Daniel T Cerutti, Assistant Research Professor

Contact Info:

Office Location:	3015 GSRB 2
Office Phone:	919-660-5707
Email Address:
Web Page:

Education:

PhD

Temple University

1989

Specialties:

Systems and Integrative Neuroscience
Cognition and Cognitive Neuroscience
Clinical Psychology

Research Interests: Animal Learning and Adaptive Behavior

Current projects: Learning and cognition in zebrafish, Comparative cognition in cichlid fishes, Temporal learning and conditioned reinforcement in pigeons, Zebrafish models of cognitive-behavioral development

I presently study the timing behavior of simple organisms, birds and fish, as they wait for delayed rewards. Although they adapted to a very different niche than our own, their timing may not be so different - pigeons and fish underestimate the arrival of periodic food in the same way that we underestimate the time to complete a task. I presently divide my attention between studies of timing in the Oscar, a predatory fish, and choice in pigeons. I believe that studies of fish will help us to better understand the generality of timing processes and that the studies of pigeons will help us understand the role of time in complex behavior.

Areas of Interest:

Comparative cognition
Ecology of learning and conditioning
Ecology of timing
Drugs and behavior
Animal models of cognitive impairments

Duties:

I share a laboratory with Professor John Staddon. The lab is equipped for behavioral research with pigeons and fish.

Representative Publications   (More Publications)   (search)

1. Jozefowiez, J., Cerutti, D. T., & Staddon, J. E. R. (in press). Timescale invariance and Weber’s law in in choice. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes.  [abs]
2. J. Josefowiez, D.T. Cerutti, & J. E. R. Staddon (November, 2004). Timing in choice experiments. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes.
3. D.T. Cerutti & J.E.R. Staddon (March, 2004). Time and Rate Measures in Choice Transitions. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 81(2), 135-154.  [abs]
4. D.T. Cerutti & J.E.R. Staddon (January, 2004). Elapsed Time vs. Anticipated Delay in the Time-Left Experiment: A Test of the Cognitive Hypothesis. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 30(1), 45-54.
5. D.T. Cerutti (2004). Rapid determinations of preference in multiple﷓concurrent chain schedules.. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 46, 211-218.
6. Staddon, J.E.R., & Cerutti, D.T. (2003). Operant Behavior. Annual Review of Psychology, 54, 114-144.
7. Keller, J., Strasburger, H., Cerutti, D.T., Sabel, B.A. (2000). Assessing Spatial Vision - Automated Measurement of the Contrast-Sensitivity Function in the Hooded Rate. Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 97, 103-110.
8. D.T. Cerutti & Arcieniega, M.A. (1999). Evidence for a Spatial Bias in the Discrimination Learning of Young Children. Mexican Journal of Behavior Analysis, 25, 1-17.
9. D.T. Cerutti & A.C. Catania (1997). Pigeons’ preference for free choice: Number of keys versus key area. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 68, 349-356.  [abs]
10. Thompson, T., Hackenberg, T., Cerutti, D. T., Baker, D., & Axtell, S. (1994). Opioid antagonist effects on self- injury in adults with mental retardation: Response form and location as determinants of medication effects. American Journal for Mental Retardation, 99, 85-102.  [abs]
11. D.T. Cerutti & E. D.Levin "Cognitive impairments models using complementary species." Methods in Neuroscience: Animal Models of Cognitive Impairment. Ed. Edward D. Levin and Jerry J. Buccafusco CRC Press, in press  [abs]
12. D.T. Cerutti "Choice and Memory." Festchrift for John Staddon. Ed. Nancy K. Innis in press
13. D.T. Cerutti "Reinforcement, Reward, and Punishment." Encyclopedia of the Human Brain. Ed. V.S. Ramachandran San Diego, CA: Academic Press, 2002
14. D.T. Cerutti & Staddon, J.E.R. "Detecting Mine-Like Targets: Synergistic Effects of Correlated and Uncorrelated Sensor Channels." Detection and Remediation Technologies for Mines and Minelike Targets. Ed. Abinash, C. Dubey, James F. Harvey, J. Thomas Broach, and Regina E. Dugan Washington, D.C.: SPIE, 2001