Brittany Florkiewicz

Brittany Florkiewicz
Lyon College · Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy

About

17
Publications
1,183
Reads
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45
Citations
Introduction
​I am a comparative & evolutionary psychologist conducting research on the properties of animal facial signaling and its implications for the evolution of sociality, gestural communication, and human language. I work with various captive populations of non-human primates (platyrrhines, cercopithecoids, gibbons, orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees) and non-primate mammals (cats and dogs). To study the physical form of facial signals, I make use of Facial Action Coding Systems (or FACS).
Additional affiliations
January 2017 - September 2018
University of California, Los Angeles
Position
  • Project Manager
January 2017 - September 2018
University of California, Los Angeles
Position
  • Research Lab Coordinator
May 2015 - May 2016
Gibbon Conservation Center
Position
  • Volunteer Primate Caregiver
Education
September 2016 - June 2022
University of California, Los Angeles
Field of study
  • Anthropology
August 2014 - May 2016
Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Field of study
  • Anthropology
August 2010 - June 2014
University of North Carolina Wilmington
Field of study
  • Anthropology

Publications

Publications (17)
Article
Researchers frequently use focal individual sampling to study primate communication. Recent studies of primate gestures have shown that opportunistic sampling offers benefits not found in focal individual sampling, such as the collection of larger sample sizes. What is not known is whether the opportunistic method is biased towards certain signal t...
Article
Full-text available
Great ape manual gestures are described as communicative, flexible, intentional, and goal-oriented. These gestures are thought to be an evolutionary pre-cursor to human language. Conversely, facial expressions are thought to be inflexible, automatic, and derived from emotion. However, great apes can make a wide range of movements with their faces,...
Article
Full-text available
Primate facial musculature enables a wide variety of movements during bouts of communication, but how these movements contribute to signal construction and repertoire size is unclear. The facial mobility hypothesis suggests that morphological constraints shape the evolution of facial repertoires: species with higher facial mobility will produce lar...
Article
Lately, there has been a growing interest in studying domestic cat facial signals, but most of this research has centered on signals produced during human-cat interactions or pain. The available research on intraspecific facial signaling with domesticated cats has largely focused on non-affiliative social interactions. However, the transition to in...
Article
Full-text available
There is growing interest in the facial signals of domestic cats. Domestication may have shifted feline social dynamics towards a greater emphasis on facial signals that promote affiliative bonding. Most studies have focused on cat facial signals during human interactions or in response to pain. Research on intraspecific facial communication in cat...
Presentation
Full-text available
PROBLEM: Great apes use hand gestures during social negotiations to achieve imperative goals. Recent studies show that great apes also use facial gestures to accomplish these goals, with demographic factors like age, sex, and social rank influencing success. Most research has focused on examining the impact of specific variables separately on the p...
Article
The Facial Action Coding System (FACS) is currently the most popular systematic and standardized method of studying facial expressions in mammals. Since its original release for humans, the FACS has expanded to include primates such as chimpanzees. The FACS trains its users to analyze facial expressions by identifying individual muscle movements (c...
Presentation
Full-text available

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