Will Whitham- PhD Psychology
- PostDoc at Texas A&M University
Will Whitham
- PhD Psychology
- PostDoc at Texas A&M University
About
6
Publications
493
Reads
How we measure 'reads'
A 'read' is counted each time someone views a publication summary (such as the title, abstract, and list of authors), clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the full-text. Learn more
32
Citations
Introduction
I am a comparative psychologist - someone who studies animal minds to understand how they are similar to and different from our own. I work most closely with apes and monkeys as part of ongoing projects on the evolution of primate eyes. Current projects feature modeling of animal perception, eyetracking of monkeys and apes, and broad focus on deployment of attention to primate social ecology.
Current institution
Texas A&M University
Current position
- PostDoc
Additional affiliations
April 2020 - present
Education
August 2017 - August 2020
Georgia State University
Field of study
- Psychology
August 2014 - August 2017
August 2010 - April 2014
University of Alabama
Field of study
- Psychology
Publications
Publications (6)
Accurate eye tracking is crucial for gaze-dependent research, but calibrating eye trackers in subjects who cannot follow instructions, such as human infants and nonhuman primates, presents a challenge. Traditional calibration methods rely on verbal instructions, which are ineffective for these populations. To address this, researchers often use att...
Primates can rapidly detect potential predators and modify their behavior based on the level of risk. The gaze direction of predators is one feature that primates can use to assess risk levels: recognition of a predator’s direct stare indicates to prey that it has been detected and the level of risk is relatively high. Predation has likely shaped v...
Eyes convey important information about the external and internal worlds of animals. Individuals can follow the gaze of others to learn about the location of salient objects as well as assess eye qualities to evaluate the health, age or other internal states of conspecifics. Because of the increasing prevalence of artificial lighting at night (ALAN...
Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) sclera appear much darker than the white sclera of human eyes, to such a degree that the direction of chimpanzee gaze may be concealed from conspecifics. Recent debate surrounding this topic has produced mixed results, with some evidence suggesting that (1) primate gaze is indeed concealed from their conspecifics, and (...
Eye gaze is an important source of information for animals, implicated in communication, cooperation, hunting and antipredator behaviour. Gaze perception and its cognitive underpinnings are much studied in primates, but the specific features that are used to estimate gaze can be difficult to isolate behaviourally. We photographed 13 laboratory-hous...
Probabilistic categorization tasks present the learner with a set of possible responses and imperfect cue evidence of which response will be rewarded. A single, optimal integration of all available cues into an optimal response is possible given any set of evidence. In contrast, there are many possible uses of the cues that offer the learner subopt...
