Dana Gant joined the UCLA/VA Alzheimer's lab in Spring 2008 after graduating from UCLA with  a Master's of Science Degree in Animal Learning and behavior under Drs. Blaisdell and Greenfield. The focus of her project was on comparative cognition, especially in relation to analogical and numerical reasoning or concepts as they relate to ecological design strategies.   In graduate school she was an assistant teacher, in several different psychology courses. She obtained her bachelor's at Franklin and Marshall College under Dr. Ratterman, studying animal cognitiion and comparative psychology. She has worked with many species, including the chimpanzee, rhesus macaque, squirrel monkey, dog, cat, pigeon, finch, horse and parrot. She is interested in child development and has done extensive public service to help children with disabilities including therapy with animals. In her experience she has received many awards, including Recipient of the Distinguished Achievement Fellowship, UCLA (2005), Member of Phi Beta Kappa, Franklin & Marshall College (2005), President & Member of Psi Chi National Psychology Honor Societ, Member of Sigma Delta Pi National Hispanic Honor Society, Member of Skull and Crown Sophomore Honor Society, Recipient of the Paul L. Whitely Psychology Prize, 4/24/2005, Recipient of the Hackman Summer Scholars Award, under Dr. Roger Thompson, F&M College (2004), Recipient of the Hackman Summer Scholars Award, under Dr. MaryJo Rattermann, F&M College (2003), Recipient of the John Marshall Scholarship, Franklin & Marshall College (2001-2005)

In our laboratory, she is the coordinator, designing and analyzing animal behavioral/cognitive studies to test memory deficits in various Alzheimer's models and species, and to determine efficacy of different anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant or other pharmacological therapies that might prevent or treat Alzheimer's.

MANUSCRIPTS
Gant, D. J. (December 2006). An Integrative Approach to Attributional vs. Relational Processing in
Pigeons (Columba livia). Unpublished master’s thesis, UCLA.

Gant, D. J. (May 2005). An Ecological Approach to Feature and Relational Discriminations by
Pigeons (Columbia livia) in a Social Learning Context. Unpublished honors thesis, F&M College, Lancaster, PA.

Gant, D. J., N. Disla, N. Suri, & Thompson, RKR. (February 2005). Unequal pay or violated
expectations? Capuchin monkey (Cebus apella) responses to qualitatively different rewards. Unpublished manuscript.

Gant, D.J., G. Lisanti, & N. Zeigler. (July 2005) Revisiting Gosling (2003): Does a dog got
personality? Unpublished manuscript.

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

Gant, D. J. (March 2007). Attributional versus Relational Processing in Pigeons in a Matching to
Sample Task. Proceedings of the International Conference on Comparative Cognition, Melbourne, FL.

Gant, D. J. & RKR Thompson. (March 2006). Scratch & Match Revisited: A Test of
Observational Learning in Pigeons (Columba livia). Proceedings of the International Conference on Comparative Cognition, Melbourne, FL.
Blaisdell, A.P., K. Sawa, D. Stahlman, K. Leising, D.J.

Gant & M.S. Waldmann.
(March 2006). Causal Reasoning in Rats. Proceedings of the International Conference on Comparative Cognition, Melbourne, FL.

Gant, D.J., N. Disla, N. Suri, & RKR Thompson. (March 2005). Tinklepaugh revisited:
Conspecific effects on within-and-between session incentive contrast in capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella). Proceedings of the International Conference on Comparative Cognition, Melbourne, FL.

Brown, J., D.J. Gant, T. Spinner & M.J. Rattermann. (March, 2004). Identity is special:
Evidence from human adults and 3-year-old children. Proceedings of the International Conference on Comparative Cognition, Melbourne, FL.