Aaron Paul Blaisdell

Aaron Paul Blaisdell, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he serves as Chair of the Behavioral Neuroscience area. He directs the Comparative Cognition Lab and the Pigeon Art Project, and is affiliated with the UCLA Brain Research Institute, the UCLA Integrative Center for Learning & Memory, and the UCLA Evolutionary Medicine program.

Education:

• BA in Anthropology (SUNY Stony Brook, 1991)
• MA in Anthropology (Kent State University, 1996)
• PhD in Behavioral Neuroscience (Binghamton University, 1999)
• NIH-funded Postdoctoral Training (Tufts University)

Blaisdell's research bridges associative learning and cognitive processes in animals, focusing on:

• Causal reasoning and rationality in rats
• Learning and memory mechanisms across species
• Information processing under uncertainty
• Evolutionary basis for health and cognition
• Digital art creation in pigeons
• Neural substrates of decision-making

His work integrates Pavlovian and instrumental conditioning to explore cognitive structures in non-human animals.

2020-2024 publications demonstrate expertise in:

• Comparative cognition across pigeons, rats, and humans
• Neurochemical basis of learning (dopamine studies)
• Evolutionary psychology applications
• Novel behavioral paradigms (touchscreen experiments)
• Computational modeling of animal cognition
• Neuroanatomical analysis (cingulate cortex, amygdala)

Scientific Awards: No explicit awards mentioned in current text.

Grants:

• NIH R01NS059076 (2008-2013) - Associative Mechanisms of Spatial Cognition
• NIH R03MH070633 (2005-2007) - Temporal Integration of Learned Behavior
• NIH R01MH066855 (2003-2007) - Spatial Cognition Mechanisms
• NIH F32MH012531 (1999) - Avian Concept Learning

He co-founded the Ancestral Health Society and serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Evolution and Health, connecting evolutionary principles to modern health practices.