Linking facial behaviour and anatomy to social knowledge in non-human primates

About the Project

We are seeking applications for a 3-year full time, fully funded, PhD student.

In this role, based at Nottingham Trent University, you will develop of a body of independent ethological and anatomical research in connection with the Leverhulme Trust funded project, ‘The evolutionary origins of mapping social connections’. This is a three-year project examining how primates use facial expressions to construct mental representations of their social world.

You will work alongside PI Dr Jamie Whitehouse, a post-doctoral researcher also employed on the project, and collaborators Dr Sébastien Ballesta and Prof. Bridget Waller.

Background: Forming an accurate mental map of the complex web of connections which exist between individuals in the social world is a cognitive skill that, if mastered, can provide group living animals with important social benefits. In fact, having an accurate map of your wider social network can benefit individuals more than forming social connections directly. Yet, the mechanisms underpinning the formation of these mental social maps are not yet understood.

Facial expressions may facilitate this process by offering salient cues about type of relationship individuals possess, indicating for example, whether the interaction is between friends (via affiliative expressions) or competitors (via aggressive signals). However, individuals vary in how expressive they are, and this variation has to potential to influence how effectively social knowledge is communicated and understood.

First, individuals who display clear, frequent, and unambiguous facial signals are likely to make their relationships with others easier for observers to interpret. This transparency should help others quickly and accurately infer their social relationships. Second, a greater expressivity may reflect greater experience with social signalling. Such individuals are not only more practiced in conveying social information but may as a result, also be better at interpreting the interactions of others, leading to a more accurate understanding of social relationships.

Individual expressivity, however, may be directly linked and constrained by variation in facial anatomy, with some individuals possessing structural features that enable greater expressiveness than others. The relationship between anatomy and behaviour remains poorly understood, but if such a link exists, it raises the possibility of a direct association between anatomical variation and cognitive ability.

Please see here for more information about the wider project: https://jamiewhitehouse.github.io/mappingconnections/

This PhD: In this PhD, the student will generate new data to measure the facial behaviour of two species of semi-free ranging macaques (Tonkean and rhesus) and subsequently quantify their expressivity. The project will assess the link between an individual’s facial expressivity (measured through ethological techniques) and the accuracy of their social knowledge (measured through cognitive testing). Using a secondary MRI dataset of the study subjects, and potentially incorporating new MRI, the student will also attempt to quantify the facial musculature of living primates and directly compare underlying anatomy with expressive behaviour.

The research will include an approximately 10-month visit to the Centre for Primatology (Simian Laboratory Europe, SILABE, University of Strasbourg, France) for the collection of behavioural data on primates. All field costs will be covered by the project.

The research is expected to include:

• Collection of behaviour and video data on semi-free ranging macaques
• Working alongside a post-doctoral researcher to design and implement cognitive experiments with macaques
• The coding and processing of videos of facial expressions using the Facial Action Coding System (FACS)
• The annotation of facial muscles from MRI scans
• The analysis of complex data using modern statistical techniques
• Attending national and international conferences, and publication preparation.

We welcome applications from international applicants!

Supervisory team:

You will be supported by a dynamic, interdisciplinary team:

Jamie Whitehouse – Specialist in primate communication and social knowledge

Sébastien Ballesta – Specialist in social cognition and neural anatomy

Bridget Waller – Specialist in the evolution of facial expression and facial anatomy

Criteria:

Applicants must have an undergraduate in Biology, Psychology, Behavioural Science or any other relevant discipline (2:1 or higher). A master’s degree in a relevant field (or equivalent experience) would be desired, and experience or observational experimental research with animals is essential.

The PhD student will spend approximately 10-months at the Centre for Primatology (Simian laboratory Europe, SILABE, University of Strasbourg), France. Therefore, conversational French speaking would be an advantage (although not essential).

Funding Notes

This PhD will be funded by the Leverhulme Trust Foundation grant ‘The evolutionary origins of mapping social connections’ awarded to PI Jamie Whitehouse and Co-investigators Sébastien Ballesta and Bridget Waller. Funding will be provided for tuition fees, stipend for three years, travel and accommodation experience for any overseas research, and research and conference experiences.