Nicola Clayton

Nicola Clayton
Born (1962-11-22)22 November 1962
Residence United Kingdom, United States
Citizenship United Kingdom
Fields Comparative cognition
Institutions University of Cambridge, Rambert Dance Company
Alma mater University of Oxford, University of St Andrews
Thesis  (1987)

Website

Nicky Clayton's voice
from the BBC programme The Life Scientific, 22 November 2011.[1]

Nicola Susan Clayton PhD, FRS, FSB, FAPS, C (born 22 November 1962[2]) is a British psychologist. She is Professor of Comparative Cognition at the University of Cambridge, Scientist in Residence at Rambert Dance Company,[3] a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, where she is Director of Studies in Psychology, [4] and a Fellow of the Royal Society since 2010.[5]

Early life and education

Clayton graduated with a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in zoology from the University of Oxford in 1984, before gaining a PhD from the University of St Andrews in 1987.

Career

University of Cambridge

Clayton has made major contributions in the study of animal cognition as well as cognitive development in human children, with significant impact in the neurobiology of memory and overall cognitive development.[5] Her expertise in the study of comparative cognition integrates a knowledge of both biology and psychology in providing new methods of thinking about the evolution and development of intelligence in non-verbal animals and pre-verbal children. Clayton studies cognition not only in humans but also in members of the crow family (including jackdaws, rooks and jays). This work has challenged many assumptions that only humans can reminisce about the past and plan for the future, and that only humans can understand other times as well as other minds.[6] Her work has also led to a re-evaluation of the cognitive capacities of animals, specifically birds, and resulted in a theory that intelligence evolved independently in at least two groups, the apes and the crows.[7]

Rambert Dance Company

Since 2009, Clayton has worked with the Rambert Dance Company as science collaborator, then scientific adviser, and now scientist-in-residence.[8] As a dancer, specializing in tango and salsa, she draws evidence from both the arts and science in her collaborations. In 2009, Clayton experienced her first collaboration by becoming involved in a dance piece called The Comedy of Change, which was inspired by Charles Darwin's ideas of natural and sexual selection. She met the choreographer and Artistic Director of Rambert Dance Company, Mark Baldwin, and gave input about science that could inform the piece.[8] Other choreographic works inspired by science Clayton has collaborated with Baldwin on include Seven For a Secret, Never To Be Told and What Wild Ecstasy.[7]

The piece Seven For a Secret, Never To Be Told was based on the psychology of children, an area of Clayton's research. Clayton singled out themes related to the behavioural development of children, such as the importance of play, which helped to inspire the choreography. This piece was another collaboration between Clayton and Baldwin; the title inspired by a line from the nursery rhyme One for Sorrow, which was based on a superstition associating the number of magpies one sees to prediction of one's future.[9]

Other work

One of Clayton's most recent collaborations is with artist and writer, Clive Wilkins, who is Artist in Resident in the Psychology department at the University of Cambridge. This collaboration in 2012 rose out of their mutual interest in mental time travel and resulted in a unique series of lectures entitled, "The Captured Thought."[6] These lectures set out to explore the subjective experience of thinking, by drawing evidence from both science and the arts to examine the nature of mental time travel and mechanisms we use to think about the future and reminisce about the past. The goal of this project was to illuminate ideas concerning memories and question the power of analysis.[10]

Published works

Awards

References

  1. ↑ "Nicky Clayton". The Life Scientific. 22 November 2011. BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
  2. ↑ CLAYTON, Prof. Nicola Susan, Who's Who 2015, A & C Black, 2015; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014
  3. ↑ "Professor Nicola S. Clayton FRS FSB FAPS C Psychol". Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
  4. ↑ Clare College Cambridge website accessed 26 May 2014
  5. 1 2 "Professor Nicola S. Clayton FRS FSB FAPS C Psychol". University of Cambridge. University of Cambridge. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  6. 1 2 "Professor Nicky Clayton, FRS". Cambridge Neuroscience. University of Cambridge. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  7. 1 2 "Professor Nicola Clayton". Battle of Ideas 2014. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  8. 1 2 Reisz, Matthew (15 March 2012). "Third-culture club". Times Higher Education. Times Higher Education. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  9. ↑ Gross, Michael (22 November 2011). "Dances with magpies". Current Biology. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2011.11.008. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  10. ↑ "The Captured Thought is off to Florida University". The Captured Thought. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  11. ↑ "Nicola Clayton". Royal Society. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  12. ↑ "Nicola S. Clayton, PhD, FRS, FSB, FAPS, C Psychol". Retrieved 8 April 2015.
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