Dr Emily Bethell
School of Biological and Environmental Sciences
Faculty of Science
Email: E.J.Bethell@ljmu.ac.uk
Telephone: 0151 231 2488
My research focus is primate social cognition and behaviour: what monkeys and apes can tell us about human evolution, and the implications of similarities and differences in cognitive processes for understanding and improving psychological wellbeing of primates in captivity.
I am also interested in developing new methods to assess emotion across animal species.
Degrees
2009, Roehampton University, United Kingdom, PhD
Highlighted publications
Crump A, Bethell EJ, Earley R, Lee VE, Mendl M, Oldham L, Turner SP, Arnott G. 2020. Emotion in animal contests Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 287 :20201715-20201715 DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Bethell E, Cassidy LC, Brockhausen RR, Pfefferle D. 2019. Toward a Standardised Test of Fearful Temperament in Primates: a Sensitive Alternative to the Human Intruder Task for Laboratory-Housed Rhesus Macaques (Macaca mulatta) Frontiers in Psychology, 10 DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Crump A, Arnott G, Bethell EJ. 2018. Affect-Driven Attention Biases as Animal Welfare Indicators: Review and Methods Animals, 8 DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Bethell EJ, Holmes A, MacLarnon A, Semple S. 2016. Emotion evaluation and response slowing in a non-human primate: New directions for cognitive bias measures of animal welfare Behavioral Sciences, 6 DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Bethell EJ. 2015. A “How-To” Guide for Designing Judgment Bias Studies to Assess Captive Animal Welfare Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, 18 :S18-S42 DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Prescott M, Bethell EJ, Kemp C. 2015. NC3Rs Macaque website Author Url Publisher Url
Bethell EJ, Holmes A, Maclarnon A, Semple S. 2012. Evidence that emotion mediates social attention in rhesus macaques. PLoS One, 7 :e44387-e44387 DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Bethell EJ, Holmes A, MacLarnon A, Semple S. 2012. Cognitive bias in a non-human primate: Husbandry procedures influence cognitive indicators of psychological well-being in captive rhesus macaques Animal Welfare, 21 :185-195 DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Journal article
Howarth ERI, Szott ID, Witham CL, Wilding CS, Bethell EJ. 2023. Genetic polymorphisms in the serotonin, dopamine and opioid pathways influence social attention in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) Singh AS. PLoS One, 18 :1-29 DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Wilson VAD, Bethell EJ, Nawroth C. 2023. The use of gaze to study cognition: limitations, solutions, and applications to animal welfare Frontiers in Psychology, 14 :1-10 DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Bethell EJ, Khan W, Hussain A. 2022. A deep transfer learning model for head pose estimation in rhesus macaques during cognitive tasks: towards a nonrestraint noninvasive 3Rs approach Applied Animal Behaviour Science, DOI Publisher Url Public Url
Cassidy LC, Bethell EJ, Brockhausen RR, Boretius S, Treue S, Pfefferle D. 2021. The dot-probe attention bias task as a method to assess psychological wellbeing after anesthesia: A study with adult female long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis). European Surgical Research, DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Evans R, Lyons M, Brewer G, Bethell E. 2021. A domestic cat (Felis silvestris catus) model of triarchic psychopathy factors: Development and initial validation of the CAT-Tri+ questionnaire Journal of Research in Personality, 95 :1-10 DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Eccles GR, Bethell EJ, Greggor AL, Mettke-Hofmann C. 2021. Individual Variation in Dietary Wariness Is Predicted by Head Color in a Specialist Feeder, the Gouldian Finch Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 9 DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Crump A, Bethell E, Arnott G. 2021. Optimism and pasture access in dairy cows Scientific Reports, 11 DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Howarth ER, Kemp C, Thatcher HR, Szott ID, Farningham D, Witham CL, Holmes A, Semple S, Bethell EJ. 2021. Developing and validating attention bias tools for assessing trait and state affect in animals: A worked example with Macaca mulatta Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 234 DOI Author Url Publisher Url
Crump A, Bethell EJ, Earley R, Lee VE, Mendl M, Oldham L, Turner SP, Arnott G. 2020. Emotion in animal contests Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 287 :20201715-20201715 DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Mettke-Hofmann C, Eccles G, Greggor A, Bethell EJ. 2020. Cognition in a changing world: Red-headed Gouldian finches enter spatially unfamiliar habitats more readily than do black-headed birds Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 8 DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Crump A, Mullens C, Bethell EJ, Cunningham EM, Arnott G. 2020. Microplastics disrupt hermit crab shell selection Biology Letters, 16 DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Bethell EJ. 2019. Pasture Access Affects Behavioral Indicators of Wellbeing in Dairy Cows Animals, 9 DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Bethell E, Cassidy LC, Brockhausen RR, Pfefferle D. 2019. Toward a Standardised Test of Fearful Temperament in Primates: a Sensitive Alternative to the Human Intruder Task for Laboratory-Housed Rhesus Macaques (Macaca mulatta) Frontiers in Psychology, 10 DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Bethell E, Kemp C, Thatcher H, Schroeder J, Arbuckle K, Farningham D, Witham C, Holmes A, MacLarnon A, Semple S. 2019. Heritability and maternal effects on social attention during an attention bias task in a non-human primate, Macaca mulatta EcoEvoRxiv Preprints, DOI Publisher Url
Crump A, Arnott G, Bethell EJ. 2018. Affect-Driven Attention Biases as Animal Welfare Indicators: Review and Methods Animals, 8 DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Cronin KA, Bethell EJ, Jacobson SL, Egelkamp C, Hopper LM, Ross SR. 2018. Evaluating Mood Changes in Response to Anthropogenic Noise with a Response-Slowing Task in Three Species of Zoo-housed Primates Animal Behavior & Cognition, 5 :209-221 DOI Publisher Url Public Url
Kemp C, Thatcher H, Farningham D, Witham C, MacLarnon A, Holmes A, Semple S, Bethell EJ. 2017. A protocol for training group-housed rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) to cooperate with husbandry and research procedures using positive reinforcement Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 197 :90-100 DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Lyons MT, Brewer G, Bethell EJ. 2016. Sex-Specific Effect of Recalled Parenting on Affective and Cognitive Empathy in Adulthood Current Psychology, DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Bethell EJ, Holmes A, MacLarnon A, Semple S. 2016. Emotion evaluation and response slowing in a non-human primate: New directions for cognitive bias measures of animal welfare Behavioral Sciences, 6 DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Bethell EJ. 2015. A “How-To” Guide for Designing Judgment Bias Studies to Assess Captive Animal Welfare Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, 18 :S18-S42 DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Bethell EJ, Koyama NF. 2015. Happy hamsters? Enrichment induces positive judgement bias for mildly (but not truly) ambiguous cues to reward and punishment in Mesocricetus auratus. Royal Society Open Science, 2 :1-17 DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Jonason PK, Lyons M, Bethell EJ. 2014. The making of Darth Vader: Parent–child care and the Dark Triad Personality and Individual Differences, 67 :30-34 DOI Author Url Publisher Url
Jonason PK, Lyons M, Bethell EJ, Ross R. 2013. Different routes to limited empathy in the sexes: Examining the links between the Dark Triad and empathy Personality and Individual Differences, 54 :572-576 DOI
Bethell EJ, Holmes A, Maclarnon A, Semple S. 2012. Evidence that emotion mediates social attention in rhesus macaques. PLoS One, 7 :e44387-e44387 DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Bethell EJ, Holmes A, MacLarnon A, Semple S. 2012. Cognitive bias in a non-human primate: Husbandry procedures influence cognitive indicators of psychological well-being in captive rhesus macaques Animal Welfare, 21 :185-195 DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Bethell EJ, Vick S-J, Bard KA. 2007. Measurement of eye-gaze in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) American Journal of Primatology, 69 :562-575 DOI Author Url Publisher Url
Bethell EJ, Semple S, MacLarnon A, Holmes A. 2007. The effect of emotion state on responses to social stimuli by rhesus macaques Primate Eye, 92 :5-6
Bethell EJ, Waller BM. 2005. Altruism or cooperation in captive chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes? Folia Primatologica, 76 :242-244 DOI Author Url Publisher Url
Bethell EJ, Whiten A, Muhumuza G, Kakura J. 2000. Active plant food division and sharing by wild chimpanzees Primate Report, 56 :67-71
Crump A, Jenkins K, Bethell EJ, Ferris CP, Arnott G. Pasture access and eye temperature in dairy cows Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Chapters
Bethell EJ, Pfefferle D. 2023. Cognitive bias tasks: A new set of approaches to assess welfare in nonhuman primates Robinson LM, Weiss A. Nonhuman Primate Welfare: From History, Science, and Ethics to Practice :207-230 Springer International Publishing 9783030827076 DOI Publisher Url Public Url
Bethell EJ. 2021. Color Red Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science :1187-1189 Springer International Publishing 9783319196497 DOI Publisher Url
Editorial/letter to the editor
Wilson VAD, Bethell EJ, Nawroth C. 2023. Editorial: Using gaze to study social knowledge: current challenges and future directions Frontiers in Psychology, 14 DOI Author Url Publisher Url
Bethell EJ, Dean L, Smith A, Bearder SK. 2018. Celebrating 50 years of the Primate Society of Great Britain Evolutionary Anthropology, 27 :74-77 DOI Publisher Url
Bethell EJ. 2016. Color Red Shackelford TK, Weekes-Shackelfrod VA. :1-3 DOI
Book review
Bethell EJ. 2021. Studying Primates: How to Design, Conduct and Report Primatological Research ANIMAL WELFARE, 30 :106-108 Author Url
Bethell E. 2017. Book review: Being Jane Primate Eye,
Dataset
Witham C, Bethell E. 2019. The Macaque Stimulus Set DOI Publisher Url
Internet publication
Prescott M, Bethell EJ, Kemp C. 2015. NC3Rs Macaque website Author Url Publisher Url
Books (authored)
Bethell E, Milsom C. 2014. Posters and Presentations :1-144 Palgrave Macmillan. London 9781137357083 DOI Publisher Url
Williams K, Bethell EJ, Lawton J, Parfitt-Brown C, Richardson M, Rowe V. 2011. Completing your PhD Palgrave MacMillan. London 978-0230292819 DOI Publisher Url
Williams K, Bethell E, Lawton J, Parfitt C, Richardson M, Rowe V. 2010. Planning Your PhD Palgrave MacMillan 9780230251939 DOI Publisher Url
Conference publication
Kemp C, Bethell EJ. Measuring psychological well-being in captive rhesus macaques: attention bias http://behaviour-2015.m.asnevents.com.au/schedule/session/6854/abstract/24936, Behaviour
Highlighted activities
Conference organisation:
Primate Society of Great Britain 50th anniversary conference, Chair of Organising Committee. 2015
Professional activities
Research Grants Awarded:
European Cooperation in Science and Technology, CA23106 - An Evolutionary View to Understanding Affective States across Species (AFFECT-EVO), Tom Smulders, University of Newcastle, Grant value (£): 575000, Duration of research project: 4 years. 2024
Media Coverage:
NY TImes Comment on conrtolling macaques during G20 summit. 2023
www.proquest.com
www.nytimes.com
Comment in The Guardian on research in animal cognition and welfare 2021
News outlet coverage of paper - International (India, Russia, Ireland) 2020
www.indiatimes.com
www.independent.ie
www.popmech.ru
Media coverage in 114 media news outlets for Microplastics disrupt hermit crab shell selection 2020
www.independent.co.uk
www.theguardian.com
eandt.theiet.org
Media coverage of Royal Soc paper 2015 in Science, Discovery, Daily Mail
news.sciencemag.org
www.dailymail.co.uk
Media coverage of Royal Society paper 2015: Metro, USA Today, Huffington Post
www.usatoday.com
metro.co.uk
www.huffingtonpost.com
Media/radio coverage of Royal Society paper 2015 the Times, BBC Radio, Liverpool Echo
naked_scientists_popup_player.html
www.thetimes.co.uk
www.liverpoolecho.co.uk
Conference presentation:
The gut-brain axis in animal welfare, LNG Christmas Seminar, Oral presentation. 2021
Invited Seminar Speaker, Gottingen University Seminar Series, DPZ, Gottingen, Germany, Oral presentation. 2018
Invited Seminar Speaker, Queens Belfast Seminar, Queens Belfast, Oral presentation. 2018
Invited Seminar Speaker, Imperial College Seminar, Imperial College. Silwood Campus, London, Oral presentation. 2017
Invited Keynote, Venus International, India, Oral presentation. 2017
Invited: Measuring animal emotions, International congress for Psychology, Japan, Oral presentation. 2016
Invited speaker: 3Rs in primate research, LJMU Postgraduate Research Day, LJMU, Oral presentation. 2016
Introduction to the Liverpool League of Animal Behaviour Scientists, LivLABS, Liverpool, Oral presentation. 2016
Cognitive bias - methods for measuring emotion in zoo animals, European Federation for Primatology, Rome, Italy, Oral presentation. 2015
Measuring psychological well-being in captive rhesus macaques: attention bias, Behaviour, Australia, Oral presentation. 2015
Effects of a habituation regime on attention bias for veterinary stimuli in macaques, Primate Society of Great Britain spring conference, Roehampton, London, Poster presentation. 2015
What is neutral? Attention bias for facial expressions in macaques, Primate Society of Great Britain spring conference, Roehampton, London, Poster presentation. 2015
Invited: Attention bias a cross species comparison, Experimental Psychology Society, Newcastle, Oral presentation. 2014
Attention bias: developing a methods to asses wellbeing in macaque breeding facilities, NC3RS Primate Welfare workshop, London, Oral presentation. 2014
Conference organisation:
European Conference for Behavioural Biology, Organising Committee, https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/conferences/ecbb. 2018
PSGB Spring meeting 2018, PSGB Meetings Organiser. 2018
Primate Society of Great Britain Spring Conference 2017, PSGB Meetings Organiser. 2017
Primate Society of Great Britain spring conference 2016, Scientific Meetings Coordinator for the PSGB, http://www.psgb.org/. 2016
Primate Society of Great Britain 50th anniversary conference, Chair of Organising Committee. 2015
Award:
Outstanding Scientist Award for contributions to field of primate behaviour and cognition, Venus International, https://venusinfo.org/research/arm/2017/info.html. 2017
Best Teaching Team, LJMU Student Union. 2011
Best Student Presentation, Primate Society of Great Britain. 2007
Honourable mention in student competition for best talk, Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. 2007
Membership of professional bodies:
Member, Animal Welfare Research Network. 2016
Member, Universities Federation of Animal Welfare. 2004
Member, Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. 2000
Member, Association for Psychological Science.
Member, Primate Society of Great Britain.
Editorial boards:
Frontiers in Psychology, Review Editor in Comparative Psychology, http://journal.frontiersin.org/journal/psychology#editorial-board. 2015
External committees:
50th anniversary conference organising committee, Primate Society of Great Britain, Chair of Organising Committee. 2015
PSGB Scientific Meetings Coordinator, PSGB. 2015
Captive Care Working Party, Primate Society of Great Britain, member, http://www.psgb.org/. 2015
Other invited event:
Invited symposium speaker: European Federation of Primatology 2015, Rome, Invited speaker. 2015
Psychology Research Seminar, Stirlin University, Invited speaker. 2015
Zoo Animal Welfare Symposium, Detroit Zoological Society, Detroit, USA, Invited speaker. 2014
Experimental Psychology Society, Newcastle University, Invited speaker. 2014
University of Stirling Psychology Seminar Series, University of Stirling, Invited seminar speaker - psychology Department, Stirling. 2012
Birkbeck College Seminar Series, Birkbeck College, London, Invited paper. 2010
NC3Rs Primate Welfare meeting, London, UK, Invited paper presented. 2010
University College London Anthropology seminar series, UCL, London, Invited paper presented. 2010
Fellowships:
LJMU ECR Fellowship, Liverpool John Moores University. 2013
Fellow of the HEA, Advance HE. 2012