Assistant Professor, Psychology and Anthropology
About
My group examines the evolutionary origins of the human mind. How do our primate relatives think about the world, are their psychological abilities similar to or different from our own, and why do some species differ in their cognitive abilities? Our research uses a comparative approach drawing on evolutionary theory, cognitive science, and developmental psychology to understand how complex cognitive traits emerge within species over ontogeny, and between species over evolutionary time. We are especially focused on capacities supporting decision-making, executive control, and social cognition. To do this work, we study a variety of semi-free-ranging ape, monkey, and lemur populations.
Recent publications:
Cole, M.F., Cantwell, A., Rukundo, J. Ajarova, L., Fernandez-Navarro, S., Atencia, R. & Rosati, A.G. (in press). Healthy cardiovascular biomarkers across the lifespan in wild-born chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B.
Bettle, R. & Rosati, A.G. (in press). The primate origins of human social cognition. Language Learning and Development.
De Petrillo, F. & Rosati, A.G. (2020). Logical inferences from visual and auditory information in ruffed lemurs and sifakas. Animal Behaviour.
Bettle, R. & Rosati, A.G. (2020). The evolutionary origins of natural pedagogy: Rhesus monkeys show sustained attention following nonsocial cues versus social communicative signals. Developmental Science.
Rosati, A.G., Benjamin N., Pieloch, K. & Warneken, F. (2019). Economic trust in young children. Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
De Petrillo, F. & Rosati, A.G. (2019). Rhesus macaques use probabilities to predict future events. Evolution and Human Behavior.
Rosati, A.G. (2019). Heterochrony in chimpanzee and bonobo spatial memory development. American Journal of Physical Anthropology.
Bettle, R. & Rosati, A.G. (2019). Flexible gaze following in rhesus monkeys. Animal Cognition.
De Petrillo, F. & Rosati, A.G. (2019). Ecological rationality: convergent decision-making in apes and capuchins. Behavioural Processes.
Rosati, A.G., DiNicola, L., & Buckholtz, J.W. (2018). Chimpanzee cooperation is fast, and independent from self-control. Psychological Science.
Rosati, A. G., & Santos, L. R. (2017). Tolerant Barbary macaques maintain juvenile levels of social attention in old age, but despotic rhesus macaques do not. Animal Behaviour.
Rosati, A.G. (2017). Foraging cognition: reviving the ecological intelligence hypothesis. Trends in Cognitive Sciences.
