Marina Davila Ross Portrait

Dr Marina Davila Ross

Associate Professor in Comparative Psychology

Marina.Davila-Ross@port.ac.uk

PhD Supervisor

View my research outputs
Faculty of Science and Health School of Psychology, Sport and Health Sciences Psychology Biological sciences Sustainability and the environment Democratic citizenship Comparative and Evolutionary Psychology Dog Cognition Centre

Biography

I study the evolution of communication, cognition and emotions, by comparing orangutans, chimpanzees, and children in their natural social settings. My special interests are laughter and play in apes and humans, acoustics, language and multimodal communication, social learning and mimicking, personality, emotions and empathy, phylogenetic reconstructions, and conservation. Opportunities for student research:

Ape Field Research:

Personality traits and foraging skills of orangutans at different stages in the rehabilitation process (curiosity, spatial cognition etc.). Study sites: Kabili-Sepilok Forest Reserve and Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre (Borneo)

Multimodal communication, social play, and social learning in semi-wild chimpanzees of three colonies. Study site: Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage, Zambia

Comparative Psychology:

Research on positive communication in children (schools in ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú) or other primates (Owl & Monkey Haven)

Research interests

  • Laughter and laugh faces in apes and humans
  • The evolution of language and multimodal communication
  • Mimicking, emotional contagion and the evolution of empathy
  • Acoustics and facial expressions
  • Personality
  • Competition and cooperation
  • Development and social learning
  • Social bonding and play
  • Phylogenetic reconstructions of primate behaviours
  • Interactions between apes, humans, and interactive robots
  • Ape conservation

Research outputs

2024

Adue, S., Davila-Ross, M., Dezecache, G., M’Botella, M., Tatone, D., Taylor, D., Zuberbühler, K.

6 Dec 2024, In: PeerJ. 12, 14p., e18498

Davila Ross, M., Francesconi, M., Loprete, A. L., Maglieri, V., Palagi, E.

1 Dec 2024, In: Animal Behaviour. 218

Crepaldi, F., Davila-Ross, M., Dezecache, G., Proops, L., Rocque, F.

6 Nov 2024, In: Scientific Reports. 14, 1, 12p., 26921

Davila Ross, M., Gibson, V., Nomikou, I., Salphati, S., Somogyi, E., Taylor, D. J.

23 Oct 2024, In: Royal Society Open Science. 11, 10, 18p., 240632

2023

Davila-Ross, M., Dezecache, G., Gustafsson, E., Taylor, D.

20 Oct 2023, In: iScience. 26, 10, 107791

Boysen, S. T., Davila-Ross, M., Gibson, V., Hobaiter, C.

1 Sep 2023, In: Animal Cognition. 26

Clay, Z., Davila Ross, M., Doherty, E.

1 Jul 2023, In: Animal Behaviour. 201, 16p.

Davila Ross, M., Gibson, V., Lopez, B., Mulenga, I. C., Nomikou, I., Somogyi, E., Taylor, D.

20 Jun 2023, In: Scientific Reports. 13, 10p., 9969

Davila-Ross, M., Dezecache, G., Gustafsson, E., Taylor, D.

1 May 2023, In: Developmental Science. 26, 3, p. 1-14, 14p., e13334

Davila-Ross, M., Rawlings, B. S., Van Leeuwen, E. J. C.

1 Mar 2023, In: Learning & Behavior. 51, 1, p. 48-58