Journal Articles
Melis, A. P., Rossano, F., Goguen, A., & Ayebazibwe, I. (2026). Chimpanzees follow human pointing when attention is engaged. iScience, 29(9).
Keupp, S., Grüneisen, S., Olschewski, S., Hernández-Lloreda, M. V., Warneken, F., Ludvig, E. A., & Melis, A. P. (2026). The role of future planning, patience, and risk tolerance for prospective reciprocity in human adults. Scientific Reports, 16, 12383.
Melis, A. P., & Raihani, N. J. (2023). The cognitive challenges of cooperation in human and nonhuman animals. Nature Reviews Psychology, 2(9), 523–536.
Melis, A. P., & Rossano, F. (2022). When and how do non-human great apes communicate to support cooperation? Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B.
Keupp, S., Grüneisen, S., Warneken, F., Ludvig, E. A., & Melis, A. P. (2021). Relationship between delay discounting and risk preference in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and humans. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 43.
Keupp, S., Grüneisen, S., Ludvig, E. A., Warneken, F., & Melis, A. P. (2021). Reduced risk-seeking in chimpanzees in a zero-outcome game. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 376(1819), 20190673.
Duguid, S., & Melis, A. P. (2020). How animals collaborate: Underlying proximate mechanisms. WIREs Cognitive Science, 11(5), e1529.
Altschul, D. M., Beran, M. J., Bohn, M., Call, J., DeTroy, S., … Melis, A. P., … (2019). Establishing an infrastructure for collaboration in primate cognition research. PLoS ONE, 14(10).
John, M., Duguid, S., Tomasello, M., & Melis, A. P. (2019). How chimpanzees share the spoils with collaborators and bystanders. PLoS ONE, 14(9), e0222795.
Melis, A. P., & Tomasello, M. (2019). Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) coordinate by communicating in a collaborative problem-solving task. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 286(1901), 20190408.
John, M., Melis, A. P., Read, D., Rossano, F., & Tomasello, M. (2018). The preference for scarcity: A developmental and comparative perspective. Psychology & Marketing, 35, 603–615.
Melis, A. P., Engelmann, J. M., & Warneken, F. (2018). Correspondence: Chimpanzee helping is real, not a byproduct. Nature Communications, 9, 615.
Melis, A. P. (2018). The evolutionary roots of prosociality: The case of instrumental helping. Current Opinion in Psychology, 20, 82–86.
Melis, A. P., & Warneken, F. (2016). The psychology of cooperation: Insights from chimpanzees and children. Evolutionary Anthropology, 25, 297–305.
Melis, A. P., Grocke, P., Kalbitz, J., & Tomasello, M. (2016). One for you, one for me: Humans' unique turn-taking skills. Psychological Science, 27(7), 987–996.
Melis, A. P., Floedl, A., & Tomasello, M. (2015). Non-egalitarian allocations among 3- and 5-year-olds in a face-to-face bargaining task. PLoS ONE, 10, e0120494.
Bullinger, A. F., Melis, A. P., & Tomasello, M. (2014). Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) instrumentally help but do not communicate in a mutualistic cooperative task. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 128(3), 251–260.
Nitzschner, M., Melis, A. P., Kaminski, J., & Tomasello, M. (2014). Side matters: Potential mechanisms underlying dogs' performance in a social eavesdropping paradigm. Animal Behaviour, 90, 263–271.
Melis, A. P. (2013). The evolutionary roots of human collaboration: Coordination and sharing of resources. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1299, 68–76.
Melis, A. P., & Tomasello, M. (2013). Chimpanzees' strategic helping in a collaborative task. Biology Letters, 9(2), 20130009.
Melis, A. P., Altrichter, K., & Tomasello, M. (2013). Allocation of resources to collaborators and free-riders in 3-year-olds. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 114, 364–370.
Bullinger, A. F., Burkart, J. M., Melis, A. P., & Tomasello, M. (2013). Bonobos, Pan paniscus, chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes, and marmosets, Callithrix jacchus, prefer to feed alone. Animal Behaviour, 85(1), 51–60.
Tomasello, M., Melis, A. P., Tennie, C., Wyman, E., & Herrmann, E. (2012). Two key steps in the evolution of human cooperation: The interdependence hypothesis. Current Anthropology, 53(6), 673–692.
Wyman, E., Tennie, C., Melis, A. P., & Tomasello, M. (2012). Reply to comments on "Two key steps in the evolution of human cooperation". Current Anthropology, 53(6), 689–692.
Schneider, A.-C., Melis, A. P., & Tomasello, M. (2012). How chimpanzees solve collective action problems. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 279, 4946–4954.
Nitzschner, M., Melis, A. P., Kaminski, J., & Tomasello, M. (2012). Dogs (Canis familiaris) evaluate humans on the basis of direct experiences only. PLoS ONE, 7(10), e46880.
Rosati, A. G., Herrmann, E., Kaminski, J., Krupenye, C., Melis, A. P., Schroepfer, K., Tan, J., Warneken, F., Wobber, V., & Hare, B. (2012). Assessing the psychological health of captive and wild apes: A response to Ferdowsian et al. (2011). Journal of Comparative Psychology.
Warneken, F., Lohse, K., Melis, A. P., & Tomasello, M. (2011). Young children share the spoils after collaboration. Psychological Science, 22(2), 267–273.
Melis, A. P., Warneken, F., Jensen, K., Schneider, A.-C., Call, J., & Tomasello, M. (2011). Chimpanzees help conspecifics obtain food and non-food items. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 278, 1405–1413.
Melis, A. P., Schneider, A.-C., & Tomasello, M. (2011). Chimpanzees share food in the same way after collaborative and individual food acquisition. Animal Behaviour, 82, 485–493.
Bullinger, A. F., Melis, A. P., & Tomasello, M. (2011). Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) prefer individual over collaborative strategies towards goals. Animal Behaviour, 82, 1135–1141.
Bullinger, A. F., Wyman, E., Melis, A. P., & Tomasello, M. (2011). Coordination of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) in a stag hunt game. International Journal of Primatology, 32(6), 1296–1310.
Melis, A. P., & Semmann, D. (2010). How is human cooperation different? Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 365, 2663–2674.
Melis, A. P., Call, J., & Tomasello, M. (2009). 36-month-olds conceal visual and auditory information from others. Developmental Science.
Melis, A. P., Hare, B., & Tomasello, M. (2009). Chimpanzees coordinate in a negotiation game. Evolution and Human Behavior, 30, 381–392.
Melis, A. P., Hare, B., & Tomasello, M. (2008). Do chimpanzees reciprocate received favours? Animal Behaviour, 76, 951–962.
Warneken, F., Hare, B., Melis, A. P., Hanus, D., & Tomasello, M. (2007). Spontaneous altruism by chimpanzees and young children. PLoS Biology, 5(7), e184.
Hare, B., Melis, A. P., Woods, V., Hastings, S., & Wrangham, R. (2007). Tolerance allows bonobos to outperform chimpanzees on a cooperative task. Current Biology, 17, 619–623.
Melis, A. P., Hare, B., & Tomasello, M. (2006). Chimpanzees recruit the best collaborators. Science, 311, 1297–1300.
Melis, A. P., Hare, B., & Tomasello, M. (2006). Engineering cooperation in chimpanzees: Tolerance constraints on cooperation. Animal Behaviour, 72, 275–286.
Melis, A. P., Call, J., & Tomasello, M. (2006). Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) conceal visual and auditory information from others. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 120(2), 154–162.
Herrmann, E., Melis, A. P., & Tomasello, M. (2006). Apes' use of iconic cues in the object-choice task. Animal Cognition, 9, 118–130.
Book Chapters
Melis, A. P. (2016). The cooperative bias in humans' biological history. In D. Messner & S. Weinlich (Eds.), Global Cooperation and the Human Factor in International Relations. Routledge.
Melis, A. P., & Warneken, F. (2013). Primate prosocial behavior. In F. R. Volkmar (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders (pp. 2359–2368). Springer.
Warneken, F., & Melis, A. P. (2012). The ontogeny and phylogeny of cooperation. In J. Vonk & T. K. Shackelford (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Evolutionary Psychology. Oxford University Press.
Melis, A. P., Warneken, F., & Hare, B. (2010). Collaboration and helping in chimpanzees. In E. V. Lonsdorf, S. R. Ross & T. Matsuzawa (Eds.), The Mind of the Chimpanzee: Ecological and Experimental Perspectives. University of Chicago Press.