Rachel Blaser, PhD
Professor, Department of Neuroscience, Cognition and Behavior
- PhD, University of Hawaii at Manoa (2006)
- MA, University of Hawaii at Manoa (2003)
- BA, Reed College (B.A. 2001)
Rachel Blaser, PhD, has academic interests in how humans and other animals learn. She has additional interests in photography, linguistics, and impressively color-coded data files.
Areas of Expertise
Comparative Psychology
Scholarly Work
Dr. Blaser's research is on comparative learning. She is interested in similarities and differences in learning across species – currently investigating learning and behavior in the zebrafish. She approaches the question of learning from both a theoretical perspective (basic classical conditioning) and biological perspective (pharmacology and genetics).
Blaser lab website: USD SpaceLab
Areas of Interest
Dr. Blaser teaches courses in comparative psychology, including learning and animal behavior. She directs study of the behavior of a variety of vertebrates and invertebrates. in the lab, and branches out to the zoo, aquarium, parks and beaches to observe animals in their natural and not-so-natural habitats.