Jump directly to main navigation Jump directly to content Jump to sub navigation

Christoph Völter


Senior scientist

Department of Comparative Cultural Psychology
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Deutscher Platz 6
04103 Leipzig

e-mail: christoph_voelter@[>>> Please remove the text! <<<]eva.mpg.de

Research Interests
Curriculum Vitae
Publications

Research Interests

  • Active learning, explanation seeking, and the acquisition of abstract knowledge in primates, parrots, and dogs
  • Theory of mind in primates and dogs
  • Behaviour tracking (machine-learning based 3D pose estimation, stationary and mobile eye tracking) in comparative cognition research
  • Large-scale research collaborations within the field of comparative cognition (ManyPrimates, ManyDogs)

Curriculum Vitae

10/2023–presentResearch Group Leader
Department of Comparative Cultural Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
02/2019–presentSenior Postdoctoral Researcher
Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Medical University of Vienna, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
05/2019–04/2023Honorary Lecturer
School of Psychology & Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK
05/2016–01/2019Research Fellow
School of Psychology & Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK
01/2017–06/2017Fixed-term Lecturer and Research Coordinator
Living Links Centre to Human Evolution and School of Psychology & Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK
03/2014–04/2016Postdoctoral Researcher
Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
02/2011–10/2014Ph.D. in Biology (Dr. rer. nat.)
Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig and Department of Animal Behaviour, University of Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany

Publications

2022

Völter, C. J., Tinklenberg, B., Call, J., & Seed, A. M. (2022). Inhibitory control and cue relevance modulate chimpanzees’ (Pan troglodytes) performance in a spatial foraging task. Journal of Comparative Psychology,136(2), 105-120.
DOI   MPG.PuRe

Marno, H., Völter, C. J., Tinklenberg, B., Sperber, D., & Call, J. (2022). Learning from communication versus observation in great apes. Scientific Reports,12: 2917.
DOI   MPG.PuRe    image/svg+xmlart designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMoosOpen Access logo, converted into svg, designed by PLoS. This version with transparent background.http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Open_Access_logo_PLoS_white.svgart designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMooshttp://www.plos.org/

Karl, S; Anderle, K; Völter, CJ; Virányi, Z (2022): Pet dogs' Behavioural Reaction to Their Caregiver's Interactions with a Third Party: Join in or Interrupt? Animals (Basel). 2022; 12(12):1574
DOI

Reindl, E; Völter, CJ; Campbell-May, J; Call, J; Seed, AM (2022): Exploring the development of attentional set shifting in young children with a novel Intradimensional/Extradimensional shift task. J Exp Child Psychol. 2022; 221:105428
DOI    image/svg+xmlart designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMoosOpen Access logo, converted into svg, designed by PLoS. This version with transparent background.http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Open_Access_logo_PLoS_white.svgart designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMooshttp://www.plos.org/

Völter, CJ; Huber, L (2022): Pupil size changes reveal dogs’ sensitivity to motion cues. iScience. 2022; 25(9):104801
DOI    image/svg+xmlart designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMoosOpen Access logo, converted into svg, designed by PLoS. This version with transparent background.http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Open_Access_logo_PLoS_white.svgart designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMooshttp://www.plos.org/

Völter, CJ; Reindl, E; Felsche, E; Civelek, Z; Whalen, A; Lugosi, Z; Duncan, L; Herrmann, E; Call, J; Seed, AM (2022): The structure of executive functions in preschool children and chimpanzees. Sci Rep. 2022; 12(1):6456
DOI    image/svg+xmlart designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMoosOpen Access logo, converted into svg, designed by PLoS. This version with transparent background.http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Open_Access_logo_PLoS_white.svgart designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMooshttp://www.plos.org/

Huber, L; Lonardo, L; Völter, C; Lamm, C (2022): Dogs understand the false beliefs of humans, but not like humans. -29th Annual International Conference on Comparative Cognition (CO3); APR 6-9, 2022; Online, United States.
DOI

Völter, C; Huber, L (2022): Eye-tracking with dogs: Achievements and challenges. -Vision Research Conference (VRC) 2022; JUN 6-9, 2022; Toronto, Canada.
DOI    image/svg+xmlart designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMoosOpen Access logo, converted into svg, designed by PLoS. This version with transparent background.http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Open_Access_logo_PLoS_white.svgart designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMooshttp://www.plos.org/

2021

Engelmann, J. M., Völter, C. J., O’Madagain, C., Proft, M., Haun, D. B. M., Rakoczy, H., & Herrmann, E. (2021). Chimpanzees consider alternative possibilities. Current Biology,31(20), R1377-R1378.
DOI   MPG.PuRe

Ebel, S. J., Völter, C. J., & Call, J. (2021). Prior experience mediates the usage of food items as tools in great apes (Pan paniscus, Pan troglodytes, Gorilla gorilla, and Pongo abelii). Journal of Comparative Psychology,135(1), 64-73.
DOI   MPG.PuRe

Civelek, Z; Völter, CJ; Seed, AM (2021): What happened? Do preschool children and capuchin monkeys spontaneously use visual traces to locate a reward? Proc Biol Sci. 2021; 288(1956):20211101
DOI    image/svg+xmlart designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMoosOpen Access logo, converted into svg, designed by PLoS. This version with transparent background.http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Open_Access_logo_PLoS_white.svgart designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMooshttp://www.plos.org/

Colbourne, JAD; Auersperg, AMI; Lambert, ML; Huber, L; Völter, CJ (2021): Extending the Reach of Tooling Theory: A Neurocognitive and Phylogenetic Perspective. Top Cogn Sci. 2021; 13(4):548-572
DOI    image/svg+xmlart designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMoosOpen Access logo, converted into svg, designed by PLoS. This version with transparent background.http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Open_Access_logo_PLoS_white.svgart designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMooshttp://www.plos.org/

Jordan, EJ; Völter, CJ; Seed, AM (2021): Do capuchin monkeys (Sapajus apella) use exploration to form intuitions about physical properties? Cogn Neuropsychol. 2021 38 (7-8) 531-543.
DOI    image/svg+xmlart designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMoosOpen Access logo, converted into svg, designed by PLoS. This version with transparent background.http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Open_Access_logo_PLoS_white.svgart designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMooshttp://www.plos.org/

Lonardo, L; Völter, CJ; Lamm, C; Huber, L (2021): Dogs follow human misleading suggestions more often when the informant has a false belief. Proc Biol Sci. 2021; 288(1955):20210906
DOI   

Reindl, E; Parkash, D; Völter, CJ; Seed, AM (2021): Thinking inside the box: Mental manipulation of working memory contents in 3- to 7-year-old children. Cogn Dev. 2021; 59:None
DOI    image/svg+xmlart designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMoosOpen Access logo, converted into svg, designed by PLoS. This version with transparent background.http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Open_Access_logo_PLoS_white.svgart designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMooshttp://www.plos.org/

Völter, CJ; Huber, L (2021): Dogs' looking times and pupil dilation response reveal expectations about contact causality. Biol Lett. 2021; 17(12):20210465
DOI    image/svg+xmlart designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMoosOpen Access logo, converted into svg, designed by PLoS. This version with transparent background.http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Open_Access_logo_PLoS_white.svgart designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMooshttp://www.plos.org/

Colbourne, JAD; Auersperg, AMI; Lambert, ML; Huber, L; Völter, CJ (2021): Extending the Reach of Tooling Theory -28th Annual International Conference on Comparative Cognition (CO3), 7.–10.4.2021; APR 7-10, 2021; Online, United States.

Huber, L; Karl, S; Völter, C; Boch, M; Sladky, R;Wagner, IC; Lamm, C (2021): How pet dogs perceive human emotions: multi-method evidence from fMRI, eye-tracking and behavioral research. -28th Annual International Conference on Comparative Cognition (CO3); APR 7-10,2021; Online, United States.

Völter, C; Huber, L (2021): Expectancy violations about physical properties of animated objects in dogs. -43rd Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society; JUL 26-29, 2021; Vienna, Austria.

Völter, CJ; Huber, L (2021): Using pupillometry to study expectancy violations about physical properties of animated objects in dogs. -Canine Science Forum; July 6-9, 2021; Lisbon, Portugal.

2020

Bohn, M., Call, J., & Völter, C. J. (2020). Evolutionary precursors of negation in non-human reasoning. In V. Déprez, & M. Espinal ( Eds. ), The Oxford Handbook of Negation (pp. 577-588). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
MPG.PuRe

Karl, S; Boch, M; Zamansky, A; van der Linden, D; Wagner, IC; Völter, CJ; Lamm, C; Huber, L (2020): Exploring the dog-human relationship by combining fMRI, eye-tracking and behavioural measures. Sci Rep. 2020; 10(1):22273
DOI    image/svg+xmlart designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMoosOpen Access logo, converted into svg, designed by PLoS. This version with transparent background.http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Open_Access_logo_PLoS_white.svgart designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMooshttp://www.plos.org/

Völter, CJ; Karl, S; Huber, L (2020): Dogs accurately track a moving object on a screen and anticipate its destination. Sci Rep. 2020; 10(1):19832 Völter, CJ; Lambert, ML; Huber, L (2020): Do nonhumans seek explanations? Anim Behav Cogn. 2020; 7(3):445-451
DOI    image/svg+xmlart designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMoosOpen Access logo, converted into svg, designed by PLoS. This version with transparent background.http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Open_Access_logo_PLoS_white.svgart designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMooshttp://www.plos.org/

2019

ManyPrimates, Altschul, D. M., Beran, M. J., Bohn, M., Call, J., DeTroy, S., Duguid, S. J., Egelkamp, C. L., Fichtel, C., Fischer, J., Flessert, M., Hanus, D., Haun, D. B. M., Haux, L. M., Hernandez-Aguilar, R. A., Herrmann, E., Hopper, L. M., Joly, M., Kano, F., Keupp, S., Melis, A. P., Motes Rodrigo, A., Ross, S. R., Sánchez Amaro, A., Sato, Y., Schmitt, V., Schweinfurth, M. K., Seed, A. M., Taylor, D., Völter, C. J., Warren, E., & Watzek, J. (2019). Establishing an infrastructure for collaboration in primate cognition research. PLoS One,14(10): e0223675.
DOI   MPG.PuRe    image/svg+xmlart designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMoosOpen Access logo, converted into svg, designed by PLoS. This version with transparent background.http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Open_Access_logo_PLoS_white.svgart designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMooshttp://www.plos.org/

Völter, C. J., Mundry, R., Call, J., & Seed, A. M. (2019). Chimpanzees flexibly update working memory contents and show susceptibility to distraction in the self-ordered search task. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences,286(1907): 20190715.
DOI

Bueno-Guerra, N., Völter, C. J., de las Heras, Á., Colell, M., & Call, J. (2019). Bargaining in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes): The effect of cost, amount of gift, reciprocity, and communication. Journal of Comparative Psychology,133(4), 542-550.
DOI

ManyPrimates, Altschul, D. M., Beran, M. J., Bohn, M., Caspar, K. R., Fichtel, C., Försterling, M., Grebe, N. M., Hernandez-Aguilar, R. A., Kwok, S. C., LLorente, M., Motes Rodrigo, A., Proctor, D., Sánchez Amaro, A., Simpson, E. A., Szabelska, A., Taylor, D., van der Mescht, J., Völter, C. J., & Watzek, J. (2019). Collaborative open science as a way to reproducibility and new insights in primate cognition research. Japanese Psychological Review,62(103), 205-220.

Tennie, C., Völter, C. J., Vonau, V., Hanus, D., Call, J., & Tomasello, M. (2019). Chimpanzees use observed temporal directionality to learn novel causal relations. Primates,60, 517-524.
DOI    image/svg+xmlart designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMoosOpen Access logo, converted into svg, designed by PLoS. This version with transparent background.http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Open_Access_logo_PLoS_white.svgart designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMooshttp://www.plos.org/

Civelek, Z; Völter, C; Seed, A (2019): Do preschoolers and capuchin monkeys infer causes or learn associations? 53--ASAB Konstanz Summer Conference; AUG 26-28, 2019; Konstanz, Germany.

Felsche, E; Stevens, P; Völter, CJ; Buchsbaum, D; Seed, A (2019): Exploring the use of overhypotheses by children and capuchin monkeys. 1731-1737.-The Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society; July 24-27, 2019; Montreal, Canada.

2018

Völter, C. J., & Call, J. (2018). Intuitive optics: What great apes infer from mirrors and shadows. Animal Cognition,21(4), 493-512.
DOI    image/svg+xmlart designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMoosOpen Access logo, converted into svg, designed by PLoS. This version with transparent background.http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Open_Access_logo_PLoS_white.svgart designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMooshttp://www.plos.org/

Völter, CJ; Tinklenberg, B; Call, J; Seed, AM (2018): Comparative psychometrics: establishing what differs is central to understanding what evolves. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2018; 373(1756)
DOI

2017

Schmelz, M., Duguid, S., Bohn, M., & Völter, C. J. (2017). Cooperative problem solving in giant otters (Pteronura brasiliensis) and Asian small-clawed otters (Aonyx cinerea). Animal Cognition,20(6), 1107-1114.
DOI    image/svg+xmlart designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMoosOpen Access logo, converted into svg, designed by PLoS. This version with transparent background.http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Open_Access_logo_PLoS_white.svgart designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMooshttp://www.plos.org/

Völter, C. J., Rossano, F., & Call, J. (2017). Social manipulation in nonhuman primates: Cognitive and motivational determinants. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews,82, 76-94.
DOI

Bohn, M., Allritz, M., Call, J., & Völter, C. J. (2017). Information seeking about tool properties in great apes. Scientific Reports,7: 10923.
DOI    image/svg+xmlart designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMoosOpen Access logo, converted into svg, designed by PLoS. This version with transparent background.http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Open_Access_logo_PLoS_white.svgart designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina, Beao, JakobVoss, and AnonMooshttp://www.plos.org/

Völter, C. J., & Call, J. (2017). Causal and inferential reasoning in animals. In G. M. Burghardt, I. M. Pepperberg, C. T. Snowdon, & T. Zentall ( Eds. ), APA handbook of comparative psychology Vol 2: Perception, learning, and cognition (pp. 643-671). US: American Psychological Association.
DOI

Völter, C. J., & Call, J. (2017). Cognition. In A. Fuentes ( Ed. ), International Encyclopedia of Primatology (pp. 196-203). Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.

2016

Völter, C. J., Sentís, I., & Call, J. (2016). Great apes and children infer causal relations from patterns of variation and covariation. Cognition,155, 30-43.
DOI

2015

Völter, C. J., Rossano, F., & Call, J. (2015). From exploitation to cooperation: Social tool use in orang-utan mother–offspring dyads. Animal Behaviour,100, 126-134.
DOI

2014

Völter, C. J., & Call, J. (2014). The cognitive underpinnings of flexible tool use in great apes. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition,40(3), 287-302.
DOI

Völter, C. J., & Call, J. (2014). Great apes (Pan paniscus, Pan troglodytes, Gorilla gorilla, Pongo abelii) follow visual trails to locate hidden food. Journal of Comparative Psychology,128(2), 199-208.
DOI

Völter, C. J., & Call, J. (2014). Younger apes and human children plan their moves in a maze task. Cognition,130(2), 186-203.
DOI

Völter, C. (2014). Problem solving in great apes: On the effect of visual feedback, causal inferences, and planning. PhD Thesis, Bielefeld Univ., Bielefeld.

2013

Manrique, H. M., Völter, C. J., & Call, J. (2013). Repeated innovation in great apes. Animal Behaviour,85(1), 195-202.
DOI

2012

Völter, C., & Call, J. (2012). Problem solving in great apes (Pan paniscus, Pan troglodytes, Gorilla gorilla, and Pongo abelii): the effect of visual feedback. Animal Cognition,15(5), 923-936.
DOI