Sarah Pope-Caldwell
Assistant Professor Psychology- Education
PhD in Neuroscience - Georgia State University
PhD in Psychology - Aix-Marseille Université
MS in Neuroscience - Georgia State University
BS in Biology - Kennesaw State University
- Specializations
Cognitive flexibility in children, adults, and nonhuman primates; how culture and environment impact decision-making; social learning versus individual learning; creative problem-solving and innovation; (in)flexible thinking and polarized beliefs
- Biography
I started my position as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at Georgia State University in 2024. Before this role, I was a Senior Scientist, Congo Research Site Director, and Cross-Cultural Core Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. I hold dual PhDs in Neuroscience and Psychology from Georgia State University and Aix-Marseille Université.
My research focuses on cognitive flexibility, problem-solving, and decision-making, using cross-cultural, developmental, and comparative approaches to explore these processes in both humans and nonhuman primates. I have conducted extensive fieldwork in the Republic of the Congo and Namibia, investigating how cultural and environmental factors influence cognitive development. My work has been supported by grants from the Templeton World Charity Foundation, Leakey Foundation, and National Geographic Society.Research Interests
My research focuses on cognitive flexibility, problem-solving, and decision-making, with a strong emphasis on how these processes are shaped by cultural environments and experiences across the lifespan. I explore these areas through a cross-cultural lens, incorporating research from multiple sites, including the United States, Germany, and the Republic of the Congo.
Additionally, my work includes a comparative approach. I study nonhuman primates to understand the evolution of problem-solving strategies. This allows me to examine how cognitive flexibility has evolved and is expressed across different species, providing insights into uniquely human cognitive development and adaptation.
- Publications
To view my publications, visit my Google Scholar page.
- Pope-Caldwell, S., Deffner, D., Maurits, L., Neumann, T., & Haun, D. (2024). Variability and harshness shape flexible strategy-use in support of the constrained flexibility framework. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 7236.
- Pope-Caldwell, S. (2024). How dynamic environments shape cognitive flexibility. In M. Charbonneau (Ed.), The Evolution of Techniques: Rigidity and Flexibility in Use, Transmission, and Innovation. MIT Press.
- Pope-Caldwell, S. M., & Washburn, D. A. (2022). Overcoming cognitive set bias requires more than seeing an alternative strategy. Scientific Reports, 12(1), 1-8.
- Lew-Levy, S.*, Pope, S. M.*, Haun, D. B., Kline, M. A., & Broesch, T. (2021) Out of the empirical box: A mixed-methods study of tool innovation among Congolese BaYaka forager and Bondongo fisher–farmer children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 211, 105223. *Co-first authors "https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022096521001417?ref=pdf_download&fr=RR-2&rr=8c42b0663ba41849"
- Watzek, J., Pope, S. M., Brosnan, S. F. (2019) Capuchin and rhesus monkeys but not humans show cognitive flexibility in an optional-switch task. Scientific Reports, 9(1), 13195.
See the ADAPT lab website "https://www.adaptchildlab.com/publications; for a full list of publications.