Leca, Jean-Baptiste
Faculty
- Phone
- (403) 329-2436
- jeanbaptiste.leca@uleth.ca
- Phone
- (403) 317-2831
Lab
- Phone
- (403) 317-2831
Office Hours
Tuesday (Psyc 4850-N): 9:30 AM to 11:30 AM
About Me
I am an Associate Professor and Board of Governors Research Chair (Tier II) in the Department of Psychology at the University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.
My primary research interest focuses on understanding non-human primate behavioral innovations and traditions using a Tinbergian perspective. In particular, I aim to explore the ways in which non-adaptive cultural behavioral patterns may originate, spread within social groups, and be maintained and transformed over time, because I believe that the study of such phenomena will truly expand our understanding of Darwinian evolutionary theory. To achieve these goals, I have been taking an integrative approach to the study of primate behavior and cognition by adopting multiple proximate-level (e.g., developmental, mechanistic) and ultimate-level (e.g., functional, phylogenetic) perspectives.
Currently, my research team members and I are developing three complementary projects that explore group-specific (and thus potentially cultural) behavioral patterns in free-ranging Balinese long-tailed macaques. More specifically, we are investigating the development, mechanisms and possible functional components of stone handling/play, eye covering play, object robbing and object/food bartering practice, as well as extractive and tool-assisted foraging in this primate species.
Simultaneously, and in collaboration with Dr. Paul Vasey, I study non-conceptive (socio-)sexual behaviors in female and male Japanese macaques from a longitudinal and intergroup comparative perspective (i.e., immature play mounting, female-male mounting, male masturbation, monkey-deer mounting, and social dynamics of all-male groups).
My long-term goal is to extend my research on non-adaptive cultural behaviors to other macaque species and use these comparative analyses to model the forces that have shaped our own culture during the course of human evolution. In doing so, I will investigate how seemingly non-adaptive behaviors may lead to adaptive outcomes for the individual, the group, and the species.
My primary research interest focuses on understanding non-human primate behavioral innovations and traditions using a Tinbergian perspective. In particular, I aim to explore the ways in which non-adaptive cultural behavioral patterns may originate, spread within social groups, and be maintained and transformed over time, because I believe that the study of such phenomena will truly expand our understanding of Darwinian evolutionary theory. To achieve these goals, I have been taking an integrative approach to the study of primate behavior and cognition by adopting multiple proximate-level (e.g., developmental, mechanistic) and ultimate-level (e.g., functional, phylogenetic) perspectives.
Currently, my research team members and I are developing three complementary projects that explore group-specific (and thus potentially cultural) behavioral patterns in free-ranging Balinese long-tailed macaques. More specifically, we are investigating the development, mechanisms and possible functional components of stone handling/play, eye covering play, object robbing and object/food bartering practice, as well as extractive and tool-assisted foraging in this primate species.
Simultaneously, and in collaboration with Dr. Paul Vasey, I study non-conceptive (socio-)sexual behaviors in female and male Japanese macaques from a longitudinal and intergroup comparative perspective (i.e., immature play mounting, female-male mounting, male masturbation, monkey-deer mounting, and social dynamics of all-male groups).
My long-term goal is to extend my research on non-adaptive cultural behaviors to other macaque species and use these comparative analyses to model the forces that have shaped our own culture during the course of human evolution. In doing so, I will investigate how seemingly non-adaptive behaviors may lead to adaptive outcomes for the individual, the group, and the species.
Biography
After a general education in Biology, I earned a M.Sc. in Neuroscience (1998) and a Ph.D. in Ethology (2002) from the University Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg, France, under the supervision of Drs. Bernard Thierry and Odile Petit.
From 2003 to 2005 and from 2007 to 2009, I was a post-doctoral research fellow at the Kyoto University Primate Research Institute, Inuyama, Japan, working in collaboration with Dr. Michael A. Huffman.
In 2010, I was a visiting researcher at the Primate Research Center, Udayana University, Jimbaran, Bali, Indonesia, in collaboration with Dr. I Nengah Wandia. Since 2015, I am continuing this research collaboration with Dr. Wandia in Bali.
From 2011 to 2014, I was a post-doctoral research fellow and sessional lecturer in the Department of Psychology, at the University of Lethbridge, Canada, working in collaboration with Dr. Paul L. Vasey.
From 2003 to 2005 and from 2007 to 2009, I was a post-doctoral research fellow at the Kyoto University Primate Research Institute, Inuyama, Japan, working in collaboration with Dr. Michael A. Huffman.
In 2010, I was a visiting researcher at the Primate Research Center, Udayana University, Jimbaran, Bali, Indonesia, in collaboration with Dr. I Nengah Wandia. Since 2015, I am continuing this research collaboration with Dr. Wandia in Bali.
From 2011 to 2014, I was a post-doctoral research fellow and sessional lecturer in the Department of Psychology, at the University of Lethbridge, Canada, working in collaboration with Dr. Paul L. Vasey.
Research Interests
Primate ethology (capuchin monkeys, mona monkeys, macaques), animal culture, behavioural tradition, social learning, innovation, object play, tool-use, token exchange, sexual behaviour, non-adaptive behaviour, personality