Julia Hyland Bruno

Julia Hyland Bruno is an ethologist with a keen interest in the behavioral development of social animals, focusing on species like songbirds and humans that learn to communicate. She earned her PhD in biopsychology and behavioral neuroscience from the City University of New York, where her research delved into the rhythmic patterns of vocal learning in zebra finches.

Julia is a graduate of the Presidential Scholars in Society and Neuroscience program, having completed it in 2022. Her research project in this program investigated how communication patterns among individuals shape social organization. 

Currently, Julia holds the position of Assistant Professor in Humanities and Social Sciences at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. Her work continues to explore the fascinating world of animal and human behavior, shedding light on how we learn to interact and communicate with each other.

Project Title

Learning to Improvise? Using Social Songbirds to Study Vocal Culture in the Lab

Peter Bearman
Jonathan R. Cole Professor of Sociology, Director of the Interdisciplinary Center for Innovative Theories and Empirics (INCITE), President of the American Assembly, Columbia University

George Lewis
Edwin H. Case Professor of American Music, Columbia University

Linking the Genomic Signatures of Human Beat Synchronization and Learned Song in Birds
RL Gordon, A Ravignani, JH Bruno, CM Robinson, A Scartozzi, ...
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2021

Aggressive Responses of Eastern Phoebes (Sayornis Phoebe) and American Robins (Turdus Migratorius) Toward Brood Parasites and Nest Predators: A Model Presentation Experiment
JK Enos, JH Bruno, ME Hauber
The Wilson Journal of Ornithology, 2021

Birdsong Learning and Culture: Analogies with Hyman Spoken Language
JH Bruno, ED Jarvis, M Liberman, O Tchernichovski
Annual Review of Linguistics, 2021

Rhythm in Dyadic Interactions
K de Reus, S Masayo, A Marianna, M Gamba, M de Heer Kloots, L Miriam, ...
PsyArXiv, 2020

Regularities in Zebra Finch Song Beyond the Repeated Motif
JH Bruno, O Tchernichovski
Behavioural Processes, 2019