Meet our Principal Investigator
Sarah Pope-Caldwell
Dr. Pope-Caldwell is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Georgia State University, specializing in cognitive flexibility. Her work spans research sites in the Republic of the Congo, Germany, and Atlanta. Dr. Pope-Caldwell blends cross-cultural and developmental psychology, neuroscience, and primatology to understand how both human and nonhuman primates navigate problem-solving challenges across varying contexts
Research Coordinators
Ardain Dzabatou
is the Congo site Research Coordinator and a student at Marien Ngouabi University. His research interests include understanding how eco-cultural environments impact children's knowledge of local animals and how traditional foraging skillsets can be preserved and shared with future generations.
Tamara Morton
is the Georgia State University Research Coordinator in Atlanta, GA . Previous research interests focused on multimodal communication in chimpanzees. She has worked in wildlife rehabilitation, handling, and conservation, and remains particularly interested in how animal cognition research can inform and support conservation efforts.PhD Students
Wilson Vieira
https://www.wilson-vieira.com/
is a PhD candidate at the University of Leipzig. His focus is in cross-cultural psychology. Specifically, his research aims to understand variation in cognitive flexibility in humans. More specifically, his research looks at how environmental contexts and sources of information influence the way humans decide to forego known, working strategies for unknown, alternative ones.
Nicholas Lienhard
is a graduate student in Cognitive Sciences at Georgia State University. He is interested in primate attention and problem-solving and what internal/external factors may impact those behaviors. Future research interests include how smart devices and touchscreen technology can be used and may impact captive primates in terms of care, enrichment, and research-related activities.
Skylar Brodnan
is a graduate student in Psychology at Georgia State University. She is interested in the evolution of cognition, specifically, the relationship between social structure, ecology, and problem-solving strategies in primates.
GSU Research Assistants
Farez Parmar is the Lead Research Assistant in Non-human Primate Studies for the ADAPT Lab. He is an undergraduate student at Georgia State University pursuing animal psychology. He has an interest in learning about how animals interact with their environment and other animals in it. He is excited to work alongside the team and hopes to learn a lot from this opportunity.
Menaalla Mansour is the Lead Research Assistant for the ADAPT Lab. She is an undergraduate student at Georgia State University Honors College majoring in Psychology and hopes to pursue a PhD in Clinical Psychology with a focus on cross-cultural research. She is particularly interested in children’s cognitive and socioemotional development and how cultural contexts shape these processes. Through her work in the lab, she is excited to strengthen her research skills and prepare for doctoral training in psychology.
Sebastian Phoenix is a Research Assistant in Non-human Primate Studies for the ADAPT Lab. He is an undergraduate student at Georgia State University pursuing a medical degree in Psychiatry and a PhD in applied behavioral analysis. He is interested in learning how animals and non-human primates respond to behavioral treatment and how medication can coincide with behavior in animals. He is excited to work alongside the team and be part of this opportunity.
Rania Ochoa-Yaser is a Research Assistant in Non-human primate studies for the ADAPT Lab. She is a Graduate student pursuing an M.S in Applied behavioral Analysis, and hopes to pursue a PhD in psychology with a focus on cognitive sciences. She is interested in decision-making and cognitive flexibility across species and cultures, and aims to contribute to research addressing underrepresented populations to improve cognitive understanding and support diverse learning styles.
Marc Morris is an undergraduate Research Assistant in Child Studies for the ADAPT Lab. He is a senior at Georgia State University majoring in Psychology and minoring in Neuroscience. He plans to work in academic research after graduation to progress toward his goal of earning a PhD in Clinical Neuropsychology. He hopes to continue pursuing his passion for working with children through research.
Jenna Palazzolo is a Research Assistant in Child Studies for the ADAPT Lab. She is an undergraduate student at Georgia State University pursuing a degree in Psychology. She is interested in learning about cognitive flexibility in children and the contexts involved in learning. She is excited to gain valuable research skills and deepen her understanding of research.
Congo Research Assistants
Issa Dzabatou Issa is a Research Assistant at our Congo research site. He specializes in conducting research games with BaYaka and Bandongo participants.
Diop Dzabatou Diop is a Research Assistant at our Congo research site. He specializes in collecting observational video data and conducting research games with Bandongo participants.
Paul Mekouno Paul is a Research Assistant at our Congo research site. He specializes in conducting interviews and research games with Bandongo and BaYaka participants.
Bienvenue Mbongo Bienvenue is a Research Assistant at our Congo research site. He specializes in conducting research games with BaYaka participants.
Destin Dzanguendet Destin is a Research Assistant at our Congo research site. He specializes in conducting research games with Bandongo participants.
Close Collaborators
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Sheina Lew-Levy
Sheina is an Associate Professor at Durham University. Combining research methods from anthropology and psychology, Dr. Lew-Levy conducts research in hunter-gatherer societies to understand the cultural diversity in, and evolution of, social learning in childhood. Her primary research uses behavioural observations to understand social learning. She has also collected biological samples, social network data, and conducted experiments for collaborative cross-cultural projects.
WebsiteCollaborative Projects:
Age-based imitation bias throughout development, during daily interactions, and across cultures -
Daniel Haun
Daniel is the director of the Department of Comparative Cultural Psychology at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and a Professor for Comparative Cultural Psychology at Leipzig University. Daniel ultimately wants to understand how human cognition compares to that of other animals. He believes that understanding differences across animal species requires studying cognitive diversity within those species. That's why his group studies non-human great apes across different communities and humans in diverse cultural and ecological settings across 6 continents.
Website
Collaborative Projects:
Likouala Community Congo Research Site
NiftyShifty : The development of flexible decision-making and related executive functioning across cultures
Previous Lab Members
Celeste Walton - Graduated with a M.S. in Neuroscience from GSU in Spring 2025.
Alex Navas - Graduated with a B.S. in Psychology from GSU in Spring 2025.
Sahith Reddy Thummala - Graduated with an M.S. in Computer Science from GSU in Fall 2025.
Karen Siha - Graduated with a B.S. in Psychology from GSU in Summer 2026
Philip Morgan
Bintou Bah- Graduated with a B.S in Psychology from GSU in Spring 2026
Riley Moody- is pursuing a double B.S in Neuroscience & Behavioral Biology, and Psychology at Emory University
Aymmeri Coleman- Graduated with a B.S in Neuroscience from GSU in Fall 2026