Biography

I study the evolution of communication, cognition and emotions, by comparing orangutans, chimpanzees, and children in their natural social settings. My special interests are laughter and play in apes and humans, acoustics, language and multimodal communication, social learning and mimicking, personality, emotions and empathy, phylogenetic reconstructions, and conservation. Opportunities for student research:

Ape Field Research:

Personality traits and foraging skills of orangutans at different stages in the rehabilitation process (curiosity, spatial cognition etc.). Study sites: Kabili-Sepilok Forest Reserve and Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre (Borneo)

Multimodal communication, social play, and social learning in semi-wild chimpanzees of three colonies. Study site: Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage, Zambia

Comparative Psychology:

Research on positive communication in children (schools in Portsmouth) or other primates (Owl & Monkey Haven)

Research interests

  • Laughter and laugh faces in apes and humans
  • The evolution of language and multimodal communication
  • Mimicking, emotional contagion and the evolution of empathy
  • Acoustics and facial expressions
  • Personality
  • Competition and cooperation
  • Development and social learning
  • Social bonding and play
  • Phylogenetic reconstructions of primate behaviours
  • Interactions between apes, humans, and interactive robots
  • Ape conservation

Research outputs

2023

Vocal functional flexibility in the grunts of young chimpanzees

Davila-Ross, M., Dezecache, G., Gustafsson, E., Taylor, D.

20 Oct 2023, In: iScience. 26, 10, 107791

Object use in communication of semi-wild chimpanzees

Boysen, S. T., Davila-Ross, M., Gibson, V., Hobaiter, C.

1 Sep 2023, In: Animal Cognition. 26

Multimodal communication development in semiwild chimpanzees

Clay, Z., Davila Ross, M., Doherty, E.

1 Jul 2023, In: Animal Behaviour. 201, 16p.

Preverbal infants produce more protophones with artificial objects compared to natural objects

Davila Ross, M., Gibson, V., Lopez, B., Mulenga, I. C., Nomikou, I., Somogyi, E., Taylor, D.

20 Jun 2023, In: Scientific Reports. 13, 10p., 9969

Directedness and engagement in chimpanzee vocal ontogeny

Davila-Ross, M., Dezecache, G., Gustafsson, E., Taylor, D.

1 May 2023, In: Developmental Science. 26, 3, p. 1-14, 14p., e13334

Chimpanzee communities differ in their inter- and intrasexual social relationships

Davila-Ross, M., Rawlings, B. S., Van Leeuwen, E. J. C.

1 Mar 2023, In: Learning & Behavior. 51, 1, p. 48-58

Testing for personality consistency across naturally occurring behavioral contexts in sanctuary chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

Bard, K. A., Chotard, H., Davila‐Ross, M., Micheletta, J.

1 Jan 2023, In: American Journal of Primatology. 85, 1, 15p., e23451

View all my research outputs