Valerie Kuhlmeier
Associate Department Head, Professor
Department of Psychology
B.A., UC San Diego, 1995
B.S., UC San Diego, 1995
M.A., Ohio State University, 1997
Ph.D., Ohio State University, 2000
Name Pronunciation Guide:
"VAL-ur-ee COOL-my-ur"
Click below to hear pronunciation
Research Interests
My research program explores cognition from a developmental and evolutionary perspective. I examine the origins of our cognitive capacities, focusing primarily on our abilities to distinguish animate and inanimate objects, to interpret the behavior and infer the mental states of others, and to engage in prosocial behaviour. Each is examined in a comparative manner, studying infants, young children, and non-human primates. The research thus relies upon both developmental and comparative psychology theory to form and test hypotheses.
Selected Publications
Books:
Olmstead, M.C. & Kuhlmeier, V.A. (2015). Comparative Cognition. Cambridge University Press.
Rutherford, M.D. & Kuhlmeier, V.A. (Eds.) (2013). Social Perception: Detection and Interpretation of Animacy, Agency, and Intention. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press/Bradford Books.
Representative Papers and Book Chapters:
Pearce, C., Bukovsky, D., Douchant, K., Katoch, A., Greenlaw, J., Sjaarda, C., Gale, D.J., Nashed, J., Kuhlmeier, V., Sabbagh, M., Blohm, G., De Felice, F., Pare. M., Cook, D.J., Scott, S., Munoz, D.P., Tusche, A., Sheth, P.M., Winterborn, A., Boehnke, S., & Gallivan, J.P. (2024). Changes in social environment impact primate gut microbiota composition. Animal Microbiome, 6, 66.
ManyDogs, P., et al. (2023). ManyDogs 1: A multi-lab replication study of dogs' pointing comprehension. Animal Behavior & Cognition,10(3), 232-286.
ManyDogs, P., et al. (2023). ManyDogs Project: A big team science approach to investigating canine behavior and cognition. Comparative Cognition and Behavior Reviews.
Karasewich, T.A., Hines, C., Pinheiro, S.G.V., Buchenreider, N., Dunfield, K.A., & Kuhlmeier, V.A. (2023). Shyness as a barrier to prosocial behaviour: When do shy children help and comfort other people? Frontiers in Psychology, 14.
Shore, M.J., Bukovsky, D.L., Pinheiro, S.G.V., Hancock, B.M., Liptrot, E.M., & Kuhlmeier, V.A. (2023). A survey on the challenges, limitations, and opportunities of online testing of infants and young children during the COVID-19 pandemic: Using our experiences to improve future practices. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1160203.
MacGowan, T.L., Karasewich, T.A., & Kuhlmeier, V.A. (2023). Developmental and evolutionary models of social fear can address "the human fear paradox". Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 46, 40-41.
Norris, M.E., Swartz, M., & Kuhlmeier, V.A. (2023). The importance of copyright and shared norms for credit in open educational resources. Frontiers in Education, 7.
McCreary, M.K., Jones, S.V.R., & Kuhlmeier, V.A. (2022). Following the human point: Research with nonhuman animals since Povinelli, Nelson, and Boysen (1990). Learning & Behavior.
Hilton, B.C., O'Neill, AC., & Kuhlmeier, V.A. (2021). Emerging selectivity: Group membership and early prosociality. Journal of Cognition and Development, 22(2), 267-280.
Kuhlmeier, V.A., Karasewich, T.A., & Olmstead, M.C. (2020). Teaching animal learning and cognition: Adapting to the online environment. Comparative Cognition and Behavior Reviews, 15, 187-198
Karasewich, T.A., & Kuhlmeier, V.A. (2020). Trait social anxiety as a conditional adaptation: A developmental and evolutionary framework. Developmental Review, 55, 100886.
Karasewich, T., Kuhlmeier, V.A., Beier, J.S., & Dunfield, K.A. (2019). Getting help for others: An examination of indirect helping in young children. Developmental Psychology, 55, 606-611. PsyArXiv: 10.31234/osf.io/qmgdp
Hilton, B.C., & Kuhlmeier, V.A. (2019). . Frontiers in Psychology: Developmental Psychology.
Dunfield, K.A., Best, L.J., Kelley, E.A., & Kuhlmeier, V.A. (2019). . Frontiers in Psychology: Developmental Psychology.
O'Neill, A.C., Swigger, K., & Kuhlmeier, V.A. (2018). Make The Connection’ parenting skills program: a controlled trial of associated improvement in maternal attitudes. Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology, 36(5), 536-547. doi: 10.1080/02646838.2018.1497779
Robson, S.J., & Kuhlmeier, V.A. (2016). Infants’ understanding of object-directed action: An interdisciplinary synthesis. Frontiers in Psychology, doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00111
Sabbagh, M.A., Koenig, M.A., & Kuhlmeier, V.A. (2016). Conceptual constraints and mechanisms in children’s selective social learning. Developmental Science, 10.1111/desc.12415.
Robson, S.J., Lee, V., Kuhlmeier, V.A., & Rutherford, M.D. (2014). Infants use contextual contingency to guide their interpretation of others' goal-directed behavior. Cognitive Development, 31, 69-78.
Dunfield, K.A. & Kuhlmeier, V.A. (2013). Classifying prosocial behaviour: children’s responses to instrumental need, emotional distress, and material desire. Child Development, 84, 1766-1776.
Dunfield, K.A., Kuhlmeier, V.A., O’Connell, L., & Kelley, E. (2011). Examining the diversity of prosocial behavior: helping, sharing, and comforting in infancy. Infancy, 16(3), 227-247.
Newman, G.E., Keil, F.C., Kuhlmeier, V.A., & Wynn, K. (2010). Early understandings of the link between agents and order. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107, 17140-17145.
Dunfield, K.A., & Kuhlmeier, V.A. (2010). Intention-mediated selective helping in infancy. Psychological Science, 21, 523-527.
Kuhlmeier, V.A., Wynn, K., & Bloom, P. (2003). Attribution of Dispositional States by 12-month-olds. Psychological Science, 14, 402-408.
Kuhlmeier, V.A., & Boysen, S.T. (2002). Chimpanzees' recognition of the spatial and object similarities between a scale model and its referent. Psychological Science, 13, 60-63.