JEFFREY LUCAS

Professor, Associate Head
LILY G-339
494-8112

My lab focuses on animal communication, both from the perspective of the receiver and from the perspective of the sender of signals.  We are using a technique called Auditory Evoked Potentials to measure the properties of the auditory system.  Our goal is to understand the adaptive significance of the processing of sound with an emphasis on the role that habitat and seasonality plays in signal processing.  We were one of the first labs to demonstrate seasonal patterns in the peripheral processing of sound in birds.

We are also studying the degree to which complex signals convey "information" among birds. Studies of bird communication, in turn, provide an excellent model for understanding our own language. We have focused most of our work on Carolina chickadees -- birds that have one of the most complex vocal systems of any species outside of humans. Indeed, chickadees are one of the few animals known to use syntax in their vocal signals.