Songbird Neuroethology Laboratory

Department of Psychology, BioCognition Unit, Centre for Neuroscience, University of Alberta

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Refereed Publications

In Press

• Proppe, D.S., Avey, M.T., Hoeschele, M., Moscicki, M.K., Farrell, T., St. Clair, C.C., & Sturdy, C.B. (In press). Black-capped chickadees sing at higher pitches with elevated anthropogenic noise, but not with decreasing canopy cover. To appear in Journal of Avian Biology. doi 10.1111/j.1600-048X.2012.05640.x

• Hoeschele, M., Guillette, L.M., Sturdy, C.B. (In press). Biological relevance of acoustic signal affects discrimination performance in a songbird. To appear in Animal Cognition. DOI: 10.1007/s10071-012-0496-8

• Weisman, R.G., Balkwill, L.-L., Hoeschele, M., Moscicki, M.K., & Sturdy, C.B. (In press). Identifying absolute pitch possessors without using a note naming task. To appear in Psychomusicology: Music, Mind, and Brain.

2012

• Weisman, R.G., Mewhort, D.J.K., Hoeschele, M., & Sturdy, C.B. (2012). New perspectives on absolute pitch in birds and mammals. In E.A. Wasserman & T.R. Zentall (Eds), Handbook of Comparative Cognition. Oxford University Press, 67-79.

2011

• Avey M.T., Hoeschele, M., Moscicki, M.K., Bloomfield, L.L., & Sturdy, C.B. (2011). Neural correlates of threat perception: Neural equivalence of conspecific and heterospecific mobbing calls is learned. PLoS ONE 6(8): e23844. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0023844

• Avey, M.T., Rodriguez, A., & Sturdy C.B. (2011). Seasonal variation of vocal behaviour in a temperate songbird: Assessing the effects of laboratory housing on wild-caught, seasonally-breeding birds. Behavioural Processes, 88, 177-183. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2011.09.005

• Guillette, L.M. Bloomfield, L.L., Batty, E.R., Dawson, M.R.W., & Sturdy, C.B. (2011). Development of a contact call in black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) hand-reared in different acoustic environments. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 130 (4), 2249-2256. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1121/1.3628343

• Guillette, L.M., Reddon, A.R., Hoeschele, M., & Sturdy, C.B. (2011). Sometimes slower is better: Slow-exploring birds are more sensitive to changes in a vocal discrimination task. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 278, 767-773. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2010.1669

• Guillette, L.M. & Sturdy, C.B. (2011). Individual differences and repeatability in vocal production: Stress-induced calling exposes a songbird’s personality. Naturwissenschaften, 98,977–981. DOI: 10.1007/s00114-011-0842-8

• Hoeschele, M., Cook, R.G., Guillette, L.M., Brooks, D.I., & Sturdy, C.B. (2011). Black-capped chickadee and human chord discrimination. To appear in Journal of Comparative Psychology. Advance online publication. DOI: 10.1037/a0024627

• Moscicki, M.K., Hoeschele, M., Bloomfield, L.L., Modanu, M., Charrier, I., & Sturdy, C.B. (2011). Note types and coding in Parid vocalizations: the chick-a-dee call of the boreal chickadee (Poecile hudsonicus). Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 129(5), 3327-3340. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1121/1.3560925

• Proppe, D.S., Sturdy, C.B., & St. Clair, C.C. (2011). Flexibility in animal signals facilitates adaptation to rapidly changing environments. To appear in PLoS ONE, 6(9): e25413. DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0025413

• Wisniewski, M.G., Guillette, L.M., Radell, M., Sturdy, C.B. & Mercado, E. (2011). Predicting shifts in generalization gradients with perceptrons. To appear in Learning & Behavior. DOI: 10.3758/s13420-011-0050-6

• Wisniewski, M.G., Guillette, L.M., Radell, M.L., Sturdy, C.B., & Mercado, E., III (2011). Simulating the temporal dynamics of learning-related shifts in generalization gradients with connectionist models. In L. Carlson, C. Hölscher, & T. Shipley (Eds.), Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society.

2010

• Guillette, L.M., Bailey, A.A., Reddon, A.R., Hurd, P.L., & Sturdy, C.B. (2010). Capture order is repeatable in chickadees. International Journal of Comparative Psychology, 23, 216-224.  

• Guillette, L.M., Bloomfield, L.L., Batty, E.R., Dawson, M.R.W., & Sturdy, C.B. (2010). Black-capped (Poecile atricapillus) and mountain chickadee (Poecile gambeli) contact call contains species, sex, and individual identity features. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America,127(2), 1116-1123. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1121/1.3277247

• Guillette, L.M., Farrell, T.M., Hoeschele, M., Nickerson, C.M., Dawson, M.R.W., & Sturdy, C.B. (2010). Mechanisms of call note type perception: Peak Shift in a note type continuum. Journal of Comparative Psychology,124(1), 109-115. DOI: 10.1037/a0017741

• Guillette, L.M., Farrell, T.M., Hoeschele, M., & Sturdy, C.B. (2010). Acoustic mechanisms of a species-based discrimination of the chick-a-dee call in sympatric black-capped (Poecile atricapillus) and mountain chickadees (P. gambeli). Frontiers in Comparative Psychology,1:229. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2010.00229

• Hoeschele, M., Moscicki, M.K., Otter, K.A., van Oort, H., Fort, K., Farrell, T.M., Lee, H., Robson, S.W.J., & Sturdy, C.B. (2010). Dominance Signaled in an Acoustic Ornament. Animal Behaviour, 79, 657–664. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2009.12.015

• Moscicki, M.K., Hoeschele, M., & Sturdy, C.B. (in press). Note types and coding in Parid vocalizations: the chick-a-dee call of the Mexican chickadee (Poecile sclateri). Acta Ornithologica. DOI: 10.3161/000164510X551282

• Proppe, D.S., Bloomfield, L.L., & Sturdy, C.B. (2010). Acoustic transmission of the chick-a-dee call of the black capped chickadee (Poecile atricapillus): forest structure and note function. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 88, 788-794. DOI: 10.1139/Z10-047

• Weisman, R.G., Balkwill, L.-L., Hoeschele, M., Moscicki, M.K., Bloomfield, L.L., & Sturdy, C.B. (2010). Frequency-range discriminations in boreal chickadees and humans: Exceptions that test a phylogenetic rule. Learning & Motivation, 41, 156-173 (Special issue to honor Stewart H. Hulse). DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lmot.2010.04.002

• Weisman, R.G., Hoeschele, M., Bloomfield, L.L., Mewhort, D.J.K., Sturdy, C.B. (2010). Using network models of absolute pitch to compare frequency-range discriminations across avian species. Behavioural Processes, 84(1), 421-427. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2010.01.010

2009

• Batty, E.R., Bloomfield, L.L., Spetch, M.L., & Sturdy, C.B. (2009). Black-capped (Poecile atricapillus) and mountain chickadees' (Poecile gambeli) use of geometric and featural information in a spatial orientation task. Animal Cognition, 12, 633-641.

• Guillette, L.M., Reddon, A.R., Hurd, P.L., & Sturdy, C.B. (2009). Exploration of a novel space is associated with individual differences in learning speed in black-capped chickadees, Poecile atricapillus. Behavioural Processes, 82, 265–270. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2009.07.005

• Hoeschele, M., Gammon, D.E., Moscicki, M.K., & Sturdy, C.B. (2009). Note types and coding in Parid vocalizations: the chick-a-dee call of the chestnut-backed chickadee (Poecile rufuscens). Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 126(4), 2088–2099. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1121/1.3203736

• Proppe, D.S., & Sturdy, C.B. (2009). The effect of schedules of reinforcement on the composition of spontaneous and evoked black-capped chickadee calls. Journal of Experimental Biology, 212, 3016-3025. DOI: 10.1242/​jeb.031724

2008

• Avey, M.T., Quince, A.F., & Sturdy, C.B. (2008). Seasonal and diurnal patterns of black-capped chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) vocal production. Behavioural Processes , 77(2), 149-155. (doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2007.12.004)  Included in Special Issue in honour of the contributions of Ronald G. Weisman, Edited by C.B. Sturdy - this paper edited by Dr. J. Crystal. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2007.12.004

• Avey, M.T., Kanyo, R.A., Irwin, E.R., & Sturdy, C.B. (2008). Differential effects of vocalization type, singer and listener on Zenk immediate early gene response in black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus). Behavioural Brain Research, 188(1), 201-208. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2007.10.034

• Bloomfield, L.L., Farrell, T.M. & Sturdy, C.B. (2008). Categorization and discrimination of “chick-a-dee” calls by wild-caught and hand-reared chickadees. Behavioural Processes, 77(2), 166-176. (doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2007.08.003) Included in Special Issue in honour of the contributions of Ronald G. Weisman, Edited by C.B. Sturdy - this paper edited by Dr. J. Crystal. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2007.08.003

• Bloomfield, L.L., & Sturdy, C.B. (2008). All "chick-a-dee" calls are not created equally. Part I: Open-ended categorization of chick-a-dee calls by sympatric and allopatric chickadees.  Behavioural Processes, 77(1), 73-86. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2007.06.011

• Bloomfield, L.L., Farrell, T.M., & Sturdy, C.B. (2008). All "chick-a-dee" calls are not created equally. Part II: Mechanisms for discriminations by sympatric and allopatric chickadees. Behavioural Processes, 77(1), 87-99. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2007.06.008

2007

• Freeberg, T.M., Baker, M.C., Bloomfield, L.L., Charrier, I., Gammon, D.E., Hailman, J.P., Lee, T.T-Y, Lucas, J.R., Mennill, D.J. & Sturdy, C.B. (2007). Synopsis: Complexities in Vocal Communication. Ecology and Behaviour of Chickadees and Titmice: An integrated approach, Otter, K.A. (ed). Oxford University Press.

• Nickerson, C.M., Bloomfield, L.L., Dawson, M.R.W., Charrier, I., & Sturdy, C.B. (2007). Feature weighting in chick-a-dee call notes of Poecile atricapillus. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 122(4), 2451-2458. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1121/1.2770540 Reprinted in the Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research under "Information transfer in biological systems"

• Sturdy, C.B., Bloomfield, L.L., Farrell, T.M., Avey, M.T., & Weisman, R.G. (2007). Category perception as a natural cognitive activity in songbirds. Comparative Cognition & Behavior Reviews, 2, 93-110. Retrieved from http://psyc.queensu.ca/ccbr/index.html DOI:10.3819/ccbr.2008.20006

• Sturdy, C.B., Bloomfield, L.L., Charrier, I., & Lee, T.T.-Y. (2007). Chickadee vocal production and perception: An integrative approach to understanding acoustic communication. Ecology and Behaviour of Chickadees and Titmice: An integrated approach, Otter, K.A. (ed). Oxford University Press.

2006

• Dawson, M.R.W., Bloomfield, L.L., Charrier, I., & Sturdy, C.B. (2006). Statistical classification of black-capped (Poecile atricapillus) and mountain chickadee (P. gambeli) call notes. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 120(2), 147-153. DOI: 10.1037/0735-7036.120.2.147

• Dawson, M.R.W., Charrier, I., & Sturdy, C.B. (2006). Using an artificial neural network to classify the call notes of the black-capped chickadee call (Poecile atricapillus). Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 119(5), 3161-3172. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1121/1.2189028 Reprinted in the Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research under "Biological Networks"

• Lee, T.T.-Y., Charrier, I., Bloomfield, L.L., Weisman, R.G., & Sturdy, C.B. (2006). Frequency-range discriminations and absolute pitch in black-capped chickadees  (Poecile atricapillus), mountain chickadees (P. gambeli) and zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata). Journal of Comparative Psychology, 120, 217-228. DOI: 10.1037/0735-7036.120.3.217

• Nickerson, C.M., Bloomfield, L.L., Dawson, M.R.W., & Sturdy, C.B. (2006). Artificial neural network discrimination of black-capped chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) call notes . Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 120(2), 1111-1117. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1121/1.2211509 Reprinted in the Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research under "Biological Networks"

• Sturdy, C.B. & Weisman, R.G. (2006). Rationale and methodology for testing auditory cognition in songbirds. Behavioural Processes. 72, 265-272. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2006.03.007

• Weisman, R.G., Njegovan, M.G., Williams, M., Cohen, J., & Sturdy, C.B. (2006). The comparative psychology of absolute pitch. Comparative Cognition: Experimental Explorations of Animal Intelligence, Wasserman, E.A, and Zentall, T., Eds. Oxford University Press.

2005

• Bloomfield, L.L., Phillmore, L.S., Weisman, R.G., & Sturdy, C.B. (2005). Note types and coding in Parid vocalizations III: The chick-a-dee call of the Carolina chickadee (Poecile carolinensis). Canadian Journal of Zoology, 83, 820-833. DOI: 10.1139/z05-067

• Charrier, I., Lee, T.T.-Y., Bloomfield, L.L., & Sturdy, C.B. (2005). Acoustic mechanisms of note-type perception in black-capped chickadee calls. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 119 (4), 371-380. DOI: 10.1037/0735-7036.119.4.371

• Charrier, I. & Sturdy, C.B. (2005). Call-based species recognition in black-capped chickadees. Behavioural Processes, 70, 271-281. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2005.07.007

• Gray, E.R., Bloomfield, L.L., Ferrey, A.,  Spetch, M.L., & Sturdy, C.B. (2005). Spatial encoding in mountain chickadees: Features overshadow geometry. Biology Letters, 1, 314-317. DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2005.0347

2004

• Bloomfield, L.L., Charrier, I., & Sturdy, C.B. (2004). Note types and coding in Parid vocalizations II: The chick-a-dee call of the mountain chickadee (Poecile gambeli). Canadian Journal of Zoology, 82, 780-793. DOI: 10.1139/z04-046

• Charrier, I., Bloomfield, L.L., & Sturdy, C.B. (2004). Note types and coding in Parid vocalizations I: The chick-a-dee call of the black-capped chickadee (Poecile atricapillus). Canadian Journal of Zoology, 82, 769-779. DOI: 10.1139/z04-045

• Weisman, R.G., Njegovan, M.G., Williams, M.T., Cohen, J.S., & Sturdy, C.B. (2004) A behavior analysis of absolute pitch: Sex, experience, and species. Behavioral Processes, 66, 289-307. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2004.03.010

2003

• Bloomfield, L.L., Sturdy, C.B., Phillmore, L.S., & Weisman, R.G. (2003). Open-ended categorization of chick-a-dee calls by black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapilla). Journal of Comparative Psychology, 117 (3), 290-301. DOI: 10.1037/0735-7036.117.3.290

• Phillmore, L.S., Sturdy, C.B., & Weisman, R.G. (2003). Does reduced social contact affect discrimination of distance cues and individual vocalizations? Animal Behaviour, 65, 911-922. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/anbe.2003.2153

• Sturdy, C.B., Wild, J.M., & Mooney, R. (2003) Respiratory and telencephalic modulation of vocal motor neurons in the zebra finch. Journal of Neuroscience, 23 (3), 1072-1086.

2002

• Mooney, R., Rosen, M.J., & Sturdy, C.B. (2002). A bird’s eye view: top down intracellular analyses of auditory selectivity for learned vocalizations. Journal of Comparative Physiology A, 188, 879-895. DOI: 10.1007/s00359-002-0353-3

• Phillmore, L.S., Sturdy, C.B., Turyk, M. & Weisman, R.G. (2002). Discrimination of Individual Vocalizations by Black-Capped Chickadees (Poecile atricapilla). Animal Learning & Behavior, 30 (1), 43-52. DOI: 10.3758/BF03192908

2001

• Sturdy, C.B., Phillmore, L.S., Sartor, J.J., & Weisman, R.G. (2001). Reduced Social Contact Causes Auditory Perceptual Deficits in Zebra Finches, Taeniopygia guttata. Animal Behaviour, 62, 1207-1218. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/anbe.2001.1864

2000

• Sturdy, C.B., Phillmore, L.S., & Weisman, R.G. (2000). Call-note discriminations in black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus). Journal of Comparative Psychology, 114 (4), 357-364. DOI: 10.1037/0735-7036.114.4.357

1999

• Sturdy, C.B., Phillmore, L.S., & Weisman, R.G. (1999). Note types, harmonic suppression, and note order in the songs of zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata). Journal of Comparative Psychology, 113 (2), 194-203. DOI: 10.1037/0735-7036.113.2.194

• Sturdy, C.B, Phillmore, L.S., Price, J.L., & Weisman, R.G. (1999). Song-note discriminations in zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata): Categories and pseudocategories. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 113 (2), 204-212. DOI: 10.1037/0735-7036.113.2.204

• Weisman, R., Brownlie, L., Olthof, A., Sturdy, C., Njegovan, M., & Mewhort, D. (1999). Timing and classifying brief acoustic stimuli by songbirds and humans. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 25 (2), 139-152. DOI: 10.1037/0097-7403.25.2.139

1998

• Phillmore, L.S., Sturdy, C.B., Ramsay, S.M., & Weisman, R.G. (1998). Discrimination of auditory distance cues in black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) and zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata). Journal of Comparative Psychology, 112 (3), 282-291. DOI: 10.1037/0735-7036.112.3.282

• Weisman, R., Njegovan, M., Sturdy, C., Phillmore, L., Coyle, J., & Mewhort, D. (1998). Frequency range discriminations: special and general abilities in zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) and humans (Homo sapiens). Journal of Comparative Psychology, 112 (3), 244 - 258. DOI: 10.1037/0735-7036.112.3.244

1996

• Cohen, J.S., Sturdy, C., & Hicks, M. (1996). Intratrial proactive interference in rats' serial alternation performance in the radial maze. Animal Learning and Behavior, 24 (3), 300-309. DOI: 10.3758/BF03198978

Non-refereed Publications

• Sturdy, C.B., & Zentall, T.R. (2011). Welcome Editorial. Comparative Cognition & Behavior Reviews, 6, 4. Retrieved from http://psyc.queensu.ca/ccbr/index.html

• Sturdy, C.B. (2008). Thinking outside the box: A tribute to the contributions of Ronald G. Weisman. Behavioural Processes, 77(2), 139-141.Editorial for Special Issue in honour of the contributions of Ronald G. Weisman. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2007.11.010

• Sturdy, C.B. (2004). A social call. Nature, 430, 414. DOI: 10.1038/430414a

• Sturdy, C.B. & Mooney, R. (2000). Bird Communication: Two voices are better than one. Current Biology, 10 (17), R634-R636. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0960-9822(00)00661-8