Page 261 - Emotions through the eyes of our closest living relatives- Exploring attentional and behavioral mechanisms

Curriculum Vitae
Evy van Berlo was born in 1990 in Maastricht and graduated from high school Porta Mosana in Maastricht in 2008. She completed her Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology at the Erasmus University Rotterdam (2009 – 2012), after completing the Brain and Cognition track. She continued with a Research Master of Science degree in Cognitive Neuroscience at Utrecht University (2012 – 2016). It was during this time she discovered the work of Dutch primatologist Prof. dr. Liesbeth Sterck and subsequently Prof. dr. Frans de Waal, which inspired her to pursue a career in comparative psychology and specialize in primate behavior and cognition.
For her first Master’s project, Evy investigated the social dynamics within a group of long-tailed macaques during the introduction of a new alpha male1. During this time, she became familiar with behavioral observation methods commonly used in Biology, and learned a great deal about primate cognition and behavior. For her second Master’s project, she studied the function of yawning in bonobos housed at primate park Apenheul2. To conduct this project, she acquired funding from the European Human Behaviour and Evolution Association (EHBEA). For her final Master’s project, she wrote a research proposal on measuring an attentional bias for emotions of familiar and unfamiliar others in bonobos3. With the invaluable help from Prof. dr. Mariska E. Kret, Evy could continue her research work in pursuance of a Doctoral degree in comparative psychology.
Evy conducted her Ph.D. research at the Cognitive Psychology Unit of the Institute of Psychology (Leiden University, 2016 – 2021) and Apenheul under the supervision of Prof. dr. Kret, and later also Dr. Yena Kim. During this time, she completed eight studies of which six are part of her Doctoral degree and described in this dissertation. In collaboration with Prof. dr. Kret, Evy set up two new research facilities at Apenheul, introducing eye-tracking to bonobos and touchscreen-based research to orangutans4. To make comparisons with humans possible and engage the general public in research, she also realized a research setup to test (human) visitors of Apenheul. Furthermore, half-way through her first year of the Ph.D., she conducted a 3-month study on stress and (contagious) yawning in wild chimpanzees in Rwanda, Africa5. Moreover, Evy was involved in teaching several courses at Leiden University and supervised many Bachelor and Master students who helped her collect data with the visitors of Apenheul. Due to health problems, Evy was required to take a hiatus in 2019. With the support of her fantastic colleagues and friends, she was able to hand in the dissertation you now have before you.
Curriculum Vitae
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