About SBU

Mayeaux, Darryl

Name:
Darryl Mayeaux
Darryl J. Mayeaux, Ph.D.

Academic School:
School of Arts and Sciences

Academic Department:
Psychology

Titles/Responsibilities:
Associate Professor, Psychology

Contact Information:
Office Phone: (716) 375-2490
E-mail: dmayeaux@sbu.edu

Office Location/Hours:
De La Roche 100 F

Courses Taught:

Courses Currently Taught

Other Courses

  • Biological Psychology
  • Psychobiology Laboratory: Neuroendocrinology of Female Sexual Behavior (laboratory)
  • Human Behavior: Psychology and Everyday Life
  • Research Methods

Academic Degrees:
  • Ph.D., University of California at Davis
  • M.A., University of California at Davis
  • B.A., Loyola University

Other Education:

Other Education and Teaching Experience

  • NIH Postdoctoral Fellow, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
  • Visiting Assistant Professor, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
  • Adjunct Faculty, Cosumnes River College, Sacramento, California
  • Associate Instructor, University of California at Davis

Accomplishments:

Peer-reviewed Publications

  • Mayeaux, D. J. (2008). Locomotor activity of female, but not male, titi monkeys (Callicebus cupreus) increases with age. Developmental Psychobiology, 50, 288-297.
  • Mayeaux, D. J. & Johnston, R. E. (2004). Discrimination of social odors and  their locations: Role of the lateral entorhinal area. Physiology & Behavior, 82, 653-662.
  • Mayeaux, D. J., Mason, W. A. & Mendoza, S. P. (2002). Development of responsiveness to parents and strangers in a monogamous monkey (Callicebus moloch). American Journal of Primatology, 58, 71-89.
  • Mayeaux, D. J. & Johnston, R. E. (2002). Discrimination of individual odours by hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) varies with the location of those odours. Animal Behaviour, 64, 269-281.
  • Mayeaux, D. J. & Mason, W. A. (1998). Development of responsiveness to novel objects in the titi monkey (Callicebus moloch). Primates, 39, 419-431.
  • Clarke M. R. & Mayeaux, D. J. (1992). Aggressive and affiliative behavior in green monkeys with differing housing complexity. Aggressive Behavior, 18, 231-239.

Conference Presentations

  • Mayeaux, D. J. & Sotak, K. (2008, August). Optimal foraging theory for food-caching species does not predict food-caching hamsters’ choices in an operant foraging task. Paper presented at the meeting of the Animal Behavior Society, Snowbird, Utah, USA.
  • Mayeaux, D. J. (2007, July). Relationship between age and activity varies by sex in titi monkeys (Callicebus cupreus). Paper presented at the meeting of the Animal Behavior Society, Burlington, Vermont, USA.
  • Mayeaux, D. J., Sotak, K., Butera, J. & Close, V. A. (2006, August). Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) and Syrian hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) differ in motivation to work for food: Cheek pouches make easy hoarding rewarding? Paper presented at the meeting of the Animal Behavior Society, Snowbird, Utah, USA.
  • Mayeaux, D. J. & Dinolfo, C. (2005, August). Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) and Syrian hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) differ in motivation to obtain food and water. Paper presented at the meeting of the Animal Behavior Society, Snowbird, Utah, USA.
  • Mayeaux, D. J. & Johnston, R. E. (2000, August). Individual-odor discrimination by hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) depends on spatial arrangements of odors. Paper presented at the meeting of the Animal Behavior Society, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
  • Mayeaux, D. J., Johnston, R. E., & Clancy, B. (2000, November).  Is lateral entorhinal area essential for discrimination of individual odors?  Paper to be presented at the meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.
  • Agrawal, P., Mayeaux, D. J., Johnston, R. E., & Adkins-Regan, E. (2000, November). Combined lesions of basolateral and central amygdala eliminate avoidance of opponent after social defeat in male hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus). Paper presented at the meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.
  • Mayeaux, D. J. & Johnston, R. E. (1999, October).  The role of lateral entorhinal cortex in discrimination of individuals and sex in female golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus).  Paper presented at the meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, Miami Beach, Florida, USA.
  • Mayeaux, D. J. & Johnston, R. E. (1999, June).  The role of lateral entorhinal cortex in discrimination of individuals and sex in female golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus). Paper presented at the meeting of the Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA.
  • Mayeaux, D. J., Mason, W. A. & Mendoza, S. P. (1997). Infant birth weight and weight gain in the biparental titi (Callicebus) and uniparental squirrel (Saimiri) monkey. American Journal of Primatology, 42, 132.
  • Mench, J. A. & Mayeaux, D. J. (1997, August).  Previous familiarity has little effect on behavior and stress responses in re-grouped laying hens.  Paper presented at the meeting of the International Society for Applied Ethology, Prague, Czech Republic.
  • Mayeaux, D. J. & Mench, J. A. (1997, June). Effects of social isolation and feed restriction on social behavior of hens. Paper presented at the meeting of the Animal Behavior Society, College Park, Maryland, USA.
  • Mayeaux, D. J. & Mason, W. A. (1996, August).  Development of responsiveness to novel objects in the monogamous titi monkey (Callicebus moloch).  Paper presented at the joint congress of the International Primatological Society and American Society of Primatologists, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.
  • Mayeaux, D. J., & Mason, W. A. (1994). Developmental changes in response to parents and strangers in the monogamous titi monkey. American Journal of Primatology, 33, 227-228.
  • Teskey, N., Mendoza, S. P., Mayeaux, D. J., Ruiz, C., & Mason, W. A. (1993). Parental responsiveness in titi monkeys. American Journal of Primatology, 33, 351.
  • Mayeaux & Mason (1993, July). Parental responsiveness in titi monkeys. Paper presented at the meeting of the Animal Behavior Society, Davis, California, USA.
  • Mason, W. A. & Mayeaux, D. J. (1993). Responses of Callicebus and Saimiri to stimulus change. American Journal of Primatology, 30, 333.
  • Zucker, E. L., Mayeaux, D. J., Phillipi, K. M., & Clarke, M. R. (1990). Interactions of adult male Chinese rhesus monkeys while an all-male group and in breeding groups. American Journal of Primatology, 20, 248.
  • Mayeaux, D. J. & Zucker, E. L. (1989). Grooming among adult female black and white colobus monkeys: Social patterns and site preferences. American Journal of Primatology, 18, 155.
  • Mayeaux, D. J., Hidalgo, M. L. & Clarke, M. R. (1989, April)  Habitat complexity and social behavior in vervet monkeys.  Paper presented at the meeting of the Southwestern Psychological Association, Houston, Texas, USA.

Awards

  • Junior Faculty Award for Professional Excellence, 2008
  • St. Bonaventure University Summer Research Fellowship, 2006
  • Graduate Research Award, University of California, Davis, 1993
  • University of California Graduate Fellowship, 1992
  • Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award, Loyola University, 1988

Current Research Interests/Projects:

I am interested in social behavior, learning and their physiological substrates. 

Currently, I am working with Syrian (golden) hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) and Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus). The ancestral stock of these two domesticated rodent species came from very different environments: arid for hamsters, mesic (moist) for rats. There seem to be different physical and physiological adaptations associated with those different conditions. Hamsters have cheek pouches for carrying large quantities of food to store in their burrows. Rats do not amass large stores of food in their burrows. Hamsters also conserve water by producing extremely concentrated urine. We have investigated differences in motivation to work for food and water in these two species.


I have also worked with golden hamsters because of their extensive use of body odors in social communication. Using olfactory cues present in tiny amounts of glandular secretions, hamsters and many other species can easily tell a male from a female. Moreover, golden hamsters appear able to recognize their relatives (even if they have not met them before) and distinguish between otherwise similar individuals, a phenomenon known in the scientific literature as individual recognition. My recent research concerns hamsters' social learning and social memory, the very basis upon which social behavior and social organization rests.


This leads to the interesting question of how the mammalian brain processes information about our social companions. I have investigated the role of the parts of the cerebral cortex and of subcortical areas such as the amygdala in discrimination of individual odors and in learning and remembering sexual and aggressive interactions.


Before these lines of work, I studied social behavior in primates. Among those primate species were titi monkeys (Callicebus moloch), squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus), and vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops).

Additional Biographical Information:

Professional Services

  • Manuscript reviewer
    • American Journal of Primatology
    • Animal Behaviour
    • Behavioral Ecology
    • Behavioural Processes
    • Developmental Psychobiology
    • Ethology
    • Hormones and Behavior
    • Journal of Comparative Psychology
  • Editorial Advisory Board
    • Annual Editions: Biopsychology 08/09