My research interests concern the evolution of cognition. My students, collaborators and I focus primarily on spatial and social cognition. Our comparative work on spatial cognition examines how animals, as diverse as ants, rodents, birds and humans, use information within their environment to orient and navigate. My research has examined issues such as how ecology and experience influence cue use, as well as how aging and the underlying mechanistic changes influence orientation and navigation. Within the area of social cognition, my laboratory focuses primarily on how food-storing birds use information when engaged in caching behavior.

I am currently a Professor in Psychology, an Adjunct Professor in Biological Sciences and a Canada Research Chair at the University of Manitoba. I am also the past-President of the Comparative Cognition Society, Editor-in-Chief for Animal Cognition, and Associate Editor for Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. Website