (Organisers: Parr, Waller, Vick), International Primatological Society XXII Congress, Edinburgh, August, 2008.

    Waller, B.M. (2008). Intramuscular electrical stimulation of facial muscles in humans, chimpanzees and rhesus macaques. American Association of Physical Anthropologists 77th Annual Meeting, Columbus, USA. 2008.

    Waller, B.M. (2006).  Micro-analysis of facial expression during play in chimpanzees. Oral presentation at the Congress of the International Primatological Society, Entebbe, Uganda. 23-29 June, 2006.

    Waller, B.M. (2005). Exploring facial musculature in chimpanzees and humans: Duchenne revisited  and expanded.  Oral presentation at the Leverhulme Trust ChimpFACS Workshop, University of Portsmouth, March 17-20, 2005

    Waller, B.M. (2005). Intramuscular electrical stimulation of human facial muscles.  Departmental seminar, University of Portsmouth, March 2, 2005

    Waller, B.M., Vick, S.J., Fuglevand, A., Parr, L.A. and Bard, K.A. (2004). Structure and function of facial muscles in Homo sapiens  and Pan troglodytes. Oral presentation at the Congress of the International Primatological Society, Torino, Italy, 22-28 August, 2004

    Waller, B.M., Fernandez-Carriba, S, Hopkins, W.D. and Bard, K.A. (2003).  Perception of the chimpanzee ‘smile’ – can we trust our observations? Poster presentation at Facial Measurement and Meaning Conference, Rimini, Italy, September 18-20, 2003

    Vick, S.J., Waller, B.M., Parr, L.A., Smith Pasqualini, M.C. and Bard, L.A. (2003). Development of the  Chimpanzee Facial Action Coding System.  Poster presentation at The Social Neuroscience of Emotion Workshop, University of Portsmouth, August, 2003

    Waller, B.M. (2003).  Differential behavioural effects of ‘smiling’ and ‘laughing’ in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).  Oral presentation at the Primate Society of Great Britain, Spring Meeting.  University of St. Andrews.  April 10-11, 2003
    (Prize awarded for best postgraduate presentation)


    Collaborations:

    Lisa Parr (Yerkes National Primate Center, Emory University)

    Anne Burrows     (Department of Physical Therapy, Duquense University)

    Sarah-Jane Vick     (Department of Psychology, University of Stirling)