19552 GW Mag 26_Final_singles - Flipbook - Page 35
PhD student Anya
Parks-Russell uses
pointing cues to help
Walter the dog 昀椀nd
hidden treats at the
GW Canine Cognition
Collaborative.
“Dogs are an interesting model of the effects of the environment
own cognition. Their whole evolution has been shaped by us.”
— FRANCYS SUBIAUL, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
SPEECH, LANGUAGE AND HEARING SCIENCES AND ANTHROPOLOGY
Subiaul was initially reluctant to add dogs to his research
resume. With no biological link to humans, “I didn’t see what
we could get from them,” he admitted. But former anthropology
graduate student Courtney Sexton, MS ’19, MPhil ’23, who
conducted her own cross-species communication studies,
convinced Subiaul that old dogs can teach humans new
tricks. “Dogs are excellent social learners in the sense that
they’re highly attuned to us,” Subiaul said.
When Subiaul dog-sits Walter, a friend’s playful pup, he
sees this dynamic firsthand: Walter wags his tail and drops a
toy into his lap, inviting a human into an interspecies game.
“That kind of engagement with another species is extremely
unusual,” he said. “Thousands of years of these interactions
have made dogs, in some ways, more like us than our closest
primate relatives.”
Superstar Learners
After nearly two decades at GW, Subiaul remains as
curious as ever. For a collaboration with the Ape Initiative in
Iowa, he received funding from the Wenner-Gren Foundation
to study language-trained bonobos. His courses, including
Foundations of Human Communication and Primate
Cognition, translate his research questions into classroom
discussions. And his popular lab draws 15 to 20 students
each year with an eclectic mix of majors from anthropology
to business.
“For someone who is so intellectual and who knows so
much, you can approach him with almost any question,”
said Layla Moussavi, a rising junior neuroscience major in
Subiaul’s lab who also works on the Children’s Museum
project. “He gives [students] an opportunity to be deeply
involved in his research.”
Subiaul’s scientific bucket list includes a long-held
fascination with “super learners,” as he calls them—people
with exceptional abilities to imitate and absorb others’
knowledge. He hopes to someday study, for example,
dancers who quickly master choreography and Meryl
Streep-like actors who excel at mimicking accents
and impersonation.
And there’s one more animal he’d add to his research
dream team: dolphins. The marine mammals are social
observational superstars, Subiaul said, passing down
foraging and communication skills across generations. “Just
imagine what dolphins might do if they had hands—would
they conquer the world?” Subiaul joked. “That opens up so
many new possibilities.”
GW Arts & Sciences | RESEARCH & LEARNING | 35
