Dr Marina Davila Ross
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
2024
The motivation to inform others: a field experiment with wild chimpanzees
Adue, S., Davila-Ross, M., Dezecache, G., M’Botella, M., Tatone, D., Taylor, D., Zuberbühler, K.
6 Dec 2024, In: PeerJ. 12, 14p., e18498
Without optimum support: effect of maternal early deprivation on play in semiwild chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes
Davila Ross, M., Francesconi, M., Loprete, A. L., Maglieri, V., Palagi, E.
1 Dec 2024, In: Animal Behaviour. 218
Orangutans and chimpanzees produce morphologically varied laugh faces in response to the age and sex of their social partners
Crepaldi, F., Davila-Ross, M., Dezecache, G., Proops, L., Rocque, F.
6 Nov 2024, In: Scientific Reports. 14, 1, 12p., 26921
Young sanctuary-living chimpanzees produce more communicative expressions with artificial objects than with natural objects
Davila Ross, M., Gibson, V., Nomikou, I., Salphati, S., Somogyi, E., Taylor, D. J.
23 Oct 2024, In: Royal Society Open Science. 11, 10, 18p., 240632
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