Staff profile

I am interested in the evolution of human joint action, including various capacities such as joint commitment and communicative repair, as well as specific communicational and emotional skills. To address the evolutionary origins of these abilities, I employ a comparative approach, in which I assess similarities and differences in the process of social action coordination in humans and great apes (particularly chimpanzees and bonobos). My approach mainly implies observations in natural settings, but I also design experiments to implement specific manipulations to study eye gaze, emotion expressions and perception, as well as cooperative decision making. 

• Communication
• Evolution of social intelligence
• Joint action

Chapter in book

• Primate communication: Affective, intentional, or both?
  
  Heesen, R., Sievers, C., Gruber, T., & Clay, Z. (2022). Primate communication: Affective, intentional, or both?. In B. Schwartz & M. Beran (Eds.), Primate Cognitive Studies (pp. 411-438). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108955836.017

Journal Article

• An exploration of Menzerath’s law in wild mountain gorilla vocal sequences
  
  Watson, S., Heesen, R., Hedwig, D., Robbins, M., & Townsend, S. (in press). An exploration of Menzerath’s law in wildmountain gorilla vocal sequences. Biology Letters.
• Potential evidence of reengagement attempts following interruptions of a triadic social game in bonobos and chimpanzees
  
  Heesen, R., Bangerter, A., Zuberbühler, K., Iglesias, K., Rossano, F., Guéry, J., & Genty, E. (2025). Potential evidence of reengagement attempts following interruptions of a triadic social game in bonobos and chimpanzees. PLOS ONE, 20(3), e0292984. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0292984
• Impact of social context on human facial and gestural emotion expressions
  
  Heesen, R., Szenteczki, M. A., Kim, Y., Kret, M. E., Atkinson, A. P., Upton, Z., & Clay, Z. (2024). Impact of social context on human facial and gestural emotion expressions. IScience, 27(11), Article 110663. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2024.110663
• Perceptual integration of bodily and facial emotion cues in chimpanzees and humans
  
  Heesen, R., Kim, Y., Kret, M. E., & Clay, Z. (2024). Perceptual integration of bodily and facial emotion cues in chimpanzees and humans. PNAS Nexus, 3(2), Article pgae012. https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae012
• The Association Between the Bared-Teeth Display and Social Dominance in Captive Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)
  
  Kim, Y., Vlaeyen, J., Heesen, R., Clay, Z., & Kret, M. (2022). The Association Between the Bared-Teeth Display and Social Dominance in Captive Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Affective Science, 3(4), 749-760. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42761-022-00138-1
• Flexible signalling strategies by victims mediate post-conflict interactions in bonobos
  
  Heesen, R., Austry, D., Upton, Z., & Clay, Z. (2022). Flexible signalling strategies by victims mediate post-conflict interactions in bonobos. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 377(1860). https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2021.0310
• Coordinating social action: A primer for the cross-species investigation of communicative repair
  
  Heesen, R., Fröhlich, M., Sievers, C., Woensdregt, M., & Dingemanse, M. (2022). Coordinating social action: A primer for the cross-species investigation of communicative repair. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 377(1859). https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2021.0110
• How 2- and 4-year-old children coordinate social interactions with peers
  
  Rossano, F., Terwilliger, J., Bangerter, A., Genty, E., Heesen, R., & Zuberbühler, Z. (2022). How 2- and 4-year-old children coordinate social interactions with peers. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 377(1859). https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2021.0100
• Variable expression of linguistic laws in ape gesture: a case study from chimpanzee sexual solicitation
  
  Safryghin, A., Cross, C., Fallon, B., Heesen, R., Ferrer-i-Cancho, R., & Hobaiter, C. (2022). Variable expression of linguistic laws in ape gesture: a case study from chimpanzee sexual solicitation. Royal Society Open Science, 9(11). https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.220849
• Every product needs a process: unpacking joint commitment as a process across species
  
  Bangerter, A., Genty, E., Heesen, R., Rossano, F., & Zuberbühler, Z. (2022). Every product needs a process: unpacking joint commitment as a process across species. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 377. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2021.0095
• Revisiting the human ‘interaction engine’: comparative approaches to social action coordination
  
  Heesen, R., & Fröhlich, M. (2022). Revisiting the human ‘interaction engine’: comparative approaches to social action coordination. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 377(1859). https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2021.0092
• Evidence of joint commitment in great apes’ natural joint actions
  
  Heesen, R., Zuberbühler, K., Bangerter, A., Iglesias, K., Rossano, F., Pajot, A., Guéry, J., & Genty, E. (2021). Evidence of joint commitment in great apes’ natural joint actions. Royal Society Open Science, 8(12), Article 211121. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.211121
• Assessing joint commitment as a process in great apes
  
  Heesen, R., Bangerter, A., Zuberbühler, K., Iglesias, K., Neumann, C., Pajot, A., Perrenoud, L., Guéry, J., Rossano, F., & Genty, E. (2021). Assessing joint commitment as a process in great apes. IScience, 24(8), Article 102872. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2021.102872
• How apes get into and out of joint actions: Shared intentionality as an interactional achievement
  
  Genty, E., Heesen, R., Guéry, J., Rossano, F., Zuberbühler, K., & Bangerter, A. (2020). How apes get into and out of joint actions: Shared intentionality as an interactional achievement. Interaction Studies, 21(3), 353-386. https://doi.org/10.1075/is.18048.gen
• Bonobos engage in joint commitment
  
  Heesen, R., Bangerter, A., Zuberbühler, K., Rossano, F., Iglesias, K., Guéry, J., & Genty, E. (2020). Bonobos engage in joint commitment. Science Advances, 6(51). https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abd1306
• Linguistic laws in chimpanzee gestural communication
  
  Heesen, R., Hobaiter, C., Ferrer-i-Cancho, R., & Semple, S. (2019). Linguistic laws in chimpanzee gestural communication. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 286(1896). https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2018.2900
• Social play as joint action: A framework to study the evolution of shared intentionality as an interactional achievement
  
  Heesen, R., Genty, E., Rossano, F., Zuberbühler, K., & Bangerter, A. (2017). Social play as joint action: A framework to study the evolution of shared intentionality as an interactional achievement. Learning and Behavior, 45(4). https://doi.org/10.3758/s13420-017-0287-9