Research areas
I am a Lecturer at the School of Psychology & Neuroscience at the University of St. Andrews.
I hold a B.A. Hons. in Biological Sciences from the University of Oxford and a PhD in Comparative Psychology from the University of Auckland, in New Zealand.
I am interested in how evolutionary pressures have shaped the minds of different species, and which cognitive mechanisms animals employ while interacting with the world around them. My current work focuses on social cognition in apes and dogs. My dog research is based at the St Andrews PAWS Lab (dog guardians interested in participating in our studies can sign up at this link).
Selected publications
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Open access
Evidence for representation of pretend objects by Kanzi, a language trained bonobo
Bastos, A. & Krupenye, C., 5 Feb 2026, In: Science. 391, 6785Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Evidence of self-care tooling and phylogenetic modeling reveal parrot tool use is not rare
Bastos, A. P. M., Claessens, S., Nelson, X. J., Welch, D., Atkinson, Q. D. & Taylor, A. H., 18 Apr 2025, In: iScience. 28, 4, 112156.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Psychological mechanisms for individual recognition- and anonymous-societies in humans and other animals
Krupenye, C., Carvajal, L. & Bastos, A. P. M., 3 Apr 2025, In: The Behavioral and brain sciences. 48, e65.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Crows make optimal choices based on relative probabilities
Bastos, A. P. M., 1 Sept 2024, In: Learning and Behavior. 52, p. 207-208 2 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
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Open access
How do soundboard-trained dogs respond to human button presses? An investigation into word comprehension
Bastos, A. P. M., Evenson, A., Wood, P. M., Houghton, Z. N., Naranjo, L., Smith, G. E., Cairo-Evans, A., Korpos, L., Terwilliger, J., Raghunath, S., Paul, C., Hou, H. & Rossano, F., 28 Aug 2024, In: PLoS ONE. 19, 8, e0307189.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Soundboard-trained dogs produce non-accidental, non-random and non-imitative two-button combinations
Bastos, A. P. M., Houghton, Z. N., Naranjo, L. & Rossano, F., 9 Dec 2024, In: Scientific Reports. 14, 28771.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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What evidence can validate a dog training method?
Bastos, A. P. M., Warren, E. & Krupenye, C., 20 Nov 2024, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Learning and Behavior.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
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Creativity and flexibility in young children's use of external cognitive strategies
Armitage, K. L., Suddendorf, T., Bulley, A., Bastos, A. P. M., Taylor, A. H. & Redshaw, J., 1 Jun 2023, In: Developmental Psychology. 59, 6, p. 995-1005 11 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Use of Augmentative Interspecies Communication devices in animal language studies: a review
Smith, G. E., Bastos, A. P. M., Evenson, A., Trottier, L. & Rossano, F., 13 Jul 2023, In: WIREs Cognitive Science. 14, 4, e1647.Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review
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Open access
Contrafreeloading in kea (Nestor notabilis) in comparison to Grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus)
Smith, G. E., Bastos, A. P. M., Chodorow, M., Taylor, A. H. & Pepperberg, I. M., 18 Oct 2022, In: Scientific Reports. 12, 17415.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review