Research Bio

Jan Engelmann is a comparative psychologists who investigates the evolution of intelligence. He studies cognition in both human and non-human animals. Research in his lab addresses three interrelated sets of questions: (1) What forms of intelligence do non-human animals exhibit? (2) In what ways is non-human intelligence similar to—or different from—human intelligence? (3) How do uniquely human cognitive abilities emerge during development?

Jan is Associate Professor of Psychology at UC Berkeley and Faculty Affiliate of the Department of Philosophy. His research has been published in Science, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, and Nature Communications. Engelmann has received an NSF CAREER award as well as funding from the Leakey Foundation and the Jacobs Foundation. He has been named an Association for Psychological Science Rising Star and he received the Jean Piaget Society Early Career Award. At Berkeley, he teaches varies classes on developmental and comparative psychology, as well as the evolution of cognition.

Research Expertise and Interest

comparative psychology, evolution of cognition, developmental psychology