Every species is different, but humans stand out as especially unique. Powerful cognitive abilities, such as the development of complex tools and the ability to share this knowledge with others, have allowed us to thrive in every almost every corner of the globe, transforming the world we live in. 

By comparing human behaviour with that of non-human animals (“the comparative approach”) we can find out what exactly it is that sets humans apart from other species, and the ways in which we are the same.  

My research focusses on two uniquely powerful aspects of the human mind: our capacity for complex culture (socially transmitted systems of knowledge) and language (the medium through which we share our world with others). By studying the communicative and cultural capacities of non-human animals from birds, to meerkats, to monkeys and apes, I explore the evolutionary building blocks from which the human mind is built. 

2025: Non-adjacent dependency processing (or lack thereof) in bonobos: an artificial grammar experiment. 
Leroux M, Lahiff NJ, Zulberti C, Epping A, Uerling C, Taglialatela JP, Mueller JL, Watson SK, Townsend SW. 
Royal Society Open Science. Link. 

2024: Inter-call intervals, but not call durations, adhere to Menzerath’s Law in the submissive vocal bouts of meerkats 
Watson SK, Falk N, Manser M.
Royal Society Open Science. Link. 

2023: Cognitive constraints on vocal combinatoriality in a social bird. 
Watson SK, Mine JG, O’Neill LG, Müller JL, Russel AF, Townsend SW 
iScience, 26 (7). Link. 

2023: Genetic distance from wolves affects family dogs’ reactions towards howls. 
Lehoczki F, Andics A, Kershenbaum A, Kubiniy E, Passilongo D, Root-Gutteridge H, Range F, Sanchez V, Schmidt L, Townsend SW, Watson SK, Farago T. 
Communications Biology. Link.