Dr Fay Clark
MSc, PhD, MPhil, BSc
Expertise
I am a comparative experimental psychologist. I look for connections between animal cognition, behaviour, affective state and environment. My work draws heavily from human psychological principles and applies these to animals.
Current positions
Lecturer
School of Psychological Science
Contact
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Biography
I have interdisciplinary training in zoology, biological anthropology and psychology. I am based in the School of Psychological Science at Bristol but have collaborators in different disciplines across the faculty, university, and further afield.
Research interests
My work can best be described as experimental psychology with a comparative emphasis. I develop cognitive task apparatuses to test cognitive skills, and/or provide 'enrichment' to impaired environments. There is also a human twist; even though I have specialised in the study of nonhuman animals I draw heavily from human studies of learning, motivation and response to challenge.
Key research questions
- What are the parallels between human and animal mental health, particularly 'game psychology' (play, challenge)?
- How do environmental challenges affect the way animals feel and behave?
- How can we experimentally challenge participants in order to develop their cognitive skills?
- As our world rapidly changes (climate change, habitat loss, emerging infectious disease...) how will our wildlife adapt to these changes, and how can we feed cognition into conservation?
Publications
Recent publications
29/01/2024A transdisciplinary view on curiosity beyond linguistic humans
Biological Reviews
In the Zone: Towards a Comparative Study of Flow State in Primates
Animal Behavior and Cognition
The effect of anthropogenic noise on foraging and vigilance in zoo housed pied tamarins
Applied Animal Behaviour Science
The endangered brain
Royal Society Open Science
Bridging pure cognitive research and cognitive enrichment
Animal Cognition
Teaching
I currently (2022/2023) teach and supervise on the following BSc Psychology units:
Research Methods (BSc Year 1)
Brain and Cognition (BSc Year 2)
Animal Learning and Cognition (BSc Year 3)
Third-year research project