The DPZ is looking for highly motivated students interested in bachelor’s theses, master’s theses, or lab rotations. The projects are well suited for students interested in neuroscience, ethology, computer science, electrical engineering, or animal cognition. Depending on your experience, the work may involve behavioral experiments, video-based analysis, automated data collection, computer vision, or the development of new experimental tools.
For more information about possible projects, please contact Jorge (jcabreramoreno@dpz.eu).
Living in social groups means animals must solve many everyday challenges, from deciding whom to approach or avoid to learning when cooperation with others can help them succeed.
Many traditional experiments in social neuroscience have provided important insights into these processes, but they often study social behavior in simplified or restricted settings. In our lab, we are interested in studying social interactions as they unfold naturally in group living animals. We want to understand how animals choose social partners, how these choices change over time, and how repeated interactions shape future decisions.
To do this, we develop experimental environments that combine ethology, neuroscience,
animal cognition, and modern technology. Our goal is to understand how highly social
primates make decisions in real social situations, and how the brain supports these
processes.