Dear BERGers, This Wednesday (4pm) we have a seminar with Luke Townrow (Johns Hopkins University) giving a talk about one of her PhD projects entitled "Nonhuman Primate Theory of Mind: An Investigation Into Cues & Representations". The meeting will be held online (link below). Abstract: Theory of mind - our ability to ascribe mental states to others and use these attributions to predict their subsequent behaviors - is critical for human social cognition. Whilst we know that theory of mind in humans can facilitate everyday behaviors ranging from playful deception to cooperative conversations, work over the last 20 years has more closely considered the similarities and differences in perspective-taking capacities that we may share with our closest living relatives. The extent to which nonhuman primates rely on theory of mind is highly debated, including discussions regarding how flexibly these abilities can be deployed (i.e., across both cooperative and competitive contexts), and what mental states they can even represent. I will be presenting two studies completed as part of my PhD so far that speak to great apes’ abilities to represent the minds of others, with particular emphasis on cues and representations. I will argue that nonhuman great apes demonstrate a capacity for the flexible deployment of perspective-taking across various contexts, that they can minimally track the ignorance of other agents and are able to use mental state representations to flexibly adapt their own behaviors (i.e., rates of communication). --- Link to the meeting: BERG research seminars | Meeting-Join | Microsoft Teams<https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2F… BERG seminar schedule (Fall 2025) Wednesday 16:00 15-Oct-25 Luke Townrow John Hopkins University tbc: great apes cognition Alex tbc Wednesday 16:00 22-Oct-25 tbc 29-Oct-25 MID SEMESTER BREAK Wednesday 16:00 5-Nov-25 IMPACT meeting Pawel F2F Wednesday 16:00 12-Nov-25 Mélissa Berthet University of Rennes tbc: vocal behaviour in bonobos Pawel Online Wednesday 16:00 19-Nov-25 Eleonore Rolland Eleonore Rolland tbc: mother-infant attachment in wild chimpanzees Pawel Online Wednesday 16:00 26-Nov-25 tbc Wednesday 16:00 3-Dec-25 Floriane Fournier Université Jean Monnet "tbc: The role of nonlinear phenomena in vocal emotional expression and perception in bonobos " Pawel Online Best wishes, Pawel ------------------------------- Dr Pawel Fedurek (he/his) Lecturer in Psychology Behaviour and Evolution Research Group (BERG) Division of Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences University of Stirling Stirling, FK9 4LA Scotland, UK @pawel-fedurek<https://bsky.app/profile/pawel-fedurek.bsky.social> @berg-stirling<https://bsky.app/profile/berg-stirling.bsky.social> Staff page<https://www.stir.ac.uk/people/1080868> | BERG page<https://www.stir.ac.uk/about/faculties/natural-sciences/our-research/research-groups/behaviour-and-evolution-research-group/> I aim to reply within 3 working days (my working days are between Monday and Friday). ________________________________ Scotland’s University for Sporting Excellence The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159