

Samantha Carouso-Peck, Ph.D.
Executive Director, Grassland Bird Trust

Background and Research
Interests: Development, learning, cognition, animal behavior, psychology, endocrinoology, neuroscience, ornithology, evolution.
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I study social effects on vocal learning in songbirds as a model for human speech acquisition. Using behavioral, endocrine, neurobiological, and phylogenetic techniques, I study the cognitive and evolutionary basis of socially guided vocal learning from a comparative perspective.
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I studied animal behavior and communication at Williams College, where I obtained a B.A. in Biology in 2010. I went on to study cognition and vocal learning in African Grey Parrots at Brandeis University, and the neural basis of the visual object recognition system in rats at Harvard University.
I received my Ph.D from Cornell University's Psychology Department in May 2019.