Research Interests

I am primarily interested in exploring process of learning and cognition in non-human primates. As a graduate student, I worked with brown capuchin monkeys and chimpanzees at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center. Today, I continue my research on the campus of Beloit College and as a Research Associate with Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo.

My research has involved testing predictions surrounding:

a) the role of reward in social learning; b) the influences of reward probability on the use of individual and social learning; c) the effects of social relationships on social learning and the transmission of social traditions among non-human primates; d) the interaction between metacognition and social learning.

In addition to these ongoing research interests, I have also been exploring these additional topics:

• the use of social information, including social learning, eavesdropping and public information, by non-human animals
• reflective learning and metacognition in the classroom (a description of this work can be found here)

Publications

Bonnie KE, Milstein MS, Calcutt S, Ross SR, Wagner K, & Lonsdrof EV (2012). Flexibility and persistence of chimpanzee foraging behavior in a captive environment. American Journal of Primatology, in press. 

Lonsdorf EV & Bonnie KE (2010).  Opportunities and constraints when studying social learning: Developmental approaches and social factors. Learning and Behavior, 38(3), 195-205. doi:10.3758/LB.38.3.195

Horner V, Proctor D, Bonnie KE, Whiten A, & de Waal FBM (2010).  Prestige affects cultural learning in chimpanzees. PLoS ONE, 5(5): e10625. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0010625

de Waal FBM & Bonnie KE (2009). In tune with others: the social side of primate culture. In The Question of Animal Culture (K.N. Laland & B.G. Galef, Eds.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Bonnie KE & Earley RL (2007). Expanding the scope for social information use. Animal Behaviour, 74, 171-181. doi: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2006.12.009.

Bonnie KE & de Waal FBM (2007). Copying without rewards: Socially influenced foraging decisions among brown capuchin monkeys. Animal Cognition, 10, 283-292. doi: 10.1007/s10071-006-0069-9.

Bonnie KE, Horner V, Whiten A, & de Waal FBM (2007). Spread of arbitrary conventions among chimpanzees: a controlled experiment. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, 274, 367-372. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2006.3733

Bonnie KE & de Waal FBM (2006). Affiliation promotes the transmission of a social custom:
handclasp grooming among captive chimpanzees. Primates, 47, 27-34.