The Comparative Communication Laboratory at the University of Tennessee

[L-R: Julia Bartmess-LeVasseur, Jessica Owens, Alexandria Hickman, Todd Freeberg, Courtney Stec, David Book, Sheri Browning, Christy Whitt]

Our research seeks to understand how social processes influence communication. We test the roles of social groups on vocal signaling in chickadees and titmice (Paridae), taking developmental, functional, and evolutionary perspectives.

Recent and ongoing projects in the lab include:

• testing the roles of group size and complexity of social interactions on vocal signaling
• experimental tests of the role of traffic noise on avian vocal signaling and social behavior
• understanding the influences of social experience on vocal development
• testing the functions of variation in the 'chick-a-dee' call of chickadees and titmice
• uncovering the relationships among social context, 'personality', and communication in chickadees
• documenting vocal signal variation in red-legged seriema (at the Knoxville Zoo)

for more information:

Todd M. Freeberg - - - Email = tfreeber@utk.edu - - - Phone = 865-974-3975

Department of Psychology, Austin Peay Building 301B, University of Tennessee, Knoxville TN 37996 U.S.A.