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Jenna V. Congdon

Dr. Jenna V. Congdon

Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology

780-491-6866

jenna.congdon@concordia.ab.ca

Academic Interests

Comparative Cognition
Animal Behaviour
Visual & Auditory Perception
Learning, Language, Memory, and Decision-making Mechanisms

Research and Interests

My research is in the area of comparative cognition, studying mental processes across multiple different species of animals. During my graduate studies at the University of Alberta, my research was focused on songbird communication and perception of predator threat. In addition, I completed work in Arizona studying desert ant navigation. During my postdoctoral studies, I worked at the Toronto Zoo and York University, building artificial intelligence to assist zookeepers and scientists in monitoring orangutan behaviour for welfare improvements and data collection, respectively. Most recently, I was hired as an Assistant Professor at CUE in 2022; I have since established my laboratory in collaboration with the Edmonton Valley Zoo, currently providing cognitive enrichment and studying the perceptual abilities across a variety of species.

Courses Taught

CUE
PSY 104 – Basic Psychological Processes
PSY 319 – Research Designs and Intermediate Statistical Methods in Psychology
PSY 405 – Special Topics: History and Systems of Psychology
PSY 410 – Special Topics: Comparative Cognition

UofA
PSYCO 104 – Basic Psychological Processes
PSYCO 282 – Behaviour Modification
PSYCO 381 – Principles of Learning
PSYCO 485 – Theory in Learning and Comparative Cognition

YorkU
PSYC 3280 – Animal Behaviour

Current Committees

Internal: 

  • Animal Care Committee
  • Faculty of Arts’ Research Talks (ARTs) Committee
  • Department of Psychology Website Updates Committee

External: 

  • Conference co-organizer of the International Conference on Comparative Cognition (CO3 2024-2026), Comparative Cognition Society (CCS)

Representative Work (in all areas)

Refereed Journal Publications

  • Campbell, K. A., Hoeschele, M., Mann, D., Congdon, J. V., Scully, E. N., Mischler, S. K., Montenegro, C., Service, W. D., & Sturdy, C. B. (2023). Black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) discriminate between naturally-ordered and scramble-ordered chick-a-dee calls and individual preference is related to rate of learning. Behavioural Processes, 206, 104842.
  • Congdon, J. V., Hahn, A. H., Campbell, K. A., Scully, E. N., Mischler, S. K., Montenegro, C., Service, W. D., & Sturdy, C. B. (2022). Discrimination of high- and low-threat vocalizations: An examination of referential communication in black-capped chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) mobbing calls. Animal Behavior and Cognition, 9, 298-315.
  • Congdon, J. V., Hosseini, M., Gading, E. F., Masousi, M. Franke, M. & MacDonald, S. E. (2022). The future of artificial intelligence in monitoring animal identification, health, and behaviour. Animals, 12, 1711.
  • Campbell, K. A., Hahn, A. H., Congdon, J. V., Scully, E. N., & Sturdy, C. B. (2020). Perception of sex differences in black-capped chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) chick-a-deeAnimal Behavior and Cognition, 7, 514-530.
  • Congdon, J. V., Hahn, A. H., Campbell, K. A., Scully, E. N., Yip, D. A., Bayne, E. M., & Sturdy, C. B. (2020). Can you hear me now? The effect of signal degradation on perceived predator threat in black-capped chickadees. Animal Cognition, 24, 1-12.
  • Scully, E. N., Campbell, K. A., Congdon, J. V., & Sturdy, C. B. (2020). Discrimination of black-capped chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) chick-a-dee calls produced across seasons. Animal Behavior and Cognition, 7, 247-256.
  • Congdon, J. V., Hahn, A. H., Campbell, K. A., Scully, E. N., Yip, D. A., Bayne, E. M., & Sturdy, C. B. (2020). Acoustic discrimination of predators by black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus). Animal Cognition, 23, 595-611.
  • Freas, C. A., Congdon, J. V., Plowes, N. J. R., & Spetch, M. L. (2020). Pheromone cue triggers switch between vectors in the desert harvest ant, Veromessor pergandei. Animal Cognition, 1-19.
  • Freas, C. A., Congdon, J. V., Plowes, N. J. R., & Spetch, M. L. (2019). Same but different: Socially foraging ants backtrack like individually foraging ants but use different mechanisms. Journal of Insect Physiology, 118, 103944.
  • Congdon, J. V., Hahn, A. H.†, Filippi, P.†, Campbell, K. A.†, Hoang, J., Scully, E. N., Bowling, D. L., Reber, S. A., & Sturdy, C. B. (2019). Hear them roar: A comparison of black-capped chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) and human (Homo sapiens) perception of arousal in vocalizations across all classes of terrestrial vertebrates. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 133, 1-22.
  • Sturdy, C. B & Congdon, J. V. (2019). Sometimes a stick might just be a stick. Learning & Behavior, 47, 115-116. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13420-019-00378-5.
  • Campbell, K. A., Proppe, D. S., Congdon, J. V., Scully, E. N., Mischler, S. K., & Sturdy, C. B. (2018). The effects of anthropogenic noise on feeding behaviour in black-capped chickdaees (Poecile atricapillus). Behavioural Processes, 158, 53-58.
  • Plowes, N., Du, Y., Congdon, J. V., Bulitko, V., Soares, E. S., & Spetch, M. L. (2018). Odometry and backtracking: Social and individual navigation in group foraging desert harvester ants (Veromessor pergandei). Animal Cognition, 22, 1-3. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-018-1218-7
  • Scully, E. N., Schuldhaus, B. C., Congdon, J. V., Hahn, A. H., Campbell, K. A., Wilson, D. R., & Sturdy, C. B. (2018). ZENK expression in the auditory pathway of black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) as a function of D note number and duty cycle of chick-a-dee Behavioural Brain Research, 356, 490-494.
  • Filippi, , Congdon, J. V., Hoang, J., Bowling, D., Reber, S., Pasukonis, A., Hoeschele, M., Ocklenburg, S., de Boer, B., Sturdy, C. B., Newen, A., & Güntürkün, O. (2017). Humans recognize emotional arousal in vocalizations across all classes of terrestrial vertebrates: Evidence for acoustic universals. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 284, 1-9.
  • Scully, E. N., Hahn, A. H., Campbell, K. A., McMillan, N., Congdon, J. V., & Sturdy, C. B. (2017). ZENK expression following conspecific and heterospecific playback in the zebra finch auditory forebrain. Behavioural Brain Research, 331, 151-158.
  • Hahn, A. H., Campbell, K. A., Congdon, J. V., Hoang, J., McMillan, N., Scully, E., Yong, J. J. H., Elie, J. E., & Sturdy, C. B. (2017). Discrimination of acoustically similar conspecific and heterospecific vocalizations by black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus). Animal Cognition, 20, 639-654.
  • McMillan, N., Hahn, A. H., Congdon, J. V., Campbell, K. A., Hoang, J., Scully, E. N., Spetch, M. L., & Sturdy, C. B. (2017). Chickadees discriminate contingency reversals presented consistently, but not frequently. Animal Cognition, 20, 655-663.
  • Sturdy, C. B., Campbell, K. A., Congdon, J. V., Hahn, A. H., McMillan, N., & Scully, E. N. (2017). Moving from perceptual to functional categories in songbirds. International Journal of Comparative Psychology, 30, 1-14.
  • Proppe, D. S., McMillan, N., Congdon, J. V., & Sturdy, C. B. (2017). Mitigating road impacts on animals through learning principles. Animal Cognition, 20, 19-31.
  • Congdon, J. V., Hahn, A. H., McMillan, N., Avey, M. T., & Sturdy, C. B. (2016). Chickadee behavioural response to varying threat levels of predator and conspecific calls.International Journal of Comparative Psychology, 29, 1-19.
  • Campbell, K. A., Hahn, A. H., Congdon, J. V., & Sturdy, C. B. (2016). An investigation of sex differences in black-capped chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) chick-a-dee The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 140, 1598-1608.
  • Hahn, A. H.,Hoeschele, M., Guillette, L. M., Hoang, J., McMillan, N., Congdon, J. V., Campbell, K. A., Mennill, D. J., Otter, K. A., Grava, T., Ratcliffe, L. M., & Sturdy, C. B. (2016). Black-capped chickadees categorize songs based on features that vary geographically. Animal Behaviour, 112, 93-104.
  • Hahn, A. H., Hoang, J., McMillan, N., Campbell, K., Congdon, J., & Sturdy, C. B. (2015). Biological salience influences performance and acoustic mechanisms for the discrimination of male and female songs. Animal Behaviour, 104, 213-228.

Refereed Book Chapters

  • Hahn, A. H., Congdon, J. V., Campbell, K. A., Scully, E. N., McMillan, N., & Sturdy, C. B. (2017). Mechanisms of communication and cognition in chickadees: Explaining nature in the lab and field. In M. Naguib, J., Podos, L. W., Simmons, L., Barrett, S., Healy, & M. Zuk (Eds.), Advances in the Study of Behavior, 49 (Chapter 5, pp. 147-197).

Non-refereed Publications

  • *Mischler, S. K., Congdon, J. V., Scully, E. N., Campbell, K. A., & Sturdy, C. B. (2017). Passerine vocal communication. Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior, 1-7.

*This work was an invited submission.

Representative Selection of Conferences Talks

  • Congdon, J. V., Qadri, M. A. J., & Gray, S. L. (2024). Local/global bias in emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae) in an international zoo collaboration. Presentation, The 31st International Conference on Comparative Cognition (CO3) (Albuquerque, NM) [International].
  • Congdon, J. V., Hosseini, M., Franke, M., & MacDonald, S. E. (2022). Artificial intelligence in monitoring animal identification, health, and behaviour. Poster, Toronto AAZK Conference (Toronto, ON) [International].
  • Congdon, J. V. (2022). Artificial intelligence in monitoring orangutan behaviour. Presentation, Canadian Society for Brain, Behaviour, and Cognitive Science’s 32nd Annual Meeting (Halifax, NS) [International].
  • Congdon, J. V., Hahn, A. H., Campbell, K. A., & Sturdy, C. B. (2021). Can humans understand birds? An investigation of humans’ ability to categorize black-capped chickadee songs that vary in the sex and geography of the producer. Presentation, Conference on Comparative Cognition (CO3) [Virtual/International].
  • Congdon, J. V., Hahn, A. H., Campbell, K. A., Scully, E. N., Mischler, S. K., Montenegro, C., Service, W. D., & Sturdy, C. B. (2019). Referential communication in black-capped chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) mobbing calls. Presentation, Conference on Comparative Cognition (CO3) (Melbourne, FL) [International].
  • Congdon, J. V. (2018). Emotional perception in humans and birds. Invited speaker, International Conference on Language and Social Psychology (ICLASP16) (Edmonton, AB) [International].
  • Congdon, J. V., Hahn, A. H., Filippi, P., Hoang, J., Campbell, K. A., Scully, E. N., Bowling, D. L., Reber, S. A., & Sturdy, C. B. (2018). A comparison of black-capped chickadee and human perception of arousal in vocalizations across all classes of terrestrial vertebrates. Presentation, Conference on Comparative Cognition (CO3) (Melbourne, FL) [International].
  • Congdon, J. V., Hahn, A. H., Yip, D. A., Campbell, K. A., Scully, E. N., Bayne, E. M., & Sturdy, C. B. (2017). An investigation of the effect of signal degradation on perceived predator threat. Presentation, Conference on Comparative Cognition (CO3) (Melbourne, FL) [International].
  • Congdon, J. V., Hahn, A. H., McMillan, N., & Sturdy, C. B. (2016). Dissociation of threat level and behaviour: Differences between conspecific and heterospecific signals. Presentation, Conference on Comparative Cognition (CO3) (Melbourne, FL) [International].
  • Congdon, J. V., Hahn, A. H., McMillan, N., Avey, M. T., & Sturdy, C. B. (2015). Chickadee behavioural response to varying threat levels of predator and conspecific calls. Presentation, Conference on Comparative Cognition (CO3) (Melbourne, FL) [International].
  • Congdon, J. V., Hahn, A. H., McMillan, N., Avey, M. T., & Sturdy, C. B. (2014). Chickadee vocal response to threat-level varies with signaler. Poster, 28th Annual Joseph R. Royce Conference (Edmonton, AB) [Regional].
  • Congdon, J. V. (2013). The influence of P300 information on reaction time. Presentation, The 26th Annual Honours Psychology Thesis Conference (Sault Ste. Marie, ON) [Institutional].

Representative Selection of Research in the Media

Supervised 23 undergraduate students (University of Alberta/York University/Concordia University of Edmonton)