Universiteit Leiden

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Michelle Spierings

Assistant professor

Name
Dr. M.J. Spierings
Telephone
+31 71 527 5040
E-mail
m.j.spierings@biology.leidenuniv.nl

Michelle Spierings investigates animal cognition and the evolution of language by comparing pattern recognition abilities across species.

More information about Michelle Spierings

I started studying biology in the Bachelor programme of Leiden University and continued with a Master in Neuroscience & Cognition at Utrecht University. During my masters, I studied theory of mind in rooks with of Nicola Clayton at Cambridge University.

My Ph.D. project at Leiden University was a collaborative project with linguists, computational linguists and me and my supervisor, prof. Carel ten Cate, as behavioural biologists. Together we studied which aspects of language perception are shared between humans and other animals. My part of the project focussed on the cognitive perceptual abilities of songbirds (zebra finches) and parrots (budgerigars) and their ability to learn abstract acoustic patterns.

From 2016 until 2020 I’ve worked as a postdoc in Prof. Tecumseh Fitch’s lab studying language perception in pigeons, marmosets and humans. Here I focussed on the cognitive requirements for pattern perception and recognition.

Currently, I’m able to continue this line of research back at Leiden University. Here, I’m focusing on complex patterns both in the acoustic production as well as perception of zebra finches, budgerigars and humans. With this project, I intent to connect the cognitive capabilities underlining the limitations in both production and perception and understand more about how vocal learning and language might have evolved.

Besides my research in Leiden, I’m also PI on the Dynamates project funded by the FWF. This is a collaborative project with computational modelling, cognitive neuroscience and cognitive biology. Together we’re aiming to understand which processes are involved in dynamic decision making with temporal and spatial changes in the acoustic environment. My specific topic is investigating how common marmosets dynamically predict the location and timing of a moving sound source.

Assistant professor

  • Science
  • Instituut Biologie Leiden
  • IBL Animal Sciences

Work address

Sylvius
Sylviusweg 72
2333 BE Leiden
Room number 7.4.19

Contact

Publications

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