Mockingbirds have magnificent songs. Research on wild animals often shows that the impact of physiological influences, such as hormones, on behavior depends on communication, social behavior and prior experience. My research examines the the relationship between vocal communication, especially singing, and the reproductive and territorial behavior of wild Northern Mockingbirds Mimus polyglottos . Mockingbirds' elaborate songs and their calls alter their social interactions in both reproduction and aggression. I study the interrelationships among their songs, their calls, their social behavior, and hormones such as testosterone and estrogen, in free-living birds in their natural habitats.

aggressive conflicts within mated pairs and and their relation to vocal communication
relationships among fluctuations in steroid hormones and breeding behavior in males and females
female control of male song production
A Bibliography of Published Work on Mockingbirds

I also do research in the history of psychology. I am particularly interested in relations between experimental physiology and experimental psychology in America and Germany at the turn of the twentieth century, and in the history of the development and use of animal models in psychological and biological research.

   I am a member of the graduate program in social psychology at UNCG. The program comprises a variety of approaches including basic theories of human social psychology as well as biological and applied perspectives.  If you have questions about my research, about mockingbirds, their song or their behavior, about the history of scientific psychology or about UNCG's academic programs in psychology or biology, please contact me.

I am also Director of Undergraduate Studies for the Department of Psychology. So ask me too, about majoring or minoring in psychology at UNCG, about opportunities for independent research in psychology or about what to do now if you are planning to go to graduate school.
Ask me too, about my Bernese mountain dogs, Gus, Bogey, and Louie
(Bogey  and Gus, among the best dogs ever, are gone now), and about my baseball team.

  Me, Gus and Bogey at the Greensboro Dog Jog to benefit our favorite charity
CanineCompanions for Independence.

Recent publications:

• Logan, C. A. Hyatt, L. E. & Gregorcyk, L. 1990. Song playback stimulates nest building during clutch overlap in mockingbirds, Mimus polyglottos. Animal Behaviour, 39, 943-953.
• Logan, C. A. 1992. Testosterone and reproductive adaptations in the autumnal territoriality of the Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos). Ornis Scandinavica, 23, 277-283.
• Logan, C. A. 1994. Fluctuations in intra-pair calling across breeding phases in Northern Mockingbirds (Mimus polyglottos ). Behaviour, 130, 123-141. [Abstract]
• Logan, C. A. & Wingfield, J. C. 1995. Hormonal correlates of breeding status, nest construction and parental care in multiple-brooded northern mockingbirds, Mimus polyglottos. Hormones and Behavior, 29, 12-30. [Abstract]
• Justice, M. J. & Logan, C. A. 1995. The effects of exogenous testosterone on male Northern Mockingbirds during the breeding season. The Wilson Bulletin, 107, 538-542.
• Logan, C. A. & Derrickson, K. C. 1996. Aggressive harassment by male Northern Mockingbirds (Mimus polyglottos ) directed at their incubating mates. Bird Behavior, 12, 71-80. [Abstract]
• Logan, C. A. 1997. Mate re-assessment in an already-mated female Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos ). The Chat , 61, 108-112.
• Logan, C. A. & Donaghey, B. A. 1997. Fledgling age affects female reactions to mate song in Northern Mockingbirds, Mimus polylottos . Bird Behavior , 12, 1-9. [Abstract]
• Logan, C. A. 1999. The Altered Rationale for the Choice of a Standard Animal in Experimental Psychology: Henry H. Donaldson, Adolf Meyer and 'the' Albino Rat. History of Psychology , 2, 3-24. [Abstract]
• Thompson, Nicholas S., Abbey, Emily, Wapner, Jessica, Logan, Cheryl, Merritt, Peter, and Pooth, Albert.  2000.  Variation in the bout structure of Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) singing.  Bird Behavior, 13, 93-98.
• Logan, Cheryl A.  2001.   "[A]re Norway rats . . . things?": Diversity versus generality in the use of albino rats in experiments on development and sexuality.  Journal of the History of Biology, 34, 287-314.  [Abstract]
• Logan, C. A.  2002.  Before there were standards: The role of test animals in the production of scientific generality in physiology.  In press, Journal of the History of Biology.
• Logan, C. A.  2002.  When scientific knowledge becomes scientific discovery:  Classical conditioning before Pavlov.  In press, J.  History of the Behavioral Sciences.

 

Teaching interests:

• Animal Behavior [The Animal Behavior Society]
• Biological Psychology (PSY 230)
• The History of Psychology (PSY 515)

Theory and Psychology [Journal]

Cheiron [International Soc. for the History of Behavioral and Social Sciences]

• The History of Experimental Biology
• Sexual Selection and the Nature of Sex Differences
• Evolutionary Psychology: A Critique
• Behavioral Ecology
• Behavioral Endocrinology
• Neurobiology and Behavior
• Evolutionary Psychology

Current Courses :

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