Life is filled with choices: a hungry starling has to decide which field to foraging in, a peahen has to choose between various magnificent peacocks displaying to her and we have to choose which brands to buy every time we go to the supermarket. I am interested in how both animals and humans make decisions between alternative options. My research lies at the intersection of classical ethology and psychology. As an ethologist I am seeking to understand both the functions and underlying mechanisms of decision making. The study of function involves thinking about how natural selection has shaped decisions, whereas the study of mechanism involves trying to unravel the cognitive, and perhaps ultimately the neural mechanisms underlying the information processing involved in decision making.
Rather than adopting a single theoretical framework, my research draws on models from a range of different disciplines including behavioural ecology, cognitive psychology, economics and marketing. I am particularly intrigued by the potential for fruitful exchange of ideas between the human and animal behaviour literatures. My research is characterised by carefully controlled experiments designed to distinguish between alternative models to explain observed behavioural phenomena.
The main animal models that I have worked with are European starlings foraging for food in the field and lab (in collaboration with Alex Kacelnik, Candy Rowe, John Skelhorn and latterly Daniel Nettle), wild rufous hummingbirds foraging on artificial flowers in the field (with Sue Healy and Andy Hurly). In humans I have studied judgments of female physical attractiveness (with Piers Cornelissen and Martin Tovee) and the honesty of my colleagues when paying for their coffee (with Daniel Nettle and Gilbert Roberts).
In recent years I have become particularly interested in applying my expertise in animal decision making to the challenging problem of measuring animal welfare.
