FACULTY

Contact Information

provine@umbc.edu

Lab:
Sondheim Hall 507
p.410-455-3609

Status:

Robert Provine, Ph.D.

Professor

Education

Area of Study

Psychology, Neuroembryology

Research Interests

Dr. Provine is a neuroscientist engaged in studies of the development, evolution and neural mechanisms of behavior. His approaches are comparative and interdisciplinary. During a research career spanning 30 years, he has investigated over 30 species using techniques ranging from electrophysiology and tissue culture to behavioral field studies. At various times, Professor provine has studied the neural basis of embryonic behavior, the development and evolution of bird flight, the voluntary control of visual accommodation, influences on nerve fiber outgrowth, machine intelligence and control, and most recently, the ethological analysis of normal and pathological human behavior. A common theme running through this work is a concern with the motor systems that produce movement. The recent studies of laughter, yawning, tickling, and behavioral contagion are not a break with the past, but an extension to humans of a long-term, programmatic analysis of behavior development and evolution.

Selected Publications

Laughter: A scientific investigation. Viking (US and Canada) October 2000.

Epidemie de rire. R. R. Provine et Helen Weems. Sciences et Avenir (Julliet/Aout), pp. 18- 19.

Le rire des singes. R. R. Provine et H. R. Weems. Sciences et Avenir (Julliet/Aout), pp. 20- 23.

Laughter. R. R. Provine, In Encyclopedia of Neuroscience (2nd ed.). Elsevier, Amsterdam.

Yawning. R. R. Provine, In Encyclopedia of Neuroscience (2nd ed.). Elsevier, Amsterdam.

Contagious yawning and laughter: Significance for sensory feature detection, motor pattern generation, imitation, and the evolution of social behavior. R. R. Provine. In C. M. Heyes and B. G. Galef, eds., Social learning in animals: The roots of culture. Academic Press, New York pp. 179-208.

Yawns, laughs, smiles, tickles, and talking: Naturalistic and laboratory studies of facial action and social communication. R. R. Provine. In J. A. Russell, and J. M. Fernandez Dols Eds., New directions in the study of facial expression. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge pp. 158-175.

Laughter. R. R. Provine. American Scientist, 84, 38-45.

Pre- and postnatal development of wing-flapping and flight in birds: Embryological, comparative and evolutionary perspectives. R. R. Provine. In M. O. Davies & P. Green , Eds., Perception and motor control in birds: A unified approach. Springer-Verlag, Berlin pp. 135-159.

Laughter punctuates speech: Linguistic, social, and gender contexts of laughter. R. R. Provine. Ethology, 95, 291-298.