Current research interests

I use an integrative approach at the intersection of behavioral ecology, psychology, and neuroscience to examine the causes and consequences of variation in cognition.
Neurobiological bases of cognition in birds: I am studying neurogenetic and neuroanatomical bases of cognition by examining different species of wild birds. For example, see below a summary of my 2018 publication (7). By comparing two species with divergent innovative behaviors, we discovered some of the first neural correlates of innovative problem-solving in birds.​
Ecological traits associated with variation in cognitive skills: I am specifically interested in the relationships between cognition and environmental challenges such as habitat destruction and climate change. See below a path analysis that summarizes the results of my 2016 publication (14), which revealed, among others, that birds living in urban environments are better problem-solvers and have greater immunocompetence than birds living in rural environments. 
The relationships between cognitive traits: In conjunction with the neurobiological study of cognition, I am interested in the relationships between different complex cognitive traits. Is there such a thing as "intelligence"? If yes, which trait(s) characterize "intelligence"? What is "behavioral flexibility"? How to measure it? Are better problem-solvers also better at other tasks, e.g., reversal learning? See below for a schematic view of some of the relationships I am interested in. A few of those traits, which are often considered components of behavioral flexibility, are explored in my 2017 publication (10).

List of Peer-reviewed publications
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  1. Audet JN, Couture M, & Jarvis ED. Songbird species that display more-complex vocal learning are better problem-solvers and have larger brains. Science, 2023, 381(6663), 1170–1175. https://www.science.org/stoken/author-tokens/ST-1421/full 
  2. Ducatez S, DeVore JL, Whiting MJ, Audet JN. Editorial: Cognition and Adaptation to Urban Environments. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 2022, 10:3389.
  3. Lefebvre L, Audet JN. Can we build a neuroecology of innovativeness similar to that pioneered by David Sherry for spatial memory? Learning & Behavior, 2022, 50(1), 37–44.
  4. Lee C, Cho S, Kim KW, Yoo DA, Han JY, Lee HJ, Gedman G, Audet JN, Hara E, Rivas M, Whitney O, Pfenning A, Kim H, Jarvis ED. Rules of amino acid convergence: Not how many, but who in avian vocal learning clades. BioRxiv preprint, 2020.
  5. Audet JN. Neurobiological and ecological correlates of avian innovation. Integrative and Comparative Biology, 2020, 40(4): 955-966.
  6. Ducatez S, Lefebvre L, Sayol F, Audet JN, Sol D. Host Cognition and Parasitism in Birds: A Review of the Main Mechanisms. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 2020, 8:102.
  7. Ducatez S, Audet JN, Lefebvre L. Speed–accuracy trade-off, detour reaching and response to PHA in Carib grackles. Animal Cognition, 2019, 18:485-96.
  8. Audet JN, Kayello L, Ducatez S, Perillo S, Cauchard L, Howard JT, O'Connell LA, Jarvis ED, Lefebvre L. Divergence in problem-solving skills is associated with differential expression of glutamate receptors in wild finches. Science Advances, 2018, 4 (3): eaao6369.
  9. Ohta Y, Soucy G, Phaneuf D, Audet JN, Gros-Louis F, Yamashita T, Sato K, Takemoto M, Hishikawa N, Julien JP, Abe K. The role of variant chromogranin b as disease modifier in Japanese female amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Journal of the Neurological Sciences, 2017, 381: 101.
  10. Korlach J, Gedman G, Kingan KB, Chin CS, Howard JT, Audet JN, Cantin L, Jarvis ED. De novo PacBio long-read and phased avian genome assemblies correct and add to reference genes generated with intermediate and short reads. GigaScience, 2017, 6 (10): 1-16.
  11. Audet JN, Lefebvre L. What’s flexible in behavioral flexibility? Behavioral Ecology, 2017, 28(4):943-947.
  12. Ducatez S* / Audet JN*, Rodriguez JR, Kayello L, Lefebvre L (*contributed equally). Innovativeness and the effects of urbanization on risk-taking behaviors in wild Barbados birds. Animal Cognition, 2017, 20: 33.
  13. Ohta Y, Soucy G, Phaneuf D, Audet JN, Gros-Louis F, Rouleau GA, Blasco H, Corcia P, Andersen PM, Nordin F, Yamashita T, Abe K, Julien JP. Sex-dependent effects of chromogranin B P413L allelic variant as disease modifier in ALS. Human Molecular Genetics, 2016, 25 (21): 4771-4786.
  14. Audet JN, Ducatez S, Lefebvre L. Bajan birds pull strings: Two wild Antillean species enter the select club of string-pullers. PLoS One, 2016, 11: e0156112.
  15. Audet JN, Ducatez S, Lefebvre L. The Town Bird and the Country Bird: problem-solving and immunocompetence vary with urbanization. Behavioral Ecology, 2016, 27(2):637.
  16. Lefebvre L, Ducatez S, Audet JN. Feeding innovations in a nested phylogeny of Emberizoidea: Thraupidae, Icteridae, Coeribinae, Barbados bullfinches and Carib grackles. Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. B, 2016 Mar 19;371(1690).
  17. Ducatez S, Audet JN, Lefebvre L. Problem solving and learning in Carib grackles: individuals show a consistent speed-accuracy trade-off. Animal Cognition, 2015, Mar;18(2):485-96.
  18. Wang R, Chen CC, Hara E, Rivas MV, Roulhac PL, Howard JT, Chakraborty M, Audet JN, Jarvis ED. Convergent differential regulation of SLIT-ROBO axon guidance genes in the brains of vocal learners. Journal of Comparative Neurology, 2015, 523(6):892-906.
  19. Whitney O, Pfenning AR, Howard JT, Blatti CA, Liu F, Ward JM, Wang R, Audet JN, Kellis M, Mukherjee S, Sinha S, Hartemink AJ, West AE, Jarvis ED. Core and region enriched networks of behaviorally regulated genes and the singing genome. Science, 2014, Dec 12;346(6215).
  20. Audet JN, Ducatez S, Lefebvre L. Morphological and molecular sexing of the monochromatic Barbados bullfinch, Loxigilla barbadensis. Zoological Science, 2014, Oct;31(10):687-91.
  21. Ducatez S*/Audet JN*, Lefebvre L (*contributed equally). Independent appearance of an innovative feeding behavior in Antillean bullfinches. Animal Cognition, 2013,May 16(3):525-9.
  22. Swarup V*/Audet JN*, Phaneuf D, Kriz J, Julien JP (*contributed equally). Abnormal regenerative responses and impaired axonal outgrowth after nerve crush in TDP-43 transgenic mouse models of ALS. Journal of Neuroscience, 2012, Dec 12;32(50):18186-95. 
  23. Audet JN, Soucy G, Julien JP. Methylene blue administration fails to confer neuroprotection in two amyotrophic lateral sclerosis mouse models. Neuroscience, 2012, 209:136-43.
  24. Audet JN*/Gowing G*, Paradis R, Soucy G, Julien JP (*contributed equally). Ablation of proliferating cells in the CNS exacerbates motor neuron disease caused by mutant SOD1. PLoS One, 2012, 7(4):e34932.
  25. Audet JN, Gowing G, Julien JP. Wild type human SOD1 overexpression does not accelerate disease in mice expressing murine Sod1G86R. Neurobiology of Disease, 2010, Oct 40(1):245-50.
  26. Gowing G, Lalancette-Hebert M, Audet JN, Dequen F, Julien JP. M-CSF exacerbates ALS disease in a mouse model through altered responses of microglia expressing mutant SOD, Exper. Neurol., 2009, 220(2):267-75.
  27. Gowing G*/Philips T*, Van Wijmeersch B, Audet JN, Dewil M, Van Den Bosch L, Billiau AD, Robberecht W, Julien JP (*contributed equally). Ablation of proliferating microglia does not affect motor neuron degeneration in ALS caused by mutant SOD. Journal of Neuroscience, 2008, 28(41):10234-44.

Book chapter:
  • Ducatez S, Overington SE, Audet JN, Battesti M, Lefebvre L. Carib grackles - field and lab work on a tame, opportunistic island Icterid. In N. Bueno-Guerra & F. Amici (Eds.), Field and Laboratory Methods in Animal Cognition: A Comparative Guide (pp. 76-96). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781108333191.006, 2018.
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