Learning is a fundamental ability present across species—from insects to humans—that allows individuals to adapt and respond to fluctuating environments. Researchers in fields such as behavioral ecology, biology, zoology, and psychology have developed methods and theories to understand learning within the species they study, but the typically isolated manner of this work has limited valid comparisons across species. To begin to unravel the mysteries of learning and its evolutionary origins, ManyManys 1 (MM1) will develop and implement an innovative task to measure, describe, and compare reversal learning abilities across animal taxa. While reversal learning has been investigated in numerous species, each study has typically focused on one at a time. ManyManys 1 will collect data from a wide range of taxa in a single study.
Our team believes in staying connected and fostering collaboration. We hold regular meetings and discuss ideas and plans using Slack. If you are interested in joining our network, you can reach out to the project leads —Nicolás Alessandroni and Laurent Prétôt— at themanymanys1@gmail.com!
Project Leads
Contributors [listed alphabetically]
- Drew M. Altschul (University of Edinburgh, UK)
- Kristin Andrews (York University, Canada)
- Lisa P. Barret (ManyZoos, Indiana University Bloomington, USA)
- Heidi A. Baumgartner (Stanford University, USA)
- Marina Bazhydai (Lancaster University, UK)
- Mariana Bentosela (National Scientific and Technical Research Council, CONICET, Argentina)
- Michael Beran (Georgia State University, USA)
- Sarah F. Brosnan (Georgia State University, USA)
- Krista Byers-Heinlein (Concordia University, Canada)
- Josep Call (University of St Andrews, UK)
- Mahmoud M. Elsherif (University of Leicester, UK)
- Julia Espinosa (Harvard University, USA)
- Marianne S. Freeman (University Centre Sparsholt, UK)
- Molly E. Gilmour (University of Postdam, Germany)
- Biljana Gjoneska (Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts, North Macedonia)
- Suzanne L. Gray (College of the Holy Cross, USA)
- Lauren M. Guillette (University of Alberta, Canada)
- Onur Güntürkün (Ruhr-Univesity Bochum, Germany)
- Yseult Héjja-Brichard (University of Maryland, USA)
- Ludwig Huber (Messerli Research Institute / University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Austria)
- Debbie M. Kelly (University of Manitoba, Canada)
- Valerie A. Kuhlmeier (Queen's University, Canada)
- Valeria Mazza (University of Potsdam / University of Tuscia, Germany / Italy)
- Noam Miller (Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada)
- Rachael Miller (Anglia Ruskin University, UK)
- David Moreau (University of Auckland, New Zealand)
- Christian Nawroth (Research Institute for Farm Animal Biology, Germany)
- Mary Beth Neff (University of Oslo, Norway)
- Victoria L. O'Connor (Oakland University / Bergen County Zoo, USA)
- Ekaterina Pronizius (University of Vienna, Austria)
- Muhammad A. J. Qadri (College of the Holy Cross, USA)
- Olivia Reilly (Harvard University, USA)
- Raoul Schwing (University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Austria)
- Carla Sebastián-Enesco (Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain)
- Vedrana Šlipogor (University of South Bohemia, Czech Republic)
- Melanie Soderstrom (University of Manitoba, Canada)
- Alexandra A. de Sousa (Seattle, USA)
- Jeffrey R. Stevens (University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA)
- Birgit Szabo (University of Bern, Switzerland)
- Ingmar Visser (University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
- Jennifer Vonk (Oakland University, USA)
- Madison Williams (Concordia University, Canada)
- Martin Zettersten (Princeton University, USA)