Med bio student Olivia Hebert co-authors article in 'Behaviour'

Teresa Dzieweczynski, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of Psychology, has an article in the current issue of the peer-reviewed journal, Behaviour. The article, "Influence of prior exposure to females on behavioral consistency in male Siamese fighting fish," features a student first author, Olivia Hebert'13, a medical biology major (in photo). This is Hebert's second publication in a scientific journal.

This study is a component of Dr. Dzieweczynski's research program designed to obtain a better understanding of the mechanisms and consequences of behavioral variation in male Siamese fighting fish. Olivia and Dr. Dzieweczynski determined that recent experience with a female conspecific actually increased both individual consistency and the degree of variation between males for female-directed but not male-directed behaviors. This suggests that courtship behaviors are more sensitive to experience than aggressive behaviors which may have a stronger genetic basis in this species.