Laboratory for Comparative
Studies of Learning
Overview
The goal of our lab is to understand the neural mechanisms and behavioral contexts that enable organisms to learn, retain and apply information gained through sensory experience. To do that, we study a variety of species and investigate their actions, learning outcomes, and neural activity as they are engaged in the behavior of interest in a naturalistic setting.
​
Graduate and undergraduate research opportunities and fellowships are available to support this research. Students who are interested in Graduate work (MS or PhD) in this area are encouraged to contact Dr. Prather directly using the Contact page.
Education research Wyoming instruction publication
graduate student fellowship paid tuition
Education research Wyoming instruction publication
graduate student fellowship paid tuition
Education research Wyoming instruction publication
graduate student fellowship paid tuition
Education research Wyoming instruction publication
gr
Education research Wyoming instruction publication
graduate student fellowship paid tuition
Education research Wyoming instruction publication
graduate student fellowship paid tuition
Education research Wyoming instruction publication
graduate student fellowship paid tuition
Education research Wyoming instruction publication
graduate student fellowship paid tuition
Education research Wyoming instruction publication
graduate student fellowship paid tuition
Education research Wyoming instruction publication
graduate student fellowship paid tuition
Education research Wyoming instruction publication
graduate student fellowship paid tuition
Education research Wyoming instruction publication
graduate student fellowship paid tuition
Education research Wyoming instruction publication
graduate student fellowship paid tuition
Education research Wyoming instruction publication
graduate student fellowship paid tuition
Education research Wyoming instruction publication
graduate student fellowship paid tuition
Education research Wyoming instruction publication
graduate student fellowship paid tuition
Education research Wyoming instruction publication
graduate student fellowship paid tuition
Education research Wyoming instruction publication
graduate student fellowship paid tuition
Education research Wyoming instruction publication
graduate student fellowship paid tuition
Education research Wyoming instruction publication
graduate student fellowship paid tuition
aduate student fellowship paid tuition
Effective teaching and learning in the STEM classroom
In a collaboration between colleagues across the Colleges of Education, Arts & Sciences, Agriculture and Natural Resources, Engineering, and the 3D Visualization Center, we are developing, implementing, and assessing new ways to facilitate students' learning, retention and application of fundamental STEM concepts. These experiments and innovations are funded by the NSF Program for Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (NSF IUSE).
​
This project is a primary focus in our research. Students are encouraged to contact Dr. Prather if they are interested in learning more about how they may engage in this research as a graduate or undergraduate research project.
Perception and evaluation of sensory experience
Female songbirds in the species that we study cannot sing, but they listen closely to the songs performed by males to select their mate from among many suitors. We are investigating the preferences of individual females to measure the degree to which different females agree on what male behaviors (songs) are most attractive, and to identify the features that distinguish attractive behaviors from unattractive behaviors. Using that knowledge as a tool to experimentally alter the attractiveness of a sensory stimulus, we also use a variety of behavioral, anatomical, electrophysiological and optogenetic techniques to study the neural basis of signal perception and evaluation.
Neural circuits linking perception to motor activation
It's one thing to perceive a sensory signal and another thing altogether to take action to exploit the information extracted from that sensory experience. For example, we commonly think that food being prepared smells delicious, but we much less rarely purchase and consume that food. How does that process work? How does perception affect motor activation to shape the performance of one behavioral outcome from among many possible alternatives? We address that in the context of female songbird mate choice, and we use a variety of anatomical and imaging techniques to identify and study those neural pathways.
Integration of motor commands and sensory feedback
Male songbirds learn their songs through juvenile trial-and-error learning in a pattern that is strikingly similar to how we learn the sounds we use in speech. Juvenile song learning and adult song maintenance are each critically dependent on auditory feedback. If that feedback it removed, the behavior rapidly deteriorates. We seek to understand the circuits through which auditory feedback and vocal motor commands are integrated to enable this acquisition and maintenance of learned behavior.
Avian reproductive endocrinology
Hormones such as testosterone and estradiol play important roles in both male song learning and female mate choice. Levels of those hormones can fluctuate naturally in response to things like changing season and photoperiod, and we are exploring the effects of such fluctuations in reproductive success. We are also testing possible ways to experimentally induce changes in the levels of circulating hormones. An overarching goal of these and other studies is to develop best practices to facilitate more successful breeding.
​
​