Dr. Karyl Swartz Scientist Institute or University Great Ape Trust of Iowa

Great Ape Trust Research Program

Comparative study of memory, problem solving, social perception, and self-recognition in apes.

Biographical Sketch

Received BA from The College of Wooster (1970), MA from George Peabody College (1972) and PhD fromBrown University (1977). Received PHS post-doctoral fellowship to work at Regional Primate Research Center at the University of Washington 1980-1982. Conducted research with gorillas and chimpanzees at Centre International de Recherches Médicales de Franceville, Gabon, Africa 1984-1985. Assistant Professor to Professor, Lehman College of The City University of New York 1982-2004. Served as Chair of Psychology Department Lehman College 2003-2004. While at Lehman served as Program Director of Support for Continuous Research Excellence Program, funded by the National Institutes of Health, and Minority Research Infrastructure Support Program, funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. Currently Research Associate of the Smithsonian Institution National Zoological Park and Resident Scientist at Great Ape Trust of Iowa.

Honors

• National Institute of Mental Health, Public Health Service, Predoctoral Fellowship
• National Institute of Mental Health, Public Health Service, Postdoctoral Fellowship
• Research Fellowship, Smithsonian Institution National Zoological Park

Professional Organizations

• American Psychological Association
• American Society of Primatologists
• International Primatological Society
• Psychonomic Society
• American Zoo & Aquarium Association

Representative Publications

• Swartz, K.B., Himmanen, S.A. (2006). Individual Response Strategies in List Learning by Orangutans. International Journal of Psychology and Psychological Therapy, Vol. 6, pp 233-248.
• Shumaker, R. W. & Swartz, K. B. (2004). Mirror self-recognition. In M.Bekoff, (Ed.). Encyclopedia of Animal Behavior. Vol. 1. Pp. 308-312. Greenwood Publishing Group.
• Shumaker, R. W. & Swartz, K. B. (2002). When traditional methodologies fail: Cognitive studies of great apes. In M. Bekoff, C. Allen, & G. Burghardt, (Eds.) The Cognitive Animal, pp. 335–343. Boston, MA: MIT Press.
• Swartz, K.B., & Himmanen, S.A. (2001). Serial learning by rhesus monkeys: Strategies for list learning and execution. In S.B. Fountain, M. Bunsey, J.H. Danks, & M.K. McBeath (Eds.). Animal Cognition and Sequential Behavior: Behavioral, Biological, and Computational Perspectives. Pp. 57-67. Norwell, MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
• Swartz, K. B., Chen, S. & Terrace, H. S. (2000). Serial Learning by Rhesus Monkeys: II. Learning Four-Item Lists by Trial and Error. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 26(3), 274-285.
• Swartz, K. B., Sarauw, D., and Evans, S. (1999). Comparative aspects of mirror self-recognition in great apes. In The mentalities of gorillas and orangutans in comparative perspective, ed. S. T. Parker, R. W. Mitchell, and H. L. Miles, pp. 283-294.
• Swartz, K. B. (1998). Self-recognition in nonhuman primates. In Comparative Psychology: A Handbook, ed. G. Greenberg and M. Haraway, pp. 849-855. New York: Garland Press.
• Swartz, K. B. and Evans, S. (1997). Anthropomorphism, anecdotes, and mirrors. In Anthropomorphism, anecdotes, and animals, ed. R. W. Mitchell, H. L. Miles, and N. Thompson, pp. 296-306. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.
• Chen, S., Swartz, K. B., & Terrace, H. S. (1997). Implicit Memory of Knowledge of Ordinal Position of List Items by Rhesus Monkeys. Psychological Science, 8, 80-86.
• Swartz, K. B., Chen, S., & Terrace, H. S. (1991). Serial Learning by Rhesus Monkeys. I: Acquisition and Retention of Multiple Four-item lists. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 17, 396-410.
• Swartz, K.B. & Evans, S. 1991. Not all chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) show self-recognition.