Prof Nicky Clayton FRS

Graduate Tutor

Director of Studies in Psychology

Professor of Comparative Cognition Psychology

t: (01223) 333250

e: nsc22@cam.ac.uk

What is your subject and specific area of study?

I study the evolution and development of intelligence in crows, apes and young children. I work mainly with members of the crow family (corvids) in a variety of species including jackdaws, rooks and jays, although I also have some studies on rats, bats, apes and young children.

See also Nicola Clayton Profile: Nicky and the Jays, Morell, V, Science, 315, 1074-1075.

I am currently also working with Ballet Rambert to produce a new, Darwinian-themed ballet called The Comedy of Change. You can see a video of one of the dances, as well as an interview with me, here.

What makes Clare College such a good place to study your subject?

There are several fellows specializing in biology and psychology at Clare – certainly more than average for a college of our size. This leads to an excellent environment in which to study either of these subjects, and a fantastic feeling of community and cooperation.

Main Publications:

Selected publications

Song tutor choice in zebra finches, Clayton, N S, Animal Behaviour, 35, 714-722 (1987)
Song, sex and sensitive phases in the behavioural development of birds, Clayton, N S, Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 4, 82-84 (1989)
Assortative mating in zebra finch subspecies, Clayton, N S, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society London B, 330, 351-370 (1990)
Hippocampal growth and attrition in birds affected by experience, Clayton, N S; Krebs, J R, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 91, 7410-7414 (1994)
Species and sex differences in hippocampus size between parasitic and non-parasitic cowbirds, Reboreda, J C; Clayton, N S; Kacelnik, A, NeuroReport, 7, 505-508 (1996)
Episodic-like memory during cache recovery by scrub jays, Clayton, N S; Dickinson, A, Nature, 395, 272-278 (1998)
Effects of demanding foraging conditions on cache retrieval accuracy in mountain chickadees (Poecile gambeli), Pravosudov, V V; Clayton, N S, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B, 268, 363-368 (2001)
Effects of experience and social context on prospective caching strategies in scrub jays, Emery, N J; Clayton, N S, Nature, 414, 443–446 (2001)
A test of the adaptive specialization hypothesis: population differences in caching, memory and the hippocampus in black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapilla), Pravosudov, V V; Clayton, N S, Behavioral Neuroscience, 16, 515-522 (2002)
Can animals recall the past and plan for the future?, Clayton, N S; Bussey, T J; Dickinson, A, Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 4, 685-691 (2003)
Cache protection strategies by western scrub-jays, Aphelocoma californica: implications for social cognition, Dally, J M; Emery, N J; Clayton, N S, Animal Behaviour, 70, 1251-1263 (2005)
An evolutionary perspective on caching by corvids, de Kort, S R; Clayton, N S, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B, 273, 417-423 (2006)
Investigating physical cognition in rooks, Corvus frugilegus, Seed, A M Tebbich; Emery, N J; Clayton, N S, Current Biology, 16, 697-701 (2006)
Food-caching western scrub-jays keep track of who was watching when, Dally, J M; Emery, N J; Clayton, N S, Science, 312, 1662-1665 (2006)
Post-conflict third-party affiliation by rooks, Corvus frugilegus, Seed, A M; Clayton, N S; Emery, N J, Current Biology, 17, 152-158 (2007)
Western Scrub-Jays (Aphelocoma californica) anticipate future needs independently of their current motivational state, Correia, S P C; Alexis, D M; Dickinson, A; Clayton, N S, Current Biology, 17, 856-861 (2007)
Planning for the future by Western Scrub-Jays, Raby, C R; Alexis, D M; Dickinson, A; Clayton, N S, Nature, 445, 919-921 (2007)
Co-operative problem solving in rooks (Corvus frugilegus), Seed, A M; Clayton, N S; Emery, N J, Proceedings of the Royal Society London Series B, 275, 1421-1429 (2008)
Looking for episodic cognition in animals and young children: prospects for a new minimalism, Clayton, N S; Russell, J, Neuropsychologia (2009)

doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2008.10.011 Are animals stuck in time or are they chronesthetic creatures? Clayton, N S; Russell, J; Dickinson, A, Topics in Cognitive Science, 1, 57-71 (2009)