Adam Milligan

I graduated from the University of Dundee in 2006 with a BSc (Hons) in Pharmacology but after a period of field research with the university's Natural History Society, studying functional redundancy in the Lepidoptera of Trinidad, I decided to change my career focus and embrace my long-held passion for wildlife as a vocation rather than a hobby.

I subsequently completed an MSc (with Commendation) in Animal Behaviour & Welfare at Queen's University, Belfast under the supervision of Professor Robert Elwood investigating manual laterality in 3 species of langur at Belfast Zoo (Trachypithecus auratus, Trachypithecus francoisi, Trachypithecus vetulus) before undertaking further field research studying social interactions in chacma baboons (Papio ursinus) in the bushveld of South Africa's Soutpansberg Mountains.

Away from my research, my biggest passions are: natural history, photography, travelling, the relationship between Christianity & science, and expounding the virtues of my wee country: Northern Ireland.

 

 

Affiliations

Behaviour & Evolution Research Group (BERG)

Scottish Primate Research Group (SPRG)

Primate Society of Great Britain (PSGB)

International Primate Society (IPS)

Christians in Science (CIS)

Research Interests
• lateralisation of emotion and the evolution of hemispheric specialisation
• the application of emotional laterality studies for animal welfare
• how emotion affects social behaviour and cognitive processes in animal society
• prosociality, primarily co-operative hunting/feeding strategies in social carnivores
• innovation and tool-use (primates and non-primates)

Thesis Title
Emotional Laterality: the influence of affective states upon the visual field preferences of social mammals during conspecific interactions

Study Species & Sites

Olive baboons, Papio anubis - Station de primatologie du CNRS, Rousset, Bouches-du-Rhône, France

Rhesus macaques, Macaca mulatta - NIH Animal Center, MD, USA

Spotted Hyena, Crocuta crocuta - University of California at Berkeley, CA, USA

 

Supervisors

Dr Sarah-Jane Vick (primary)

Dr Jim Anderson (secondary)

 

1st year tutorials & labs
PSY911 Introductory Psychology I
PSY912 Introductory Psychology II

2nd year tutorials
PSY9A3 Social Communication/Animal Behaviour

3rd year tutorials
PSY9AK Animal Behaviour: Ethics
PSY9AK Animal Behaviour: Innovation & Brain Evolution
PSY9AK Animal Behaviour: Individual Strategies - personality, games & decisions

Milligan ADS, Vick SJ, Anderson JA, Glickman SE, Weldele, M (in prep.) The influence of sex and affective states upon visual field bias during conspecific interactions in the spotted hyena.

Milligan ADS, Vick SJ, Anderson JA, Vauclair J, Meguerditchian A (in prep.) The influence of emotion, sex, and age upon visual field bias during conspecific interactions in olive baboons.

Milligan ADS, Vick SJ, Anderson JA, Vauclair J, Meguerditchian A (in prep.) The role of oestrus in the lateral bias of conspecific interactions in olive baboons.

Milligan ADS, Vick SJ, Anderson JA, Suomi SJ, Paukner A, Wagner PO (in prep.) The influence of affective states upon visual field preferences during conspecific interactions in rhesus macaques.

Presentations

Milligan ADS, Vick SJ, Anderson JA (2008) The effect of emotion on visual field preference.  Poster presentation, University of Stirling Postgraduate poster event, Stirling, UK

Milligan ADS, Vick SJ, Anderson JA, Vauclair J, Meguerditchian A (2009) Latéralisation de l'émotion dans Papio anubis.  Oral presentation [in French], CNRS, Rousset, France

Milligan ADS, Vick SJ, Anderson JA (2010) Emotional Laterality: the influence of affective states on the visual field preferences of social mammals during conspecific interactions.  Oral presentation, Behaviour & Evolution Research Group meeting, Stirling, UK

Milligan ADS, Vick SJ, Anderson JA (2010) Lateralisation of emotion in social mammals.  Poster presentation, Primate Society of Great Britain Spring Conference, Dundee, UK

Milligan ADS, Vick SJ, Anderson JA, Glickman SE, Weldele, M (2010) An Introduction to the Spotted Hyena.  Oral presentation, Behaviour & Evolution Research Group meeting, Stirling, UK

Milligan ADS, Vick SJ, Anderson JA, Glickman SE, Weldele, M (2011) The influence of emotion upon visual field preferences during conspecific interactions in the spotted hyena.  Oral presentation, University of California, FSBR, Berkeley, USA