Jerome Micheletta

Biography

I am a member of the Centre for Comparative and Evolutionary Psychology and co-director of the Macaca Nigra Project. I completed my PhD in 2012 working on the link between crested macaques’ communication and their social system (with Bridget Waller and Antje Engelhardt). I obtained my Masters in Eco-physiology and Ethology at the Louis Pasteur University of Strasbourg (France) in 2007 and studied Zoology as an undergraduate at the Henry Poincare University of Nancy (France). Before joining the University of Portsmouth, I worked as a Field Assistant for the Macaca Nigra Project, North Sulawesi, Indonesia.

Research interests

My research focuses on the evolution of social communication. I am particularly interested in the link between social complexity and communication complexity. I mostly study the communication system of the socially tolerant and understudied crested macaque (Macaca nigra), combining observations of wild animals and cognitive experiment with captive populations.

I am currently leading the NetFACS project, which is funded by the Leverhulme Trust. In this project, we combine the Facial Action Coding System (an anatomically-based system designed to break-down facial expressions into their most basic observable units, the contraction of individual facial muscles) with Social Network Analysis (a method to measure relationships between units in a system) to develop a novel framework to study communication via the face: NetFACS. In this framework, facial expressions will be conceptualised as a network of facial muscles, interacting to produce communication. This method will take into account the dynamic nature of facial expressions and therefore, better reflect its complexity.

Teaching responsibilities

I teach on the undergraduate degree programmes for BSc Psychology and BSc Forensic Psychology. I coordinate the Research Project module for the MRes Science, and the Animal Behaviour module for the BSc Psychology. I also supervise undergraduate dissertations related to comparative and evolutionary psychology, social cognition, and primate behaviour.

Research outputs

2025

Facial expression production and perception in non-human primates

Waller, B. M., O’Callaghan, O., Micheletta, J., Whitehouse, J.

16 Jun 2025, In: Nature Reviews Psychology

Research output: Article

An ethogram of facial behaviour in domestic horses: evolutionary perspectives on form and function

Lewis, K. E., McBride, S. D., Micheletta, J., Parker, M. O., Rincon, A. V., Wathan, J., Proops, L.

28 May 2025, In: PeerJ. 13, 38p., e19309

Research output: Article

Characterisation of facial expressions and behaviours of horses in response to positive and negative emotional anticipation using network analysis

Phelipon, R., Bertrand, L., Jardat, P., Reigner, F., Lewis, K., Micheletta, J., Lansade, L.

14 May 2025, In: PLoS One. 20, 23p., e0319315

Research output: Article

MacaqueNet: advancing comparative behavioural research through large-scale collaboration

De Moor, D., Skelton, M., Amici, F., Arlet, M. E., Balasubramaniam, K. N., Ballesta, S., Berghänel, A., Berman, C. M., Bernstein, S. K., Bhattacharjee, D., Bliss-Moreau, E., Brotcorne, F., Butovskaya, M., Campbell, L. A. D., Carosi, M., Chatterjee, M., Cooper, M. A., Cowl, V. B., De la O, C., De Marco, A., Dettmer, A. M., Dhawale, A. K., Erinjery, J. J., Evans, C. L., Fischer, J., García-Nisa, I., Giraud, G., Hammer, R., Hansen, M. F., Holzner, A., Kaburu, S., Konečná, M., Kumara, H. N., Larrivaz, M., Leca, J., Legrand, M., Lehmann, J., Li, J., Lezé, A., MacIntosh, A., Majolo, B., Maréchal, L., Marty, P. R., Massen, J. J. M., Maulany, R. I., McCowan, B., McFarland, R., Micheletta, J., Rincon, A. V.

11 Feb 2025, In: Journal of Animal Ecology, 16p.

Research output: Article

2024

Photoregulatory functions drive variation in eye coloration across macaque species

Perea-García, J. O., Massen, J. J. M., Ostner, J., Schülke, O., Castellano-Navarro, A., Gazagne, E., José-Domínguez, J. M., Beltrán-Francés, V., Kaburu, S., Ruppert, N., Micheletta, J., Gupta, S., Majolo, B., Maréchal, L., Pflüger, L. S., Böhm, P. M., Bourjade, M., Duran, E., Hobaiter, C., Monteiro, A.

24 Nov 2024, In: Scientific Reports. 14, 1, 11p., 29115

Research output: Article

Relationship between dominance hierarchy steepness and rank-relatedness of benefits in primates

Huang, P., Arlet, M. E., Balasubramaniam, K. N., Beisner, B. A., Bliss-Moreau, E., Brent, L. J. N., Duboscq, J., García-Nisa, I., Kaburu, S. S. K., Kendal, R., Konečná, M., Marty, P. R., McCowan, B., Micheletta, J., Ostner, J., Schülke, O., Schino, G., Majolo, B.

1 Sep 2024, In: Behavioral Ecology. 35, 5, 14p., arae066

Research output: Article