Utilizing underwater playbacks, we are focused on whether dolphin signature whistles, which function similarly to human names, demonstrate the Cocktail Party Effect in noisy environments. The Cocktail Party Effect occurs when you can hear important things like the sound of your own name, when other words would not be perceived. This is a cognitive process thought to be somewhat unique to humans; however, with dolphin signature whistles, we have a chance to study this phenomenon in another species with name-like signals. To do this, we conduct anthropogenic noise playbacks paired with whistles to determine what cognitive tools dolphins have to mitigate the effects of human-generated noise in the ocean.

Callie Lynn, M.Sc. Student

What does it mean for an animal to have language? Do we have evidence in other animals for signals that involve grammar or meaning? How do we know what animals talk about? These are fundamental questions in animal communication, and perhaps there is no better species to address them with than belugas: the canaries of the sea. In partnership with Georgia Aquarium, our current work involves understanding which call structures in belugas contain individual identity information, as well as developing methods to address how belugas distinguish their calls and how meaning may be parsed in their different vocalizations.

  Sonny Schoenhoft, M.Sc. Student 

As part of our development of PHASM, we needed to understand what dolphins could see around their heads (to know we could sneak up on them with a drone). In collaboration with Dolphin Quest, we led a project that allowed us to train dolphins to tell us how expansive their visual field was by using lights positioned all around their heads that the animals were trained to whistle at when they turned on. When dolphins didn't whistle it meant the light was in their blindspot.

   Tabby Gunnars, M.Sc.