Armando Machado
Coordinator
Coordinator
Animal Learning and Behavior Lab
Portugal
Biography
I was an undergraduate student in Lisbon, Portugal, studied for two years in Belgium with Marc Richelle and Helga Lejeune, and then in 1993 obtained my Ph.D. with John Staddon at Duke University, USA. My doctoral research examined the conditions in which pigeons generate highly variable, random-like behavior (I am glad to have received the Annual Dissertation Award from Division 25 of the American Psychological Association). From 1994 till 2000, I was a professor at Indiana University (first Assistant and then Associate with tenure). n 2000 I moved to the University of Minho in the North of Portugal where I continue to study a variety of issues related to behavior and learning (e.g., time and number discrimination, choice)
Research Interest
In most of my studies, I contrast the results of laboratory experiments with the predictions of simple mathematical models of behavior and learning. In addition to the Psychology of Learning I have interests in Mathematics, Evolutionary Biology, Philosophy, and the History of Psychology. The work that my collaborators and I have done has been published in various journals and funded by the National Institutes of Mental Health (USA) and the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology.