The motivating questions of my research generally ask about the cognitive abilities of animals from evolutionary and ecological perspectives: What are the cognitive abilities of animals and how do they function? How do these abilities differ amongst species? And ultimately, why? What role do these cognitive abilities have in the lives of animals and how have these abilities been shaped? Using behavioral techniques, my research explores these questions in two domains: spatial cognition and social cognition.

In the spatial domain, I am interested in questions of how nectar-feeding animals learn and choose foraging locations. My PhD work focused specifically on a specialized learning behavior in honeybees called a learning flight; upon departure from a newly discovered food source, honeybees and other insects perform these arcing, circling “learning flights” in order to learn the features of nearby landmarks that will guide their return to the food. The durations of these learning flights vary depending upon a variety of factors. My research investigated the precise influence of a variety of factors, such as visual scene, experience, or nectar concentration, on the duration of flight. Additionally, I investigated the influence of flight duration on the ability of the bees to relocate the food source.

More recently, as a post-doc at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, I have been studying cognition in the context of an animal’s social environment. According to the Social Complexity Hypothesis, the challenges of social life have provided a selective force for certain relevant cognitive abilities. One such cognitive ability that we might expect to be developed in highly social animals is the ability to keep track of many relationships between individuals and to perform transitive inference (if A>B, and B>C, one “infers” that A>C without directly comparing A to C.) My current research takes a comparative approach by investigating transitive inference performance in highly social corvids compared to less social species. Recent results also suggest the possibility that the ability to perform transitive inference may also be selected for by ecological factors favoring enhanced spatial abilities. I am working to understand the mechanisms that allow animals to perform transitive inference in hopes of gaining a better understanding of the evolution of this cognitive ability.

Selected publications:

Wei, C.A., S.L. Rafalko & F.C. Dyer (2002). Deciding to learn: modulation of learning flights in honeybees, Apis mellifera. J Comp Physiol A 188: 725–737. PDF

Wei, C.A. (2005). Snakes take flight. J Exp Biol 208: i-a. PDF

Wei, C.A. (2005). Deciphering odour coding in moths. J Exp Biol 208: ii. PDF

Wei, C.A. (2004). Taking the red-eye flight. J Exp Biol 207: iv. PDF

Wei, C.A. (2004). Defending the harvestman. J Exp Biol 207: i-a. PDF

Eisthen, H.L. & C.A. Wei (2004). More than meets the eye. J Exp Biol 207: 713. PDF

Wei, C.A. & H.L Eisthen (2003). Resonating whiskers tell a touchy tale. J Exp Biol 206: 4185. PDF

Wei, C.A. (2003). Shade seekers use their pits. J Exp Biol 206: 2526. PDF

Eisthen, H.L. & C.A. Wei (2003). In defense of a burrow. J Exp Biol 206: 1771. PDF