Podcast appearances and mentions of nicky clayton

Kiran wants to know how animals like dogs are able to follow commands from humans. James Tytko asked Nicky Clayton, Professor of Comparative Cognition at the University of Cambridge, to help with the answer... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Dr Chris Smith and the Naked Scientist team present the latest science news, analysis and breakthroughs.This week we discover what the Covid app has told us about how diseases spread across the UK We look at what the appointment of Sir Patrick Vallance as Minister for Science means for the scientific community. And whilst generative AI can boost productivity for writers, it can also produce very similar stories. So are we willing to trade boring for productive?Plus in our Titans of Science series we continue with Cambridge University psychologist and bird fanatic Nicky Clayton, as we discuss the cognitive behaviour of birds.

In this edition of The Naked Scientists: How clever are birds really? Titans of Science continues, as we sit down with Cambridge University psychologist, and expert in animal comparative cognition, Nicky Clayton. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

We're coming back to the topic of generative artificial intelligence, asking how this potentially gamechanging technology is going to be integrated into our society. We'll hear an explanation of neural networks from Geoff Hinton, one of the founding fathers of AI, and some of the most promising avenues for maximising the strengths of machine learning systems with tech journalist David McClelland. After a brief update on the debate around AI sentience from the foothills of the Himalayas from Nicky Clayton, we explore why chatbots might be about to stop advancing as rapidly as before, and how... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

In the news pod, geneticist Henrik Salje tells us about the relative ineffectiveness of the measles vaccine for infants born via c-section. Also, the incredible memory-making abilities of Eurasian jays with Nicky Clayton, and Ramsey Faragher relates how quantum-based navigation can overcome the vulnerabilities of GPS. Then, Ulf Buntgen explains how tree rings have revealed that the summer of 2023 was the hottest in 2000 years in the northern hemisphere, and Toby Wiseman explains the marvel of our working theory of everything. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Cambridge University professor Nicky Clayton discusses her pioneering work on the minds of crows and other corvids. Melanie and Nicky even get round to discussing the possibility of jackdaws performing magic tricks...

Not sure about you, but it seems like I spend most of my time in the future. We're told to live in the present, of course—and I try. But at any opportunity my mind just races ahead, like an eager puppy. I'm planning my next meal, dwelling on that looming deadline, imagining the possibilities that lie ahead. In one sense, all this time spent puttering around tomorrow-land is kind of regrettable. But in another sense it's really quite extraordinary. When we think ahead, when we cast our thoughts into the future, we're exercising an ability that some consider uniquely human.  My guest today is Dr. Adam Bulley. Adam is a psychologist and Postdoctoral Fellow affiliated with the University of Sydney and Harvard. Along with his co-authors Thomas Suddendorf & Jonathan Redshaw, Adam recently published a book titled, The Invention of Tomorrow: A Natural History of Foresight. In this conversation, Adam and I talk about two constructs central to the book—"mental time travel" and foresight. We discuss how these constructs relate to memory and to imagination. We dig into the question of whether our abilities to think ahead are really uniquely human. We review the archeological evidence for the emergence of foresight in our species' evolution. And we also touch on—among other topics and tidbits— hoarding behavior in squirrels, tool use in chimpanzees, the Bischof-Köhler hypothesis, the control of fire, Incan quipus, hand axes, and longtermism. Foresight is one of those especially tentacly topics. It connects to so many different other abilities and to so many questions about minds, culture, evolution. Both in the book and here in this conversation, Adam proves to be quite a skilled guide to all these connections.  There's also something else notable about Adam: he's an alum of the Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute (DISI). In fact, he was a participant in the first iteration of the program, back in 2018. So if you too aspire to do cool research, write cool books, and be interviewed on the coolest podcasts around, you might consider applying. Just note that review of applications begins soon: Feb 13. More info at: disi.org  Alright, friends, on to my chat with Adam Bulley. Enjoy!   A transcript of this episode will be available soon.    Notes and links 3:30 – A paper comparing performance on the “forked tube task” in human children and great apes. 6:30 – A now-classic article by Dr. Suddendorf and Michael Corballis on “mental time travel” and the evolution of foresight. 13:00 – An article by Dr. Suddendorf directly comparing memory and foresight. Another take on the same question. 22:00 – A recent paper by Johannes Mahr on the functions of episodic memory.  27:00 – A recent review article on the notion of “cognitive offloading.” The study by Adam and colleagues looking at the development of cognitive offloading in young children.   32:00 – For an earlier discussion of animal caching behavior, see our episode with Dr. Nicky Clayton. 35:00 – An examination of the Bischof–Köhler hypothesis in rhesus monkeys. 40:00 – A recent chapter by Adam and Dr. Redshaw reviewing the evidence for future thinking in animals.  41:00 – For a brief discussion of delayed gratification in cephalopods, see our episode with Dr. Alex Schnell. See also a recent research paper on the question in fish, and a recent paper by Adam and colleagues looking at the psychology of delayed rewards in humans.  45:00 – For an extended foray into (allegedly) uniquely human traits—aka “human autapomorphies” or “human uniquals”—see our earlier essay on the topic.  47:30 – The exchange in Trends in Cognitive Sciences between Dr. Suddendorf and Dr. Corballis on the question of foresight in animals.  49:30 – A book by Richard Wrangham on the role of fire and cooking in human evolution. A more recent article by Dr. Wrangham on the same topic. 54:00 – An episode of the Tides of History podcast about Ötzi the Iceman. 59:00 – For our earlier discussion of bags with Dr. Michelle Langley, see here.   1:03:00 – A book on the Incan quipus. 1:13:00 – The classic treatment of “displacement” in human language, by Charles Hockett, is here. 1:18:00 – Recent books on long term future thinking include What We Owe the Future, The Good Ancestor, Longpath, and others.   Dr. Bulley recommends: The Gap, by Thomas Suddendorf The Optimism Bias, by Tali Sharot Know Thyself, by Stephen Fleming You can read more about Adam's work on his website and follow him on Twitter.   Many Minds is a project of the Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute (DISI) (https://disi.org), which is made possible by a generous grant from the Templeton World Charity Foundation to UCLA. It is hosted and produced by Kensy Cooperrider, with help from Assistant Producer Urte Laukaityte and with creative support from DISI Directors Erica Cartmill and Jacob Foster. Our artwork is by Ben Oldroyd (https://www.mayhilldesigns.co.uk/). Our transcripts are created by Sarah Dopierala (https://sarahdopierala.wordpress.com/). You can subscribe to Many Minds on Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, Pocket Casts, Google Play, or wherever you like to listen to podcasts.  **You can now subscribe to the Many Minds newsletter here!** We welcome your comments, questions, and suggestions. Feel free to email us at: manymindspodcast@gmail.com.  For updates about the show, visit our website (https://disi.org/manyminds/), or follow us on Twitter: @ManyMindsPod.

Nicky Clayton's work has led to a radical re-evaluation of animal cognition and raises important issues about the evolution of cognition.

Nicky Clayton's work has led to a radical re-evaluation of animal cognition and raises important issues about the evolution of cognition.

To be a good magician, you have to be a good psychologist. If you want to pull off a really good magic trick, you need to know your audience—what they are likely to attend to or gloss over, what shortcuts they take, what predictions they tend to make. Which all raises a question: Could you get to know a new audience, a very different audience, by seeing which tricks they fall for and which they don't? Could we use magic as a scientific tool, in other words, as a window into minds that may be quite unlike our own? My guest today is Dr. Nicola Clayton. Nicky is Professor of Comparative Cognition in the Psychology department at the University of Cambridge. She is this year's winner of the prestigious ASAB medal, awarded by Association for the Study of Animal Behavior. Nicky is perhaps best known for her research on birds—corvids in particular—and how they show evidence of sophisticated cognitive abilities like memory, planning, mental time travel, and even understanding of other minds. Recently, Nicky and her colleagues have been up to something new: showing magic tricks to birds, as a way of probing their impressive mental capacities. Here, Nicky and I talk about why magic is a useful tool for psychologists. We discuss her pioneering earlier work on corvids and, in particular, on how they hide or “cache” vast amounts of food. We talk about how corvids protect their caches from would-be thieves using tactics that, curiously, resemble some of those used by human magicians. We dive into some recent studies from Nicky's lab that involved showing classic magic tricks to Eurasian jays. And, finally, we get a tiny taste of what might be coming up in this line of research. Before we get to it, one quick announcement: Applications are now open for the 2022 Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute or DISI. After two years in the Zoomverse, DISI will be back in 3D this summer in St Andrews, Scotland. If you like the topics we talk about on this show, it's a pretty safe bet you'd be into DISI. So check out disi.org for more info. Alright folks, without further hocus pocus, here's my conversation about magic and birds with Dr. Nicky Clayton. Enjoy!   A transcript of this episode will be available soon.   Notes and links 2:45 ­– A recent editorial in Science by Dr. Clayton and colleagues about the promise of using magic to illuminate animal minds. 4:45 – One of Dr. Clayton's primary collaborators on her magic studies is Clive Wilkins, who is an artist, writer, and professional magician. He is a member of the Magic Circle in London. 8:30 – For more on tool use in corvids, see our prior episode with Dr. Alex Taylor. Dr. Taylor and Dr. Clayton have collaborated on a number of studies. 10:30 – A 2004 paper in Science by Dr. Clayton and Dr. Nathan Emery on the convergent evolution of intelligence in apes and corvids. A recent paper on physical and social intelligence in ravens. 14:00 – Dr. Clayton has authored a number of influential studies on caching behavior in corvids; see here, here, and here, among others. 17:30 – A paper by Dr. Clayton and a colleague on how caching jays are sensitive to who can hear them caching. 21:30 – A recent paper in PNAS by Dr. Clayton and her colleagues, including lead author Elias Garcia-Pelegrin, examining three sleight of hand tricks in jays and humans. 24:00 – A recent video profile of Dr. Clayton's line of work on magic includes examples of these sleight of hand tricks. 27:00 – A recent paper by Dr. Clayton and her colleagues, including lead author Dr. Alex Schnell, examining a version of the “cup and balls” trick, also shown to jays.   35:00 – The proposed priming experiment was inspired by a recent paper on subconscious gestural priming in humans. 36:00 – For work on cephalopods, see our prior episode with Dr. Alex Schnell, who has collaborated with Dr. Clayton on the magic work in addition to wave-making studies on cephalopods. Dr. Clayton recommends: A profile of her lab's work on magic in New Scientist Bird Brain, by Nathan Emery Experiencing the Impossible, by Gustav Kuhn You can find Dr. Clayton on Twitter (@nickyclayton22).   Many Minds is a project of the Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute (DISI) (https://disi.org), which is made possible by a generous grant from the Templeton World Charity Foundation to UCLA. It is hosted and produced by Kensy Cooperrider, with help from assistant producer Cecilia Padilla. Creative support is provided by DISI Directors Erica Cartmill and Jacob Foster. Our artwork is by Ben Oldroyd (https://www.mayhilldesigns.co.uk/). Our transcripts are created by Sarah Dopierala (https://sarahdopierala.wordpress.com/). You can subscribe to Many Minds on Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, Pocket Casts, Google Play, or wherever you like to listen to podcasts. We welcome your comments, questions, and suggestions. Feel free to email us at: manymindspodcast@gmail.com. For updates about the show, visit our website (https://disi.org/manyminds/), or follow us on Twitter: @ManyMindsPod.

Hello and welcome back to Mind Over Chatter! Please fill out our survey https://forms.gle/r9CfHpJVUEWrxoyx9 to tell us what your mind thinks about our chatter. Knowing what you think will really help us make the podcast even better… Now, on to the episode!This second series is all about the future - and in this first episode we're going to be considering what the future even is… Have you ever wondered how time works? It turns out, the answer is a lot more complicated than we thought.Join our wondering and wonderful conversation with philosopher of science Matt Farr, professor of psychology Nicky Clayton, and professor of linguistics and philosophy, Kasia Jaszczolt. We'll be talking about everything from physics to linguistics… and from broken eggs to Einstein's theory of relativity. This episode was produced by Nick Saffell, James Dolan and Naomi Clements-Brod. Annie Thwaite and Charlotte Zemmel provide crucial research and production support for Series 2. [00:00] - Introductions[02:10] - A bit about the guests' research[04:28] - Does time actually go from past to present to future? And does time really ‘flow'?[06:04] - The A-theory of time and John McTaggart Ellis McTaggart[07:53] - The B-theory and C-theory of time (and a little bit more about the A-theory too)[09:53] - How do B-theorists deal with entropy? Can you un-break an egg?[10:44] - The difference between the A-theory, B-theory and C-theory of time - does time have a direction? And does energy/entropy have a direction?[14:12] - Recap of the first portion of the episode, reviewing A-theory, B-theory and C-theory of time[18:58] - How the mind understands the subjective concept of time[24:24] - How languages talk about time differently and why these differences matter[27:11] - The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis and how the way you talk about language affects the way you perceive and think about things[30:21] - Recap of the second portion of the episode [34:02] - How do the mental and linguistic concepts around time fit with philosophical concepts and physics of time?[40:45] - How mental time travel works and how thinking about the past is different to thinking about the future[41:40] - All biological organisms are subject to the laws of thermodynamics so we can't remember the future or act towards the past[42:55] - Cultural and linguistic differences in mental time travel and whether the past is behind us or in front of us[45:46] - Is there a conflict between the psychological and linguistic models of time and the way physics handles time?[48:20] - Recap of the last portion of the episode[52:44] - Closing and thank you'sIf you want some more information about the different theories of time we discussed in this episode, this article by Matt helped us understand some of what was said: https://aeon.co/essays/the-c-theory-of-time-asks-if-time-really-has-a-direction GUEST BIOSProf Kasia Jaszczolt @KJaszczoltProf Kasia Jaszczolt is a linguist and philosopher of language, interested in meaning in language, in the mind, and in conversation – how it is composed and conveyed.She has written five books (most of them for Oxford University Press) and over 90 articles on these topics. Some of her favourite research topics include time in language and thought and their relation to ‘real' time, semantic ambiguities, theories of meaning and communication, and representing beliefs. She gives lectures

Have you ever wondered what it's like to be a bird? Not just to fly, but to really, truly understand the world from a bird's perspective. I don't think I have. At least not to the extent that Nicky Clayton has. She is a joyous human being full of unique perspective on corvids, animals, humans, babies, magicians, artists, and scientists. Her official title is professor of comparative cognition at Cambridge, and you can find her on twitter @nickyclayton22. In this episode we talk about her work in China, the phenomenology of bird existence, how to make your own luck, combining science and art to explore memory, letting ideas grow organically, how to encourage others to be more sensitive to the world around them, the connection between magic and cognition, and informal fieldwork in everyday life. As always you can find more info at codykommers.com/podcast.

Two animal psychologists and a historian of animal studies join Eleanor Rosamund Barraclought to discuss whether it's possible to recognise similar traits in humans, chimps, crows, hawks, dogs and cats in terms of affinity and attachment, despite different evolutionary paths. How do we know when a chimp wants to play? How does one crow decide what to feed its mate? The Free Thinking Festival explores the emotional similarities and differences between humans & animals. Nicky Clayton is a scientist and a dancer who began as a zoologist and moved into psychology. She is Professor of Comparative Cognition at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of the Royal Society. She is also Scientist in Residence at dance company Rambert and co-founder of The Captured Thought blog and project. Her expertise is in studying members of the crow family, who have huge brains for their body size, and in studying thinking with and without words. Kim Bard is a Professor at the University of Portsmouth. She has studied the development of emotions, cognition, communication, and attachment in captive young chimpanzees for over 30 years. Her research concerns understanding the process of development in evolution and contributes to captive animal welfare. Erica Fudge is Professor of English Studies and Director of the British Animal Studies Network at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. She has written widely on modern and historical human-animal relationships and has recently finished a study of people's lives with their livestock animals in early modern England titled Quick Cattle and Dying Wishes. Producer: Jacqueline Smith

Nicky Clayton is the Professor of Comparative Cognition and a University Teaching Officer in the Department of Psychology at Cambridge University, and a Fellow of Clare College. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2010. Her expertise as a scientist lies in the contemporary study of how animals and children think.Clive Wilkins works as a fine art painter and has exhibited widely including at the National Portrait Gallery, London on several occasions. He has also exhibited at the Royal Academy and various Mayfair galleries. Clive is a performer and professional magician with a particular interest in the nature of illusion and the psychology of perception and the methods used to make sense of a strange world.Together this dynamic duo are the co-founders of The Captured Thought, which is an arts and science collaboration that explores mental time travel, the subjective experience of thinking and the nature of creativity.Who the heck knows what we'll get into, but I'm sure you'll agree it's going to be one heck of an interesting ride...oh...and 'yes' there will be magic performed during the chat

Nicky Clayton is a Fellow of the Royal Society and Professor of Comparative Cognition at Cambridge, and she's done more than any other scientist to transform the way we think about animal intelligence, and particularly the intelligence of birds. She's spent her career observing rooks and jays and other members of the corvid family, watching them as they play tricks on each other, and sing and dance together. Her work has challenged the assumption that only humans have the intelligence to plan for the future and reminisce about the past, that only humans can understand the minds of others. She says that she's spent most of her life wondering what it would be like to be a bird: 'to fly, to see colours in the ultraviolet, and to sing as beautifully as they do'. Alongside her scientific research, Nicky Clayton has a passion for tango, and has collaborated with Ballet Rambert as a scientist in residence. In Private Passions she talks to Michael Berkeley about the creative inspiration she finds in music. Her musical choices include Ravel, Janacek and Bruckner, and Astor Piazzolla's Tango for an Angel; as well as Messiaen's Catalogue of the Birds, and the call of a reed warbler. Produced by Elizabeth Burke A Loftus production for BBC Radio 3.

Nicky Clayton joins me in this month's Beepcast, telling me what sparked her interest in bird intelligence, and how she mixes science with the art of dance. I learn about a mouse with an unusual superpower: immunity to the sting of a scorpion. I also interview Culum Brown of Macquarie University, Australia, who studies how young rainbow fish sniff out lurking predators.Download the MP3A southern grasshopper mouse eats the Arizona bark scorpion that it has just killed. Credit: Ashlee and Matthew RoweQuicklinks: Culum Brown's webpageAshlee Rowe's webpageNicky Clayton's webpage

A collaboration between behavioural psychologist Nicky Clayton and fine artist and creative writer Clive Wilkins. We shall explore the nature of imagination, and how it forms the cornerstone of our identity, diversifying reality yet impeding and disorientating our memories.

Nicky Clayton is Professor of Comparative Cognition at Cambridge University. Her work challenges how we think of intelligence and she says that birds' brains developed independently from humans or apes. Members of the corvid family, such as crows and jays appear to plan for the future and predict other birds behaviour in her elegant experiments.One experiment she has designed was inspired by Aesop's fable of the hungry crow. Her work raises questions about the understanding of animal behaviour, including whether, as humans, we can ever interpret the actions of other species accurately. But she says her research with birds and other animals can help illuminate young children's activities and how their brains develop. Nicky Clayton is scientist in residence at the Rambert Dance Company and her latest collaboration with Mark Baldwin, the artistic director, is "Seven for a secret, never to be told" which takes concepts from childhood behaviour and reinterprets them choreographically. Producer: Geraldine Fitzgerald.

This week Libby Purves is joined by Professor Nicky Clayton, Bill Roedy, Edward Petherbridge and Steve Greenhaugh. Nicky Clayton is Professor of Comparative Cognition at Cambridge University and is an expert in bird behaviour. She is also passionate about dance and now combines these two strands as the Rambert Dance Company's first 'Scientist in Residence'. She is working with the Rambert on a new production, "Seven for a Secret, Never to be Told" and will be at this year's Hay Festival. Bill Roedy is the former Chairman and Chief Executive of MTV. In his book, 'What Makes Business Rock', he tells the story of how he built MTV into a global phenomenon. 'What Makes Business Rock' is published by Wiley. Edward Petherbridge is a distinguished stage actor who has had a long and varied career. He was part of Laurence Olivier's National Theatre Company at the Old Vic and starred as Lord Peter Wimsey in the BBC adaptation of the Dorothy L. Sayers Mysteries. He is currently playing the prophet Teresias in Sophocles' 'Antigone' (translated by Timberlake Wertenbaker) at London's Southwark Playhouse. Steve Greenhaugh worked as an RSPCA inspector in Lancashire for twenty-eight years. His book ' A Seal Pup in My Bath' tells of his training and early career rescuing thousands of injured, abandoned and abused animals from stranded cats and injured birds, to joining on police raids on quail fighting rings. 'A Seal Pup in My Bath - Tales From an RSPCA Inspector' is published by Constable.

This week, will a hot mint still taste cold? Also how skimmed milk could come straight from the cow in future, and why we walk upright without dragging our knuckles. Nicky Clayton discusses clever birds that use cigarettes to fumigate their feathers, Tim Clutton-Brock describes the family affairs of meerkats, and we find out from Andrew Smith why monkeys see what we see, but cats and cows can't. Plus, in Kitchen Science, we get jiggly with a jam jar full of rice.

This week, will a hot mint still taste cold? Also how skimmed milk could come straight from the cow in future, and why we walk upright without dragging our knuckles. Nicky Clayton discusses clever birds that use cigarettes to fumigate their feathers, Tim Clutton-Brock describes the family affairs of meerkats, and we find out from Andrew Smith why monkeys see what we see, but cats and cows can't. Plus, in Kitchen Science, we get jiggly with a jam jar full of rice. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This week, will a hot mint still taste cold? Also how skimmed milk could come straight from the cow in future, and why we walk upright without dragging our knuckles. Nicky Clayton discusses clever birds that use cigarettes to fumigate their feathers, Tim Clutton-Brock describes the family affairs of meerkats, and we find out from Andrew Smith why monkeys see what we see, but cats and cows can't. Plus, in Kitchen Science, we get jiggly with a jam jar full of rice. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists