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Nicola S. Clayton

Ethologist

Nicola Clayton is professor Comparative Cognition in the Department of Experimental Psychology at Cambridge University and a Fellow of Clare College. Clayton’s work in integrating biology and psychology led to a re-evaluation of the cognitive capacities of animals, particularly birds, resulting in a theory that intelligence evolved independently in at least two disparate groups, apes, and corvids. Clayton’s current research examines how birds perform similar cognitive operations to apes with much smaller brains and different neuroarchitecture. Clayton pioneered new procedures for the experimental study of episodic memory and future planning, which have had a major impact on our understanding of animal cognition and its relationship to human memory and cognition. She received her undergraduate degree in Zoology at Oxford Univesity and her doctorate in animal behavior at St. Andrews University.

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