updated Dec 2020

Emma C Tecwyn
Department of Psychology, Birmingham City University
Curzon Building, 4 Cardigan Street, Birmingham, B4 7BD, UK
Email: emma.tecwyn@bcu.ac.uk ● Web: http://emmatecwyn.weebly.com ● Twitter: @emmatecwyn

PROFESSIONAL POSITIONS

Lecturer in Psychology Jan ’19 –

School of Social Sciences, Birmingham City University, UK

Research Associate Mar ’17 – Dec ’18

School of Psychology, Cardiff University, UK

Postdoctoral Fellow & Sessional Lecturer Nov ’14 – Feb ’17

Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Canada

Postdoctoral Research Assistant Oct ’13 – Oct ’14

School of Psychology & Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, UK

EDUCATION

PGCert Learning & Teaching in HE Birmingham City University, UK ongoing

Ph.D. Great Ape Physical Cognition University of Birmingham, UK 2014
M.Sc. Animal Behaviour (Distinction) Manchester Metropolitan University, UK 2007
B.Sc. (Hons) Biological Sciences (First class) University of Birmingham, UK 2006

PUBLICATIONS

Peer-reviewed publications
12. Tecwyn, E. C., Seed, A. M. & Buchsbaum, D. (2020) Sensitivity to Ostension is Not Sufficient for
Pedagogical Reasoning by Toddlers. Proceedings of the 42nd Annual Conference of the Cognitive
Science Society

11. Lorimer, S., McCormack, T., Blakey, E., Lagnado, D.A., Hoerl, C., Tecwyn, E.C. & Buehner, M.J. (in
press). The Developmental Profile of Temporal Binding: From Childhood to Adulthood. Quarterly
Journal of Experimental Psychology

10. Hoerl, C., Lorimer, S., McCormack, T. Lagnado, D.A., Blakey, E., Tecwyn, E.C. & Buehner, M.J.
(2020). Temporal binding, causation, and agency: Developing a new theoretical framework.
Cognitive Science, e12843

9. Tecwyn, E. C., Bechlivanidis, C., McCormack, T., Lagnado, D., Lorimer, S., Blakey, E., Hoerl, C. &
Buehner, M.J. (2020) Causality influences children’s and adults’ experience of temporal order.
Developmental Psychology, 56(4), 739-755
 Emma Tecwyn CV

8. Tecwyn, E.C., & Buchsbaum, D. (2019). What factors really influence domestic dogs’ (Canis
familiaris) search for an item dropped down a diagonal tube? The tubes task revisited. Journal
of Comparative Psychology, 133(1), 4-19
 Recipient of the APA Comparative Psychology Award for best article in the journal in 2019

7. Blakey, E.*, Tecwyn, E.C.*, McCormack, T., Lagnado, D.A., Hoerl, C., Lorimer, S. & Buehner, M.J.
(2019) When causality shapes experience of time: Evidence for temporal binding in young
children. Developmental Science, 22(3), e12769 * Equal contribution

6. Tecwyn, E.C. & Buchsbaum, D. (2018) Hood’s Gravity Rules. In Vonk, J. & Shackleford, T. (Eds)
Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior. Springer.

5. Tecwyn, E.C., Denison, S., Messer, E.J.E. & Buchsbaum, D. (2017) Intuitive probabilistic inference in
capuchin monkeys. Animal Cognition 20: 243-256

4. Chappell, J., Cutting, N., Tecwyn, E.C., Apperly, I., Beck, S.R., Thorpe, S.K.S. (2015) Minding the
gap: a comparative approach to studying the origins of innovation. In Kaufmann, A. &
Kaufmann, J.C. (Eds) Animal Creativity and Innovation. Academic Press

3. Tecwyn, E.C., Thorpe, S.K.S., Chappell, J. (2014) Development of planning in 4- to 10-year-old

children: reducing inhibitory demands does not improve performance. Journal of Experimental
Child Psychology 125: 85-101

2. Tecwyn, E.C., Thorpe, S.K.S., Chappell, J. (2013) Great apes can plan step-by-step but not in
advance of action. Behavioural Processes 100: 174-184

1. Tecwyn, E.C., Thorpe, S.K.S., Chappell, J. (2012) What cognitive strategies do orangutans (Pongo
pygmaeus) use to solve a trial-unique puzzle-tube task incorporating multiple obstacles? Animal
Cognition 15:121-133

Selected manuscripts in progress (available upon request)

+ Denotes undergraduate supervisee

Pelgrim, M. +, Espinosa, J., Tecwyn, E.C., & Buchsbaum, D. (under revision) Domestic Dogs’ Sensitivity
to the Accuracy of Human Informants.

Bechlivanidis, C., Buehner, M. J., Tecwyn, E.C., Lagnado, D. A., Hoerl, C., & McCormack, T. (under
revision) Human Vision Reconstructs Time to Satisfy Causal Constraints.

Buchsbaum, D., Tecwyn, E.C., Whalen, A., Messer, E.J.E., Bryant, E.L.F., Griffiths, T.L., Gopnik, A.
& Seed, A.M. (under revision) Children, but not capuchins, rationally integrate social and physical
information when deciding which actions to copy.

Tecwyn, E.C., Mazumder, P. +, & Buchsbaum, D. (submitted) Toddlers’ causal interventions reveal a
grasp of the temporal priority principle.

Espinosa, J., Tecwyn, E.C., & Buchsbaum, D. (submitted) Canine intuitive physics.

Tecwyn, E.C., Seed, A.M. & Buchsbaum, D. (in prep) Toddlers and dogs are sensitive to causal
plausibility but not pedagogy in a causal imitation task.

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 Emma Tecwyn CV

HONORS, GRANTS & AWARDS

2020 Education Grant: £1000 Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour; with L. Ostojic and S.E.
Byosiere
2020 Frank Beach Award by Division 6 of the American Psychological Association for the best
article published in the Journal of Comparative Psychology in 2019
2019 Small Development Grant: £989.58 Birmingham City University
2019 Best poster presentation. Lancaster Conference for Infant and Early Child Development
(University of Lancaster, UK)
2018 Cardiff Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (CUROP) stipend to support a
summer intern: £1350 Cardiff University, UK
2013 Honourable mention for oral presentation. Primate Society of Great Britain Spring Meeting
(University of Lincoln, UK)
2013 Runner up for best oral presentation. Biosciences Graduate Research Symposium (University of
Birmingham, UK)
2013 Conference Travel Grant. Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour
2012 Interdisciplinary Workshop Grant: £4430 Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour; with N.
Cutting and Z. Demery
2012 Postgraduate Workshop Grant: £993 University of Birmingham Roberts Fund; with N. Cutting
and Z. Demery
2011 Postgraduate Workshop Grant: £1300 University of Birmingham Roberts Fund; with N. Cutting
and Z. Demery
2011 Conference Travel Grant. Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour
2009 Competition-funded PhD Studentship: £48,825. Natural Environment Research Council

ACADEMIC PRESENTATIONS
Seminar and colloquium talks

2016 What did you do that for? A comparative and developmental approach to understanding
‘overimitation’. Developmental Seminar Series, Department of Psychology, University of
Waterloo, Canada
2016 The influence of social context and causal plausibility on action-sequence copying by
pre-schoolers, toddlers and capuchins. Ebbinghaus Empire Meeting, University of Toronto
2016 The influence of social context and physical knowledge on copying behaviour in children,
capuchins and dogs. Greater Toronto Area Animal Cognition Group Meeting
2015 Intuitive statistics in capuchin monkeys. Greater Toronto Area Animal Cognition Group Meeting
2015 Probabilistic Inference in Capuchin Monkeys. Developmental Interest Group Meeting, University
of Toronto
2015 The evolutionary origins of intuitive statistics: probabilistic reasoning in capuchin monkeys.
Ebbinghaus Empire Meeting, University of Toronto
2014 Planning during physical problem-solving in orangutans, bonobos & children. School of
Psychology & Neuroscience Seminar, University of St Andrews

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 Emma Tecwyn CV

Selected Conference Presentations

+ Denotes undergraduate supervisee

2021 Tecwyn, E. C., Kazi, N. +, Mahbub, N. +, & Buchsbaum, D. Causal action sequence
understanding develops across early childhood. Talk at Budapest CEU Conference on Cognitive
Development – held online due to COVID-19)
2020 Tecwyn, E. C., Seed, A. M., & Buchsbaum, D. Sensitivity to ostension is not sufficient for
pedagogical reasoning by toddlers. Poster at Cognitive Science Society Conference (Toronto,
Canada - held online due to COVID-19)
2020 Tecwyn, E. C., Mahbub, N. +, Kazi, N. +, & Buchsbaum, D. Can toddlers learn causal action
sequences? Poster at Cognitive Science Society Conference (Toronto, Canada - held online due to
COVID-19)
2020 Tecwyn, E.C. Research Plan – Development of Overimitation and its Relation to Theory of
Mind. Poster at Experimental Psychology Society Conference (University of Kent, UK - held online due to
COVID-19)
2019 Tecwyn, E. C., & Buchsbaum, D. What information do toddlers use to select a causal
intervention? Sensitivity to spatial and temporal cues. Poster at the Lancaster Conference for
Infant and Early Child Development (Lancaster, UK)
2019 Mazumder, P. +, Tecwyn, E. C., Buchsbaum, D. Do Toddlers Understand The Temporal Priority
Priniciple in Causal Reasoning? Poster at Society for Research in Child Development (Baltimore,
Maryland, USA)
2019 Pelgrim, M. +, Tecwyn, E.C., Espinosa, J., & Buchabaum, D. What’s the Point? Domestic Dogs’
Sensitivity to the Accuracy of Human Informants. Talk at the Canine Science Conference (Phoenix,
Arizona, USA)
2018 Tecwyn, E. C., Bechivanidis, C., McCormack, T., Lorimer, S., Blakey, E., Lagnado, D., Hoerl, C.,
Buehner, M. Causality influences children’s perception of temporal order. Talk at Budapest CEU
Conference on Cognitive Development (Budapest, Hungary)
2018 Tecwyn, E. C., Bechivanidis, C., McCormack, T., Lorimer, S., Blakey, E., Lagnado, D., Hoerl, C.
& Buehner, M.J. Investigating the development of causal reordering. Poster at Experimental
Psychology Society Workshop: Metacognition for Action, Cause, and Effect (UCL, London)
2018 Mazumder, P. +, Tecwyn, E. C., Buchsbaum, D. Toddlers use temporal priority to guide causal
reasoning. Poster at Development 2018 (Brock University, Canada)
2018 Mazumder, P. +, Tecwyn, E. C., Buchsbaum, D. Investigating temporal priority understanding
in toddlers. Poster at International Conference on Infant Studies (Philadelphia, USA)
2016 Tecwyn, E. C., Buchsbaum, D., Gopnik A, Griffiths T L., Seed, A. M. How do manipulations of
intentionality, pedagogy and causal plausibility influence copying behaviour in children and
zoo-housed capuchin monkeys (Sapajus spp)? Talk at Joint meeting of the International
Primatological Society and the American Society of Primatologists (Chicago, USA)
2016 Tecwyn, E. C., Buchsbaum, D. Dogs’ intuitions about gravity and solidity revisited: The tubes
task and the shelf task. Talk at International Conference on Comparative Cognition (Melbourne, USA)
2015 Tecwyn, E. C., Denison, S., Messer, E. J., Buchsbaum, D. The evolutionary origins of intuitive
statistics: probabilistic reasoning in capuchin monkeys. Talk at Cognitive Development Society
Biennial Meeting (Columbus, USA)
2013 Tecwyn, E. C., Thorpe, S. K. S., Chappell, J. A novel test of planning ability: performance of
orangutans, bonobos and children. Talk at Primate Society of Great Britain Spring Meeting
(University of Lincoln, UK)
2013 Tecwyn, E. C., Thorpe, S. K. S., Chappell, J. Planning in 4- to 10-year-old children: the
paddle-box paradigm. Poster at International Ethological Conference: Behaviour 2013 (Newcastle
University, UK)
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 Emma Tecwyn CV

2012 Tecwyn, E. C., Thorpe, S. K. S., Chappell, J. Investigating primate planning: the paddle-box
paradigm. Talk at Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour Interdisciplinary Workshop
(University of Birmingham, UK)
2011 Tecwyn, E. C., Thorpe, S. K. S., Chappell, J. Primate planning: what cognitive strategies are
used in problem-solving involving multiple steps? Poster at Association for the Study of Animal
Behaviour Summer Meeting (University of St. Andrews)

TEACHING & SUPERVISION EXPERIENCE

Teaching Experience
Department of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, Birmingham City University, UK

 MSc Psychology Dissertation (module leader, online conversion course; 2021)

 Communication and Language (module leader, 3rd year UG optional module; 2019, 2020)
 Neuropsychology (seminar tutor & guest lecturer, 2nd year UG core module; 2019, 2020)
 Statistics and Research Methods (seminar tutor, 1st year UG core module; 2019)

Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Canada

 Comparative Cognition (module leader, 4th year UG optional module; 2016)

 Cognitive Development (module leader, 3rd year UG optional module; 2015)

Supervision Experience
I have supervised over 30 research project students on diverse topics including cognitive development,
cognitive psychology, comparative cognition, educational psychology, mental well-being

MSc (online) dissertation students

BCU: Kathryn Akers, John Maina (2020), Sophie Jenkins, Ellie Paxton, Roxette Phillips, Heather Wilks (2019)

Undergraduate dissertation students

BCU: Linyi Qu, Maryam Jahan, Zahida Parveen, Anjum Khatun (2020-21), Mahmuda Bagom (2019-20)
Cardiff: Ella Preece, Alice Venables (2017-18)

Research placement students

BCU:
Paid Research Assistants: Anna-Symone Bateman, Riley Stringer (2020)
Volunteer Research Assistants: Sian McDonald (2020)
Cardiff:
Nuffield Research Placements: Ana Antunes, Rebecca Wright (2018), Chloe Barbeary, Nyasha Thomas (2017)
Cardiff Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme: Sophie McGrevey (2018)

Toronto (with D. Buchsbaum):

Aarushi Gupta (2016-17)
Alessia Manzoli (2014-15)
Amanda Nickerson (2015-17)
Madeline Pelgrim (2016-18)
Nina Esmail (2015)
Pingki Mazumder (2015-18)
Sam Clark (2015-16)
Sarah MacKay-Marton (2015-18)
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 Emma Tecwyn CV

DEPARTMENTAL SERVICE

Department of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, Birmingham City University, UK

2020 – Level 5 Year Tutor – BSc Psychology with Criminology or Sociology

2020 – Psychology Student Mentor Coordinator

2020 – Faculty Research Ethics Committee – Primary Reviewer

2019–2020 Head Tutor for part-time MSc Psychology students

Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Canada

2015–2017 Discussion group organiser, Greater Toronto Area Animal Cognition Discussion Group
Scheduled topics and guest speakers for monthly interdisciplinary meetings

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE
2020 – Editorial Board Member, Psychological Science

2020 – Faculty Research Ethics Committee member, Birmingham City University

2011–2012 Workshop founder and organiser, ‘Physical Cognition & Problem Solving’
Interdisciplinary Workshop, University of Birmingham

Journal peer review: Animal Behavior and Cognition, Animal Cognition, Cognition, Cognitive
Development, Current Biology, Journal of Comparative Psychology, Psychological Science

Conference peer review: Cognitive Science Society Annual Meeting (2020)

SELECTED PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT ACTIVITIES

2020 ‘Meet the Expert’ at ThinkTank Science Museum, Birmingham, UK

2019 Psychologist in the pub talk: Why do humans ‘overimitate’? Insights from developmental &
comparative psychology. The Woodman pub, Birmingham, UK
2015 Canine Cognition Research talk for members of the public at All About Dogs, Toronto as
part of the city-wide ‘Doors Open Toronto’ event, Canada
2014 Participant in ‘The Trial of Chimpanzee Jack’, an interactive stage show at the Edinburgh
Fringe Festival, UK
2014 Participant in ‘Meet the Researchers’ event at Edinburgh Zoo as part of Edinburgh
International Science Festival, UK
2013 Primate Cognition Research talk for zoo staff at Twycross Zoo, UK

SELECTED MEDIA COVERAGE

2020 “Dogs don’t expect dropped objects to fall straight down”. APA Journals Article Spotlight
(May 2020): https://tinyurl.com/y5ym9hyp

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 Emma Tecwyn CV

2017 “How do dogs learn? U of T’s undergrads look for answers”. U of T News (March 2017):
https://www.utoronto.ca/news/how-do-dogs-learn-u-t-s-undergrads-look-answers

2017 “Like humans, capuchin monkeys can determine probability, study finds”. CBC News
(January 2017): http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/capuchin-monkeys-probability-1.3943186

2016 Guest on “Spit and Twitches: The Animal Cognition Podcast” (45 minute discussion about
my research): http://www.spitandtwitches.com/2016/04/episode-18-emma-tecwyn.html