Christmas 2020 Lab Party on Zoom, playing our version of "Two Truths, One Lie" game. From left to right: Ming Ye, Jamie DuBois, Izzy Crampton, Daniel Pini, James Davies, Ning Ding, Dr Alizee Vernouillet, Dr Maria Cabrera, Dr Nishant Kumar, Dr Gabrielle Davidson, Francesca Cornero, Prof Nicky Clayton, Dr Rachael Miller (Harrison), Maria Loconsole, Dr Tom Liu, Elias Garcia-Pelegrin, Ben Farrar (missing Emily Danby, Dr Alex Schnell, Dr Luigi Baciadonna)

Current CCL Members:

Prof. Nicky Clayton: Professor of Comparative Cognition, FRS

I am interested in the development and evolution of cognition, in both humans and non-human animals, particularly corvids and cephalopods. I am a Fellow of the Royal Society and a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge. I am also a Fellow of the Society of Biology, a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, a Fellow of the British Psychological Society and an Honorary Fellow of the American Ornithological Society, and an Honorary/Advisory Fellow of the United Sigma Intelligence Association (USIA). Together with Professor Clive Wilkins, who is Artist in Residence in the department (see Clive’s entry below), I am co-founder of The Captured Thought, and also the Founding Director of the Cambridge Centre for the Integration of Science, Technology, and Culture, and an Honorary Director of Studies and Advisor for China-UK Development Centre. Clive Wilkins and I have Visiting Professorships at Nanjing University, Institute of Technology, China, Beijing Language and Culture University, China  and Honorary Professorships at Hangzhou Diangi University, China. I am also a dancer, collaborating with Mark Baldwin, former Artistic Director at Rambert and a world-renowned choreographer. I am Scientist in Residence and Associate Artist at Rambert, the UK's flagship touring dance company (originally called Ballet Rambert).

Emily Danby: PhD Student (2019-present)

I am currently working towards my PhD in avian cognition having previously been in neuroscience research and science publication. Recent experiments have been in parental call recognition in wild Great tits, and kin recognition in Eurasian jays. I am interested in perception, sociality, how behaviour differs in captive vs. wild environments and also in how cognition may be affected by circadian rhythms.

Jamie DuBois: PhD Student (2019-present)

I am a PhD student working under the supervision of Professor Nicky Clayton at the Comparative Cognition Lab. My love for comparative cognition started during my undergraduate studies when I worked as a neuroscience research assistant in Dr Brent Cooper’s lab at TCU where I conducted my honours thesis for the John V. Roach Honors College on vocal learning in Bengalese finches. I then went on to earn my MSc in Evolutionary and Comparative Psychology at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. There, I conducted research with Professor Josep Call on face-name recognition in chimpanzees at the Budongo Research Unit in the Edinburgh Zoo. Currently, my research interests include vocal learning and imitation as well as auditory perception, especially in the avian family. I also have interests in domestication and the effects this can have on animal cognition.

Francesca Cornero: PhD Student (2020-present)

I'm conducting comparative cognition research with African Grey parrots and rooks under a Herchel Smith Postgraduate Fellowship from Harvard University. I am interested in social learning, theory of mind, and metacognition, among other concepts. I was previously a research assistant at the Pepperberg Avian Cognition Lab at Harvard University, where I conducted research on disjunctive syllogism, visual working memory, Piagetian liquid "overconservation", referential communication, and more, and received my MPhil in Psychology from the University of Cambridge, conducting mirror self-recognition research with Eurasian jays also at the Comparative Cognition Lab.

James Davies: PhD Student (2020-present)

I am a PhD student supervised by Professor Nicky Clayton. I am broadly interested in the evolution of the mind and consciousness, both in humans and non-human animals. My current research focuses on mental time travel, specifically elements of episodic(-like) memory, in Eurasian jays and wild great tits and blue tits.

Ming Ye: MPhil Student (2020-2021), PhD Student (2021-present)

I am a PhD student supervised by Professor Nicky Clayton. I finished my bachelor’s study in Experimental Medicine at Peking University Health Science Centre and earned my first Master degree in Psychology at Peking University.This year, I gained my MPhil degree in Biological Science (Psychology) at University of Cambridge.  My research interests include perspective taking, mind reading, executive function and human visual perception. As a native Chinese, my current research intends to discuss the cross-cultural influence on people’s visual perspective taking ability.

Clive Wilkins: Artist in Residence

I am a fine-art painter and a writer, and a Member of the Magician's Circle (MMC). I have exhibited  at the National Portrait Gallery, the Royal Academy and in private galleries in Cork Street, London – including a one-man show in 2007. Wilkins has produced portraits of Sir Howard Hodgkin and Sir Peter Blake among others and has been presented publicly to HRH Princess Royal. Wilkins' writing and paintings have been in print on numerous occasions, most notably in his published work 'The Creatures in the Night', a story written and lavishly illustrated by Wilkins in 2008. 'The Moustachio Quartet', a series of four novels~ 'Caruso Maelstrom', 'Count Zapik', 'Xavier Mannikin' and 'Eissenstrom' explore mental time travel and question consciousness. As a performer and magician I am particularly interested in the nature of cognitive illusion and the psychology of perception. Together with Nicky Clayton, I am co-founder of The Captured Thought, and an Honourary Director of Studies and Advisor for China-UK Development Centre.  

Former CCL PhD Students and Postdoctoral Researchers:

Collaborators

Dr Rachael Miller (Harrison), Anglia Ruskin University
Professor Ian Apperley, University of Birmingham
Professor Cristina Atance, University of Ottawa
Mr Mark Baldwin, Artistic Director, Rambert Dance Company
Dr Lucy Cheke, University of Cambridge
Dr Nathan Emery, Queen Mary University of London
Professor Alison Gopnik, University of California at Berkeley
Professor Russell Gray, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena
Professor Paul Hatchett, Emerson College
Dr Robert Lurz, Brooklyn College, CUNY
Professor Andrew Meltzoff, University of Washington
Dr Alex Taylor, University of AucklandDr Nishant Kumar, Wildlife Institute of India and the Edward Grey Institute at Oxford University