Patricia A. Couvillon, Ph.D.
Associate Researcher, PBRC
Core Support Coordinator, PBRC
Education
Research Interests
Our primary interest is in learning and the evolution of intelligence. We work mostly with honeybees, whose performance in a wide range of learning situations proves to be closely similar to that of vertebrates despite the remoteness of the evolutionary relationship and the vast differences in brain size and organization; broad functional convergence is indicated. In work with pigeons and fish, our primary concern is with the development of quantitative theories of learning that permit exact rather than merely ordinal predictions of experimental outcomes.
Selected Publications
Couvillon, P.A., Hsiung, R., Cooke, A.M. & Bitterman, M.E. (2005). The role of context in the inhibitory conditioning of honeybees. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 58B, 59-67.
Drew, M. R., Zupan, B., Cooke, A. Couvillon, P.A. & Balsam, P.D. (2005) Temporal control of conditioned responding in goldfish. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 31, 31-39.
Blaser, R. E., Couvillon, P.A. & Bitterman, M.E. (2006) Blocking and pseudoblocking in honeybees. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 59, 68-76.