Oscar E. Juarez-Mora, MSc.

visiting PhD student

2018-2019 (3 months)

I am a PhD student from BUAP University in Puebla, Mexico. After obtaining my BSc degree in Psychology and getting some clinical experience I decided to pursue research and did a Master on Physiological Sciences. I study animal behavior considering both their ultimate consequences (function) and their underlying mechanisms, all from an evolutionary perspective.

I’ve had experience studying several animals and their behavior including invertebrates, fish, rodents and humans. I’m particularly interested in the relationship between contagious yawning and empathy, so as for their cognitive and physiological mechanisms such as the so called mirror neuron system.

I’m currently collaborating with the CoPAN group from Leiden University, looking for contagious yawning in primates from the Apenheul Zoo