2001 - PhD in Biology, Moscow State University and Institute of Higher Nervous Activity, Moscow, Russia. Dissertation: “Transitive inference and object permanence in young and adult birds.”

1997 - M.S. in Zoology, Kazan State University, Kazan, Russia. Thesis: “Abstract matching-to-sample in hooded crows.”

1997-B.A. in History of Culture (with a specialization in philosophy of science), Kazan State University, Kazan, Russia.

Comparative Cognition Society

Vision Sciences Society

Society for Quantitative Analyses of Behavior

Society for Neuroscience

Comparative cognition, behavioral and neurobiological aspects of early visual processes (e.g., figure-ground segregation and perceptual grouping) in humans and non-human animals, relational learning, mathematical modeling of perceptual and cognitive processes.

Lazareva, O. F., & Wasserman, E. A. (2008). Categories and concepts in animals. Learning Theory and Behavior. Vol. [1] of Learning and Memory: A Comprehensive Reference, 4 vols. (J.Byrne Editor), pp. 197-226. Oxford: Elsevier.

Lazareva, O. F., Miner, M., Young, M. E., & Wasserman, E. A. (2008).  Multiple-pair training increases transposition in pigeons. Learning & Behavior, 36, 174-187.

Zentall, T., Wasserman, E. A., Lazareva, O. F., Thompson, R., & Ratterman, M. J. (2008). Concept learning in animals. Comparative Cognition & Behavior Reviews, 3, 13-45.

Lazareva, O. F., Wasserman, E. A., & Biederman, I. (2008). Pigeons and humans are more sensitive to nonaccidental than to metric changes in visual objects. Behavioral Processes, 77, 199-209.

Nagasaka, Y., Lazareva, O. F., & Wasserman, E. A. (2007). Prior experience affects amodal completion in pigeons. Perception & Psychophysics, 69, 596-605.

Gibson, B. M., Lazareva, O. F., Gosselin, F., Schyns, P., & Wasserman, E. A. (2007). Non-accidental properties underlie shape recognition in mammalian and non-mammalian vision. Current Biology, 17, 336-340.

Lazareva, O. F., Wasserman, E. A., & Biederman, I. (2007). Pigeons’ recognition of partially occluded objects depends on specific training experience. Perception, 36, 33-48.

Lazareva, O. F., Castro, L., Vecera, S. P., & Wasserman, E. A. (2006). Figure-ground assignment in pigeons:  Evidence for a figural benefit. Perception & Psychophysics, 68, 711-724.

Lazareva, O. F., Freiburger, K. L., & Wasserman, E. A. (2006). Effects of stimulus manipulations on visual categorization in pigeons. Behavioural Processes, 72, 224-233.

Lazareva, O. F., & Wasserman, E. A. (2006). Effect of stimulus orderability and reinforcement history on transitive responding in pigeons. Behavioural Processes, 72, 161-172.

Lazareva, O. F., Vecera, S. P., & Wasserman, E. A. (2006). Object discrimination in pigeons:  Effects of local and global cues. Vision Research, 46, 1361-1374.

Lazareva, O. F., Levin, J. I., Vecera, S. P., & Wasserman, E. A. (2006). The search for object-based attention in pigeons:  Failure and success. In K. Fujita & S. Itakura (Eds.), Diversity of Cognition. Kyoto: Kyoto University Academic Press, pp. 3-37.

Lazareva, O. F., Wasserman, E. A., Young, M. E. (2005). Transposition in pigeons:  Reassessing Spence (1937) with multiple discrimination training. Learning and Behavior, 33, 22-46.

Lazareva, O. F., Vecera, S. P., Levin, J. I., & Wasserman, E. A. (2005).  Object discrimination by pigeons:  Effects of object color and shape. Behavioural Processes, 69, 17-31.

Lazareva, O. F., Freiburger, K. L., & Wasserman, E. A. (2004). Pigeons concurrently categorize photographs at both basic and superordinate levels. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 11, 1111-1117.

Lazareva, O. F., Bagozkaja, M. S., Smirnova, A. A., Zorina, Z. A., Rayevsky V. V., & Wasserman, E. A. (2004). Transitive responding in hooded crows requires linearly-ordered stimuli. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 82, 1-19.

Lazareva, O. F., Soto, F., & Wasserman, E. A. (2008, March). Basic-level superiority: Effect of between-category similarity. Paper presented at the meeting of Comparative Cognition Society, Melbourne, FL.

Acerbo, M. J.,  Lazareva, O. F., Poremba, A., & Wasserman, E. A. (2008, March). Metabolic mapping of figure-ground segregation in pigeons: Subregions of the nucleus rotundus. Paper presented at the meeting of Comparative Cognition Society, Melbourne, FL.

Lazareva, O. F., Acerbo, M. J.,  Poremba, A., & Wasserman, E. A. (2007, November). Metabolic mapping of figure-ground segregation in pigeons: Subregions of the nucleus rotundus. Poster presented at the annual meeting of Society for Neuroscience, San Diego, CA.

Wasserman, E. A., Brooks, D. I.,  Lazareva, O. F., & Miner, M. A.. (2007, November). A vocabulary test for pigeons (Columba livia). Paper presented at the meeting of Psychonomic Society, Long Beach, CA.

Wasserman, E. A., Lazareva, O. F., & Young, M. E. (September, 2007). Spence and transposition: 1937 to 2007. Paper presented at the “Learning and Behavior: A Tribute to Kenneth W. Spence” conference, Iowa City, IA.

Wasserman, E. A., & Lazareva, O. F. (2007, March). Pigeons are more sensitive to nonaccidental than to metric changes in visual objects. Paper presented at the meeting of Comparative Cognition Society, Melbourne, FL.

Acerbo, M. J., Lazareva, O. F., Frank, A., Poremba, A., & Wasserman, E. A. (2007, March). Metabolic mapping of brain structures involved in figure-ground assignment in pigeons. Paper presented at the meeting of Comparative Cognition Society, Melbourne, FL.

Lazareva. O. F., Doyle, J., & Wasserman, E. A. (2007, March). Pigeons’ perception of similarity among different basic-level categories. Paper presented at the meeting of Comparative Cognition Society, Melbourne, FL.

Lazareva, O. F., Young, M. E., & Wasserman, E. A. (2007, February). A three-component model of relational learning in transposition paradigm. Paper presented at the meeting of Winter Conference on Animal Learning and Behavior, Winter Park, CO.

Wasserman, E. A., Nagasaka, Y., & Lazareva, O. F. (2006, August). Seeing the unseen:  Visual completion in pigeons? Paper presented at the meeting of American Psychological Association, New Orleans, LA.

Wasserman, E. A., Lazareva, O. F., & Luck, S. J. (2006, May). Change detection in pigeons:  Stimulus attributes and binding. Poster presented at the meeting of the Vision Sciences Society, Sarasota, FL.

Lazareva, O. F., Castro, L., Vecera, S. P., & Wasserman, E. A. (2006, May). Figure-ground assignment in pigeons:  Smaller area and longer pre-exposure enhance figural advantage. Poster presented at the meeting of the Vision Sciences Society, Sarasota, FL.

Nagasaka, Y.,  Lazareva, O. F., & Wasserman, E. A. (2006, May). Prior experience affects amodal completion in pigeons. Poster presented at the meeting of the Vision Sciences Society, Sarasota, FL.

Brooks, D. I., Lazareva, O. F., Gosselin, F., Schyns, P. G., & Wasserman, E. A. (2006, May). Stimulus control in categorization: An application of the Bubbles procedure. Poster presented at the meeting of the Vision Sciences Society, Sarasota, FL.

Lazareva, O. F., & Wasserman, E. A. (2006, May). Nonverbal transitive inference:  Effects of task and awareness on performance. Paper presented at the meeting of Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.

Lazareva, O.F., Miner, M., Wasserman, E. A., & Young, M. E. (2006, March). Transposition in pigeons: Multiple-pair training facilitates relational responding. Paper presented at the meeting of Comparative Cognition Society, Melbourne, FL.

Wasserman, E. A., Lazareva, O. F., & Young, M. E. (2005, November). Transposition in pigeons: Reassessing Spence’s (1937) associative learning theory. Paper presented at the conference “Associative Learning Today”, Hamilton, Canada.

Lazareva, O. F., Freiburger, K., & Wasserman, E. A. (2005, May). Effects of stimulus manipulations on basic-level and superordinate-level categorization. [Invited talk]. Paper presented at the meeting of the Society for the Quantitative Analyses of Behavior, Chicago, IL.

Lazareva, O. F., Miner, M., Wasserman, E. A., & Young, M. E. (2005, May). Transposition in pigeons and people using multiple-pair discrimination training. [Invited talk]. Paper presented at the meeting of the Association for Behavioral Analysis, Chicago, IL.

Lazareva, O. F., Castro, L., Vecera, S. P., & Wasserman, E. A. (2005, May). Figure-ground assignment in pigeons: Effect of object area. Symposium conducted at the meeting of the Vision Sciences Society, Sarasota, FL.

Gibson, B. M., Lazareva, O. F., Wasserman, E. A., Gosselin, F., Shyns, P. G., & Biederman, I. (2005, May). Use of the Bubbles procedures to isolate the visual features controlling categorical behavior in people and pigeons . Symposium conducted at the meeting of the Vision Sciences Society, Sarasota, FL.

Wasserman, E. A., Lazareva, O. F., & Biederman, I. (2005, May). Sensitivity to metric and invariant changes in pigeons:  Effects of different behavioral techniques. Symposium conducted at the meeting of the Vision Sciences Society, Sarasota, FL.

Castro, L., Lazareva, O. F., Vecera, S. P., & Wasserman, E. A. (2005, March). Figure-ground assignment in pigeons: The effect of different sizes. Paper presented at the meeting of Comparative Cognition Society, Melbourne, FL.

Lazareva, O. F., Vecera, S. P., & Wasserman, E. A. (2005, March). Figure-ground assignment in pigeons. Paper presented at the meeting of the Comparative Cognition Society, Melbourne, FL.