social gaze
  • overview
  • thesis
  • skriatok
  • c.v.

  •           I'm a postdoctoral research fellow in Prof. Asif Ghazanfar's Primate Neuroethology Laboratory, part of the Neuroscience Institute at Princeton University. I am investigating gaze following and other forms of "social contagion", whereby thoughts, feelings, attention, and intention are transmitted between individuals via ritualized behavioral signals. You can read about my graduate work with Prof. Michael Platt at Duke here. Watch this space to see how my postdoctoral work develops — I'll try to keep things up to date, but if you have a burning question, write me: .

    Academic Publications:

    "Neuroethology of Attention in Primates."
    Shepherd SV, Platt ML.
    Chapter in Cognitive Biology: Evolutionary and Developmental Perspectives on Mind, Brain and Behavior (eds. L. Tommasi, M. Peterson & L. Nadel), MIT Press, due 2008.

    “Neuroeconomics: Implications for understanding the neurobiology of addiction.”
    Platt ML, Watson KK, Hayden BH, Shepherd SV, Klein JT.
    Chapter in Frontiers in the Neurobiology of Addiction (eds. C.M. Kuhn & G.F Koob), CRC Press, due 2008.

    "Spontaneous social orienting and gaze-following in ringtailed lemurs (Lemur catta)."
    Shepherd SV, Platt ML.
    Animal Cognition 11(1):13-20, 2008.
    [reprint&supp]

    "Missed connections: Integrating proximate and ultimate explanations in cognitive neuroscience. A review of Steven M. Platek, Julian P. Keenan, and Todd K. Shackelford (Eds.), Evolutionary Cognitive Neuroscience."
    Deaner RO, Shepherd SV.
    Evolutionary Psychology 5(3): 632-641, 2007.
    [open access]

    "Familiarity accentuates gaze-cuing in women but not men."
    Deaner RO, Shepherd SV, Platt ML.
    Biology Letters 3:64-7, 2006.
    [reprint]

    "Social status gates social attention in monkeys."
    Shepherd SV, Deaner RO, Platt ML.
    Current Biology 16(4):R119-R120, 2006.
    [reprint&supp]

    "Noninvasive telemetric gaze tracking in freely-moving socially-housed prosimian primates."
    Shepherd SV, Platt ML.
    Methods 38(3):185-194, 2006.
    [reprint]&[Skriatok scripts for Matlab]

    "Methods of Presenting Animals to the Public."
    Howell S, Shepherd SV.
    Chapter in Wildlife Rehabilitation, V.14. Ludwig DR (ed.), National Wildlife Rehabilitation Association, 1996.