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Christoph Völter

Senior scientist

Abteilung für Vergleichende Kulturpsychologie
Max-Planck-Institut für evolutionäre Anthropologie
Deutscher Platz 6
04103 Leipzig

E-Mail: christoph_voelter@[>>> Please remove the text! <<<]eva.mpg.de

Research Interests

  • Active learning, explanation seeking, and the acquisition of abstract knowledge in primates, parrots, and dogs
  • Theory of mind in primates and dogs
  • Behaviour tracking (machine-learning based 3D pose estimation, stationary and mobile eye tracking) in comparative cognition research
  • Large-scale research collaborations within the field of comparative cognition (ManyPrimates, ManyDogs)

Curriculum Vitae

10/2023–presentResearch Group Leader
Department of Comparative Cultural Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
02/2019–presentSenior Postdoctoral Researcher
Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Medical University of Vienna, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
05/2019–04/2023Honorary Lecturer
School of Psychology & Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK
05/2016–01/2019Research Fellow
School of Psychology & Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK
01/2017–06/2017Fixed-term Lecturer and Research Coordinator
Living Links Centre to Human Evolution and School of Psychology & Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK
03/2014–04/2016Postdoctoral Researcher
Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
02/2011–10/2014Ph.D. in Biology (Dr. rer. nat.)
Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig and Department of Animal Behaviour, University of Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany

Publications

2024

Ritov, O., Völter, C. J., Raihani, N. J., & Engelmann, J. M. (2024). No evidence for inequity aversion in non-human animals: a meta-analysis of accept/reject paradigms. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 291(2035).
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Engelmann, J. M., Völter, C. J., Goddu, M. K., Call, J., Herrmann, E., & Rakoczy, H. (2024). Invited Reply: Modal reasoning in non-human animals: possible ways forward. Biology Letters, 20(6): 20240080.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Lonardo, L., Putnik, M., Szewczak, V., Huber, L., & Völter, C. J. (2024). Dogs do not use their own experience with novel barriers to infer others’ visual access. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 291: 20232934.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Felsche, E., Völter, C. J., Herrmann, E., Seed, A. M., & Buchsbaum, D. (2024). How can I find what I want? Can children, chimpanzees and capuchin monkeys form abstract representations to guide their behavior in a sampling task? Cognition, 245: 105721.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Guran, C.-N.-A., Lonardo, L., Tünte, M., Arzberger, K., Völter, C. J., Hoehl, S., Huber, L., & Lamm, C. (2024). Investigating belief understanding in children in a nonverbal ambiguous displacement and communication setting. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 240: 105830.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Ebel, S. J., Völter, C. J., Sánchez Amaro, A., Helming, K. A., Herrmann, E., & Call, J. (2024). Functional fixedness in chimpanzees. Scientific Reports, 14: 12155.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Lonardo, L., Völter, C. J., Hepach, R., Lamm, C., & Huber, L. (2024). Do dogs preferentially encode the identity of the target object or the location of others' actions? Animal Cognition, 27: 28.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Ruggeri, A., Stanciu, O., & Völter, C. J. (2024). Selective advantage of climbers in spatial navigation tasks. International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 22, 428-445.
DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Huber, L; Putnik, M; Szewczak, V; Van der Wolf, P; Lonardo, L; Völter, C (2024): Testing the concept of seeing in dogs. -31st Annual International Conference on Comparative Cognition (CO3); APR 10-14, 2024; New Mexiko, United States.

Völter, C; Gerwisch, K; Berg, P; Viranyi, Z; Huber, L (2024): Using mobile eye tracking to study dogs’ understanding of human referential communication. -31st Annual International Conference on Comparative Cognition (CO3); APR 10-14, 2024; New Mexiko, United States.

2023

Engelmann, J. M., Haux, L. M., Völter, C. J., Schleihauf, H., Call, J., Rakoczy, H., & Herrmann, E. (2023). Do chimpanzees reason logically? Child Development,94(5), 1102-1116.
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Lonardo, L; Völter, CJ; Lamm, C; Huber, L (2023): Dogs Rely On Visual Cues Rather Than On Effector-Specific Movement Representations to Predict Human Action Targets. Open Mind (Camb). 2023; 7:588-607
Open Access    DOI

Völter, CJ; Lonardo, L; Steinmann, MGGM; Ramos, CF; Gerwisch, K; Schranz, MT; Dobernig, I; Huber, L (2023): Unwilling or unable? Using three-dimensional tracking to evaluate dogs' reactions to differing human intentions. Proc Biol Sci. 2023; 290(1991):20221621
Open Access    DOI

Völter, CJ; Starić, D; Huber, L (2023): Using machine learning to track dogs’ exploratory behaviour in the presence and absence of their caregiver. Anim Behav. 2023; 197:97-111
Open Access    DOI

Völter, CJ; Tomašić, A; Nipperdey, L; Huber, L (2023): Dogs' expectations about occlusion events: from expectancy violation to exploration. Proc Biol Sci. 2023; 290(2003):20230696
Open Access    DOI

Felsche, E., Stevens, P., Völter, C. J., Buchsbaum, D., & Seed, A. M. (2023). Evidence for abstract representations in children but not capuchin monkeys. Cognitive Psychology,140: 101530.
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Engelmann, J. M., Völter, C. J., Goddu, M. K., Call, J., Rakoczy, H., & Herrmann, E. (2023). Chimpanzees prepare for alternative possible outcomes. Biology Letters,19(6): 20230179.
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Huber, L., Lonardo, L., & Völter, C. J. (2023). Eye Tracking in Dogs: Achievements and Challenges. Comparative Cognition & Behavior Reviews,18, 33-58.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Reindl, E., Völter, C. J., Civelek, Z., Duncan, L., Lugosi, Z., Felsche, E., Herrmann, E., Call, J., & Seed, A. M. (2023). The shifting shelf task: A new, non-verbal measure for attentional set shifting. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences,290(1991).
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

2022

Völter, C. J., Tinklenberg, B., Call, J., & Seed, A. M. (2022). Inhibitory control and cue relevance modulate chimpanzees’ (Pan troglodytes) performance in a spatial foraging task. Journal of Comparative Psychology,136(2), 105-120.
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Marno, H., Völter, C. J., Tinklenberg, B., Sperber, D., & Call, J. (2022). Learning from communication versus observation in great apes. Scientific Reports,12: 2917.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Karl, S; Anderle, K; Völter, CJ; Virányi, Z (2022): Pet dogs' Behavioural Reaction to Their Caregiver's Interactions with a Third Party: Join in or Interrupt? Animals (Basel). 2022; 12(12):1574
DOI

Reindl, E; Völter, CJ; Campbell-May, J; Call, J; Seed, AM (2022): Exploring the development of attentional set shifting in young children with a novel Intradimensional/Extradimensional shift task. J Exp Child Psychol. 2022; 221:105428
Open Access    DOI

Völter, CJ; Huber, L (2022): Pupil size changes reveal dogs’ sensitivity to motion cues. iScience. 2022; 25(9):104801
Open Access    DOI

Völter, CJ; Reindl, E; Felsche, E; Civelek, Z; Whalen, A; Lugosi, Z; Duncan, L; Herrmann, E; Call, J; Seed, AM (2022): The structure of executive functions in preschool children and chimpanzees. Sci Rep. 2022; 12(1):6456
Open Access    DOI

Huber, L; Lonardo, L; Völter, C; Lamm, C (2022): Dogs understand the false beliefs of humans, but not like humans. -29th Annual International Conference on Comparative Cognition (CO3); APR 6-9, 2022; Online, United States.
DOI

Völter, C; Huber, L (2022): Eye-tracking with dogs: Achievements and challenges. -Vision Research Conference (VRC) 2022; JUN 6-9, 2022; Toronto, Canada.
Open Access    DOI

2021

Engelmann, J. M., Völter, C. J., O’Madagain, C., Proft, M., Haun, D. B. M., Rakoczy, H., & Herrmann, E. (2021). Chimpanzees consider alternative possibilities. Current Biology,31(20), R1377-R1378.
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Ebel, S. J., Völter, C. J., & Call, J. (2021). Prior experience mediates the usage of food items as tools in great apes (Pan paniscus, Pan troglodytes, Gorilla gorilla, and Pongo abelii). Journal of Comparative Psychology,135(1), 64-73.
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Civelek, Z; Völter, CJ; Seed, AM (2021): What happened? Do preschool children and capuchin monkeys spontaneously use visual traces to locate a reward? Proc Biol Sci. 2021; 288(1956):20211101
Open Access    DOI

Colbourne, JAD; Auersperg, AMI; Lambert, ML; Huber, L; Völter, CJ (2021): Extending the Reach of Tooling Theory: A Neurocognitive and Phylogenetic Perspective. Top Cogn Sci. 2021; 13(4):548-572
Open Access    DOI

Jordan, EJ; Völter, CJ; Seed, AM (2021): Do capuchin monkeys (Sapajus apella) use exploration to form intuitions about physical properties? Cogn Neuropsychol. 2021 38 (7-8) 531-543.
Open Access    DOI

Lonardo, L; Völter, CJ; Lamm, C; Huber, L (2021): Dogs follow human misleading suggestions more often when the informant has a false belief. Proc Biol Sci. 2021; 288(1955):20210906
DOI   

Reindl, E; Parkash, D; Völter, CJ; Seed, AM (2021): Thinking inside the box: Mental manipulation of working memory contents in 3- to 7-year-old children. Cogn Dev. 2021; 59:None
Open Access   DOI

Völter, CJ; Huber, L (2021): Dogs' looking times and pupil dilation response reveal expectations about contact causality. Biol Lett. 2021; 17(12):20210465
Open Access   DOI

Colbourne, JAD; Auersperg, AMI; Lambert, ML; Huber, L; Völter, CJ (2021): Extending the Reach of Tooling Theory -28th Annual International Conference on Comparative Cognition (CO3), 7.–10.4.2021; APR 7-10, 2021; Online, United States.

Huber, L; Karl, S; Völter, C; Boch, M; Sladky, R;Wagner, IC; Lamm, C (2021): How pet dogs perceive human emotions: multi-method evidence from fMRI, eye-tracking and behavioral research. -28th Annual International Conference on Comparative Cognition (CO3); APR 7-10,2021; Online, United States.

Völter, C; Huber, L (2021): Expectancy violations about physical properties of animated objects in dogs. -43rd Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society; JUL 26-29, 2021; Vienna, Austria.

Völter, CJ; Huber, L (2021): Using pupillometry to study expectancy violations about physical properties of animated objects in dogs. -Canine Science Forum; July 6-9, 2021; Lisbon, Portugal.

2020

Bohn, M., Call, J., & Völter, C. J. (2020). Evolutionary precursors of negation in non-human reasoning. In V. Déprez, & M. Espinal ( Eds. ), The Oxford Handbook of Negation (pp. 577-588). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
BibTeX   Endnote   

Karl, S; Boch, M; Zamansky, A; van der Linden, D; Wagner, IC; Völter, CJ; Lamm, C; Huber, L (2020): Exploring the dog-human relationship by combining fMRI, eye-tracking and behavioural measures. Sci Rep. 2020; 10(1):22273
Open Access    DOI

Völter, CJ; Karl, S; Huber, L (2020): Dogs accurately track a moving object on a screen and anticipate its destination. Sci Rep. 2020; 10(1):19832 Völter, CJ; Lambert, ML; Huber, L (2020): Do nonhumans seek explanations? Anim Behav Cogn. 2020; 7(3):445-451
Open Access  DOI

2019

ManyPrimates, Altschul, D. M., Beran, M. J., Bohn, M., Call, J., DeTroy, S., Duguid, S. J., Egelkamp, C. L., Fichtel, C., Fischer, J., Flessert, M., Hanus, D., Haun, D. B. M., Haux, L. M., Hernandez-Aguilar, R. A., Herrmann, E., Hopper, L. M., Joly, M., Kano, F., Keupp, S., Melis, A. P., Motes Rodrigo, A., Ross, S. R., Sánchez Amaro, A., Sato, Y., Schmitt, V., Schweinfurth, M. K., Seed, A. M., Taylor, D., Völter, C. J., Warren, E., & Watzek, J. (2019). Establishing an infrastructure for collaboration in primate cognition research. PLoS One,14(10): e0223675.
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Völter, C. J., Mundry, R., Call, J., & Seed, A. M. (2019). Chimpanzees flexibly update working memory contents and show susceptibility to distraction in the self-ordered search task. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences,286(1907): 20190715.
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Bueno-Guerra, N., Völter, C. J., de las Heras, Á., Colell, M., & Call, J. (2019). Bargaining in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes): The effect of cost, amount of gift, reciprocity, and communication. Journal of Comparative Psychology,133(4), 542-550.
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ManyPrimates, Altschul, D. M., Beran, M. J., Bohn, M., Caspar, K. R., Fichtel, C., Försterling, M., Grebe, N. M., Hernandez-Aguilar, R. A., Kwok, S. C., LLorente, M., Motes Rodrigo, A., Proctor, D., Sánchez Amaro, A., Simpson, E. A., Szabelska, A., Taylor, D., van der Mescht, J., Völter, C. J., & Watzek, J. (2019). Collaborative open science as a way to reproducibility and new insights in primate cognition research. Japanese Psychological Review,62(103), 205-220.
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Tennie, C., Völter, C. J., Vonau, V., Hanus, D., Call, J., & Tomasello, M. (2019). Chimpanzees use observed temporal directionality to learn novel causal relations. Primates,60, 517-524.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Civelek, Z; Völter, C; Seed, A (2019): Do preschoolers and capuchin monkeys infer causes or learn associations? 53--ASAB Konstanz Summer Conference; AUG 26-28, 2019; Konstanz, Germany.

Felsche, E; Stevens, P; Völter, CJ; Buchsbaum, D; Seed, A (2019): Exploring the use of overhypotheses by children and capuchin monkeys. 1731-1737.-The Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society; July 24-27, 2019; Montreal, Canada.

2018

Völter, C. J., & Call, J. (2018). Intuitive optics: What great apes infer from mirrors and shadows. Animal Cognition,21(4), 493-512.
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Völter, CJ; Tinklenberg, B; Call, J; Seed, AM (2018): Comparative psychometrics: establishing what differs is central to understanding what evolves. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2018; 373(1756)
DOI

2017

Schmelz, M., Duguid, S., Bohn, M., & Völter, C. J. (2017). Cooperative problem solving in giant otters (Pteronura brasiliensis) and Asian small-clawed otters (Aonyx cinerea). Animal Cognition,20(6), 1107-1114.
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Völter, C. J., Rossano, F., & Call, J. (2017). Social manipulation in nonhuman primates: Cognitive and motivational determinants. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews,82, 76-94.
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Bohn, M., Allritz, M., Call, J., & Völter, C. J. (2017). Information seeking about tool properties in great apes. Scientific Reports,7: 10923.
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Völter, C. J., & Call, J. (2017). Causal and inferential reasoning in animals. In G. M. Burghardt, I. M. Pepperberg, C. T. Snowdon, & T. Zentall ( Eds. ), APA handbook of comparative psychology Vol 2: Perception, learning, and cognition (pp. 643-671). US: American Psychological Association.
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Völter, C. J., & Call, J. (2017). Cognition. In A. Fuentes ( Ed. ), International Encyclopedia of Primatology (pp. 196-203). Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.
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2016

Völter, C. J., Sentís, I., & Call, J. (2016). Great apes and children infer causal relations from patterns of variation and covariation. Cognition,155, 30-43.
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2015

Völter, C. J., Rossano, F., & Call, J. (2015). From exploitation to cooperation: Social tool use in orang-utan mother–offspring dyads. Animal Behaviour,100, 126-134.
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2014

Völter, C. J., & Call, J. (2014). The cognitive underpinnings of flexible tool use in great apes. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition,40(3), 287-302.
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Völter, C. J., & Call, J. (2014). Great apes (Pan paniscus, Pan troglodytes, Gorilla gorilla, Pongo abelii) follow visual trails to locate hidden food. Journal of Comparative Psychology,128(2), 199-208.
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Völter, C. J., & Call, J. (2014). Younger apes and human children plan their moves in a maze task. Cognition,130(2), 186-203.
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Völter, C. (2014). Problem solving in great apes: On the effect of visual feedback, causal inferences, and planning. PhD Thesis, Bielefeld Univ., Bielefeld.
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2013

Manrique, H. M., Völter, C. J., & Call, J. (2013). Repeated innovation in great apes. Animal Behaviour,85(1), 195-202.
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2012

Völter, C., & Call, J. (2012). Problem solving in great apes (Pan paniscus, Pan troglodytes, Gorilla gorilla, and Pongo abelii): the effect of visual feedback. Animal Cognition,15(5), 923-936.
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