Newly appointed Assist. Prof. Angie Johnston (Psychology) photographed in the Social Work Library for the 10/10 issue of Chronicle.

Dr. Angie Johnston is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Boston College where she is the director of the Canine Cognition Center and Social Learning Laboratory. You can find her lab website, including information about how to participate with your dog at her lab website.

In her research, she investigates the evolutionary origins of human teaching and learning. In earlier work, she approached this question from a developmental perspective, examining how children evaluate the information they learn from others. In more recent work, she has investigated this question from a comparative perspective, examining which aspects of human learning are unique and which are shared across other species. In particular, she compares human learning to that of domesticated dogs, as dogs demonstrate striking similarities to humans in their capacity to learn from others. To read more about why dogs are an ideal species for testing these questions, see a short commentary here.

For a full list of publications, see her CV, publications page, or Google Scholar profile. For recent media coverage, please see her media page. For any additional information, you can contact her via email at angie.johnston@bc.edu.