Tiago Monteiro
Tel: +44 1865 271245
Email:
Before coming to Oxford I received my Bachelor's Degree in Psychology at the University of Minho, Portugal. During my undergraduate training I worked as a research student at the Institute of Cell and Molecular Biology (IBMC) Laboratory Animal Science (Porto, Portugal) on a project related with social memory in mice, concerning the application of a new methodology that substituted live subjects by scent carts. On my final undergraduate project and during my Experimental Psychology Masters, at the Animal Learning and Behavior Lab, University of Minho (Portugal), I examined timing processes in the pigeon (C. livia), specifically the effects of previous training in extinction behaviour.
So far my DPhil project's general aim is to contribute to a broad theory of decision-making, by investigating how starlings (Sturnus vulgaris ) choose between different potential sources of food. The project will build on recent work reported from the Lab.
This work is exciting because it challenges both technical quantitative models of decision making from the animal choice literature, and broad intuitions about human action. In humans, introspection creates the perception (often inaccurate) that one's own decisions are driven by evaluation of each alternative, and as a consequence people often assume that animals also choose by comparing attributes of all alternatives. The paradox of choice, similarly, states that more options make choice more difficult. If this were true, choosing would take information-processing effort and time: more options, more time. Recent experimental work has found that the opposite is true in starlings.
Although my current of research is mainly focused on decision making I'm also interested in other areas of animal behaviour, such as timing, choice, animal welfare, learning and cognition.
Publications
Aw, J., Monteiro, T., Vasconcelos, M., Kacelnik. A. (2012). Cognitive mechanisms of risky choice: Is there an evaluation cost? Behavioural Processes. doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2011.09.007.
Vasconcelos, M., Monteiro, T., Kacelnik. A. (2011). On the flexibility of lizards’ cognition: a comment on Leal and Powell (2011). Biology Letters. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2011.0848
Kacelnik, A., Vasconcelos, M., Monteiro, T., Aw, J. (2011). Darwin’s ‘Tug-of-War’ vs. Starlings’ Horse-Racing: how adaptations for sequential encounters drive simultaneous choice. Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology, 65, 547-558. doi: 10.1007/s00265-010-1101-2.
Vasconcelos, M., Monteiro, T., Aw, J., & Kacelnik, A. (2010). Choice in multi-alternative environments: A trial-by-trial implementation of the Sequential Choice Model. Behavioural Processes, 84, 435-439. doi: 10.1016/j.beproc.2009.11.010.
Monteiro, T., Machado, A. (2009). Oscillations following periodic reinforcement. Behavioural Processes, 81, 170-188. doi: 10.1016/j.beproc.2008.10.003.
Conferences
Monteiro, T., Vasconcelos, M., & Kacelnik, A. (April 2012). The sequential choice model: Predicting and post-dicting binary and trinary choices from latencies in sequential encounters. Paper presented at the Associative Learning Symposium (XVI). Gregynog, Wales, UK.
Monteiro, T., Vasconcelos, M., Aw, J., & Kacelnik, A. (March 2011). Utility and decision making in the European starling. Paper presented at the 6th Meeting of the Portuguese Association of Experimental Psychology (APPE). Coimbra, Portugal.
Monteiro, T., Vasconcelos, M., Aw, J., & Kacelnik, A. (March 2011). The rational starling. Paper presented at the 18th International Conference of Comparative Cognition (CO3). Melbourne, USA.
Monteiro, T., Aw, J., Vasconcelos, M., & Kacelnik, A. (September 2009). Predicting choice in unpredictable environments. Paper presented at the 21st Meeting of the Spanish Comparative Psychology Society (SEPC). Salamanca, Spain.
Monteiro, T., Aw, J., Vasconcelos, M., & Kacelnik, A. (September 2009). Binary-choice in multi-alternative environments. Poster presented at the 21st Meeting of the Spanish Comparative Psychology Society (SEPC). Salamanca, Spain.
Monteiro, T., Vasconcelos, M., Aw, J., & Kacelnik, A. (May 2009). Choice in Multi-Alternative Environments. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Quantitative Analyses of Behavior (SQAB 2009). Phoenix, USA.
Monteiro, T., Machado, A. (May 2008). Oscillatory behavior in extinction: from periodic reinforcement to internal clock? Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Quantitative Analyses of Behavior (SQAB 2008). Chicago, USA.
Monteiro, T., Machado, A. (May 2008). Oscillatory behaviors in extinction. Paper presented at the 3rd Meeting of the Portuguese Association of Experimental Psychology (APPE). Faro, Portugal.
Monteiro, T., Machado, A. (January 2008). Behavioural Oscillations in Extinction. Poster presented at the 8th National Congress of Ethology (CNE). Lisbon, Portugal.
Monteiro, T., Machado, A. (September 2007). Extinction following peak procedure. Poster presented at the 19th Meeting of the Spanish Comparative Psychology Society (SEPC). Madrid, Spain.
Monteiro, T., Souza, M. J., & Machado, A. (May 2007). Oscillations During Extinction: What is the Cause? Poster presented at the 33rd Annual Convention of the Association of Behavioral Analysis (ABA). San Diego, USA.
Monteiro, T., Sousa, R., & Olsson, A. (August 2005). Replacing the use of live stimulus animals by scent cards in the social recognition test for mice. Poster presented at the 5th World Congress on Alternatives & Animal Use in the Life Sciences. Berlin, Germany.