Dr. Duane Rumbaugh Scientist Emeritus Institute or University Great Ape Trust & Georgia State University

Great Ape Trust Research Program

Dr. Rumbaugh is interested in how haptic (e.g., touch) cues and experiences in just touching three-dimensional word-lexigrams might facilitate word learning. He is also interested in how stimulus salience (e.g., their natural and acquired characteristics that direct attention to them) enters into basic learning properties in the absence of reinforcement.

Biographical Sketch

Dr. Duane Rumbaugh was born in Maynard, Iowa, in 1929, graduated from Ackley High (1946) and from the University of Dubuque (B. A., 1950), from Kent State (M. A., 1951), and from the University of Colorado, Boulder (Ph.D., 1955). He taught at San Diego State College (1954-69), researched at Yerkes of Emory U. (1969-71), and taught/researched at Georgia State University where he co-founded the Language Research Center. Dr. Rumbaugh has written and edited several books and has published over 200 papers, many with colleagues.

Honors

• Distinguished Member of Psi Chi (National Office); Past President of Div. 6 of the Amer. Psychol. Association

Professional Organizations

• American Psychological Association
• American Society of Primatologists
• Southern Society of Philosophy and Psychology

Representative Publications

• Why Reinforcement is Illusory
• Why Some Apes Imitate and/or Emulate Observed Behavior and Others Do Not – Fact and Theory