My research interests broadly encompass comparative approaches to human and nonhuman animal learning and cognition.  By investigating the cognitive behavior of rhesus monkeys, capuchin monkeys, and chimpanzees I strive to better understand foundational learning mechanisms shared with humans. Utilizing primarily computerized tasks, I currently focus on concept acquisition and analogical reasoning skills in nonhuman primates with future interests in both neurological correlates of reasoning and human developmental applications of nonhuman primate findings.

Areas of interest:   Human and nonhuman animal cognition, learning & memory; Analogical reasoning in nonhuman primates; Neural correlates of reasoning; Development of analogical reasoning and applications to critical thinking in children; Concept learning; Social cognition

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Education:

• Georgia State University   (August 2003 - August 2010)
  • Ph.D. (August 2010)

    • An analogical paradox for nonhuman primates: Bridging the perceptual-conceptual gap
  • M. A. (December 2006)
    • What meaning means for same and different: A comparative study in analogical reasoning
• Franklin & Marshall College   (August 1999 - May 2003)
  • B. A. with honors in major: Biological Foundations of Behavior (Joint Biology/Psychology curriculum with a concentration in Animal Behavior)
    

Instructional Experience, Georgia State University:

• Learning & Behavior (Psyc 4120): Fall 2007-Spring 2008
• Cognitive Psychology (Psyc 4100): Fall 2006-Spring 2007, Summer 2009
• Research Methods Lab (Psyc 3030): Spring 2009
  

Selected Publications:

Flemming, T. M. (2011). Conceptual thresholds for same and different in old- (Macaca mulatta) and new-world (Cebus apella) monkeys. Behavioural Processes, 86, 316-322.

Bonte, E., Flemming, T. M. & Fagot, J. (2011). Executive control of perceptual features and abstract relations by baboons (Papio papio). Behavioural Brain Research, 222, 176-182.

Flemming, T. M., Thompson, R. K. R., Beran, M. J. & Washburn, D. A. (2011, in press). Analogical reasoning and the differential outcome effect: Transitory bridging of the conceptual gap for rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta). Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes.

Flemming, T. M. & Kennedy, E. H. (2011). Chimpanzee relational matching: Playing by their own (analogical) rules. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 125, 207-215.

Flemming, T. M., Beran, M. J., Thompson, R. K. R., Kleider, H. M., & Washburn, D. A. (2008). What meaning means for same and different: Analogical Reasoning in humans (Homo sapiens), chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), and rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta). Journal of Comparative Psychology 122, 176-185. [PDF]

Thompson, R. K. R. & Flemming, T. M. (2008). Analogical apes and paleological monkeys revisited. In D. C. Penn, K. J. Holyoak & D. J. Povinelli. Darwin’s mistake: Explaining the discontinuity between human and nonhuman minds. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 31, 149-150. [PDF]

Flemming, T. M., Beran, M. J., & Washburn, D. A. (2007). Disconnect in concept learning by rhesus monkeys: Judgment of relations and relations-between- relations. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes 33, 55-63. [PDF]

 

Flemming, T. M., Rattermann, M. J., & Thompson, R. K. R. (2006). Differential individual access to and use of reaching tools in social groups of capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) and human infants (Homo sapiens). Journal of Aquatic Mammals 32, 491-500. [PDF]

 

Beran, M. J., Harris, E. H., Evans, T. A., Klein, E. D., Chan, B., Flemming, T. M., & Washburn, D. A. (2008). Ordinal judgments of Arabic numerals by capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) and rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta). Journal of Comparative Psychology 122, 52-61.

 

Beran, M. J., Klein, E. D., Evans, T. A., Chan, B., Flemming, T. M., Harris, E. H., Washburn, D. A., & Rumbaugh, D. M. (2008). Discrimination reversal learning in capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella). Psychological Record 58, 3-14.

 

Beran, M. J., Taglialatela, L. A., Flemming, T. M., James, F. J., and Washburn, D. A. (2006). Nonverbal estimation during numerosity judgements by adult humans. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 59, 2065-2082.