Research areas
Our research encompasses a range of topics related to animal behaviour and evolution; particularly animal social learning, innovation and intelligence; niche construction, inclusive inheritance, and the extended evolutionary synthesis; and human evolution, cultural evolution, and gene-culture coevolution. We integrate rigorous laboratory experimentation with sophisticated statistical and theoretical approaches, including the development of new methods.
Animal social learning, innovation and intelligence
Animals learn from others selectively, according to functional rules called ‘social learning strategies’. We investigate such strategies through experimental studies in monkeys, birds and fishes, and through evolutionary game theory modelling. We also use experimental studies of animals, including monkeys, birds and fishes, combined with mathematical methods, to determine where animals acquire behaviour through social learning, and how novel traits spread through populations. We conduct comparative statistical analyses exploring the causes of the large primate brain and the evolution of intelligence. We have found that social learning, innovation and tool use all co-vary with primate relative brain size and may have been drivers of brain evolution.
Niche construction, inclusive inheritance and the extended evolutionary synthesis
The activities of organisms can modify selective pressures and affect subsequent evolution. We investigate the effects of thisÌý using comparative phylogenetic methods, theoretical population genetics modelling and through experimental analyses. We are also exploring the evolutionary consequences of extra-genetic forms of inheritance, including cultural inheritance and ecological inheritance, as well as phenotypic plasticity, using experimental and mathematical approaches. The recognition of niche construction as an evolutionary process that imposes biases on selection, as well as important roles for extra-genetic forms of inheritance and of phenotypes (e.g. plasticity-first) in evolution, are central concepts in the emergingÌý.
Human evolution, particularly the evolution of cognition
We study the evolution of social learning, teaching, language, cooperation and cumulative culture through a combination of mathematical modelling and experimental research. Our laboratory’s research into the evolution of cognition is summarised in .
Selected publications
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Open access
Fundakowski, G. J., Brambilla, V., Zawada, K. J. A., Chow, C. F. Y., Croasdale, E., Errington, A. J. F., Fontoura, L., Marais, W. J., Woods, R. M., Edelaar, P., Lala, K., Madin, J. S. & Dornelas , M., 28 Feb 2026, In: Coral Reefs. p. 1-14 14 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Lala, K., Jun 2025, In: Acta Ethologica. 28, 2, p. 51-59
Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review
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Lala, K. N., Fedlman, M. & Odling Smee, J., 31 Jul 2025, The Oxford handbook of cultural evolution. Tehrani, J. J., Kendal, J. & Kendal, R. (eds.). Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 759-773 17 p. (Oxford handbooks).
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
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Open access
Lala, K., Brown, G. R., Twyman, K. Z. & Feldman, M., 22 Jul 2025, In: Evolutionary Human Sciences. 7, 17 p., e24.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Spence-Jones, H. C., Webster, M., Wund, M. A., Baker, J. A., Foster, S. A. & Lala, K. N., Dec 2025, In: Evolution. 79, 12, p. 2791-2806 16 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Kasser, S. M., Lala, K., Fortunato, L. & Feldman, M. W., Sept 2025, In: Evolutionary Anthropology. 34, 3, p. 1-17 17 p., e70007.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review
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Brown, G. R., Barrett, H. C. & Lala, K. N., 7 Aug 2025, In: Science (New York, N.Y.). 389, 6760, p. 580-581 2 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review › peer-review
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Lala, K. N., Kanwal, J. & Twyman, K., 12 Dec 2025, Innovations in decolonising the curriculum: Multidisciplinary perspectives. Shafi, A. A., Twyman-Ghoshal, A., Afriyie, A. C., Copland, S. R. & El Masri, O. (eds.). Leeds: Emerald Publishing, p. 111-124
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review
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Open access
Sheard, C., Stott, L., Street, S. E., Healy, S. D., Sugasawa, S. & Lala, K. N., 25 Mar 2024, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Journal of Animal Ecology. Early View, 14 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Lala, K., 7 Dec 2024, New Scientist, 264, 3520, p. 26-29 4 p.
Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Article
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