David Sloane Wilson on Evolutionary Psychology
A rich and interesting contribution of David Sloane Wilson to the debate on the image of evolutionary psychology (see here) under the title "Evolutionary psychology and the public media: Rekindling
Interviews with psychologists at Edge.org
In the past few days, Edge.org has posted two interviews of cognition-and-culture interest:
- With Lera Boroditsky on "How does our language shape the way we think?" She says: "For a long time, the
Demography and the Appearance of Modern Human Behavior
In Science, 5 June 2009 (Vol. 324. no. 5932, pp. 1298 - 1301):
"Late Pleistocene Demography and the Appearance of Modern Human Behavior"
by Adam Powell, Stephen Shennan, Mark G. Thomas.
Here is the
The evolution of laughter
Forthcoming in Current Biology: "Reconstructing the Evolution of Laughter in Great Apes and Humans" by Marina Davila Ross, Michael J Owren, & Elke Zimmermann.
Summary:
Human emotional expressi
Interviews with some Great Ancestors
via Savage Minds (savageminds.org): Alan MacFarlance has put online an impressive collection [1] of video-recorded interviews with famous anthropologists (Fredrick Barth, Mary Douglas, Meyer Fortes,
Nick Enfield’s “The Anatomy of meaning”
A new book by N. J. Enfield of the Max-Planck-Institut für Psycholinguistik, The Netherlands.
The Anatomy of Meaning: Speech, Gesture, and Composite Utterances (Language Culture and Cognition)
Natural Pedagogy and Flossing Monkeys
(via Concrete Tower)
Gyorgy Gergely and Gergely Csibra have issued a new version of their theory of Natural Pedagogy in Trends in Cognitive Sciences (here). As luck would have it, the paper coinci
Noga Arikha at Google
Invited at Google, Noga Arikha gave a talk that dwelt on the history of Humors Theory, and more generally on the way mind and body may or may not fit together in today's medicalized world [1]. Enjoy
Language and colour, again
In PNAS March 17, 2009 vol. 106 no. 11 4567-4570: "Unconscious effects of language-specific terminology on preattentive color perception" by Guillaume Thierry, Panos Athanasopoulos, Alison Wiggetta,
Pictures of the week: Culture and Cognition in Cetaceans
At the Centre d'éducation et de recherche de Sept-Iles (cersi.org) in Quebec, we study social interactions among cetaceans. Culture and cognition studies on cetaceans are quite recent compared with
Newborn infants detect the beat in music
In PNAS this week: "Newborn infants detect the beat in music" by István Winklera, Gábor P. Hádena, Olivia Ladinig, István Sziller and Henkjan Honing
Abstract:
To shed light on how humans can
Spatial orientation among reindeer herders
In Current Anthropology Volume 50, Number 1, February 2009, an article by Kirill V. Istomin and Mark J. Dwyer "Finding the Way: A Critical Discussion of Anthropological Theories of Human Spatial
“The Art Instinct” by Denis Dutton
A new book by Denis Dutton (the founder and editor of the Web site Arts & Letters Daily):
The Art Instinct: Beauty, Pleasure, and Human Evolution.
Bloomsbury Press, January 2009, $25.00, 288
Culture and Perception, part II: The Muller-Lyer illusion
Another post from our holiday collection of oldies but goodies.
The first post in the series dealt with Nisbett's findings on different patterns of attention in Asian and Western cultures, and I
Cultured Monkeys
In the last issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science, Volume 17 Issue 6, Pages 410-414, an article by Michael A. Huffman, Charmalie A.D. Nahallage, and Jean-Baptiste Leca (from the
Cross-cultural variation of speech-accompanying gesture
Of cognition-and-culture interest: An article entitled "Cross-cultural variation of speech-accompanying gesture: A review" by Sotaro Kita in: Language and Cognitive Processes, Volume 24, Issue 2
Cultural differences in scene perception?
In The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, Volume 62, Issue 2 February 2009 , pages 276 - 285:
"Scene perception and memory revealed by eye movements and receiver-operating characteristic
‘Animal Minds’ on Philosophy Talk
Ken Taylor and John Perry's radio program "Philosophy Talk" is often worth listening to. On December 21, 2008, they invited Colin Allen to discuss 'Animal Minds', and the program is now online. Here
Picture of the week: Rebuilding a house among the Zafimaniry… and rethinking cognitive approaches
[PHOTO]
This photograph shows the preparations for the rebuilding of a house in 2006 in a Zafimaniry village in Madagascar. The Zafimaniry exemplify what Lévi-Strauss has called "house based
How social status shapes race
In PNAS December 16, 2008 vol. 105 no. 50, an article by Andrew M. Penner and Aliya Saperstein: "How social status shapes race"
Here is the abstract:
"We show that racial perceptions are fluid; how
Culture and sex ratio in China
In PNAS (Prodeedings of the National Academy of Science), December 9, 2008 vol. 105 no. 49 19171-19176.
An article by Mikhail Lipatov, Shuzhuo Li, and Marcus W. Feldman : "Economics, cultural
E-Curator project: 3D scan of artifacts
Hands-on teaching about material culture used to be part of the anthropology curriculum. From a cognitive anthropology point of view, this made good sense: artifacts are outputs an inputs of indivi
The prehistoric road to modernity
In ScienceNOW Daily News (1 December 2008) an interesting short article by Michael Balter entitled "The Long Road to Modernity" begins:
"Most experts agree that Homo sapiens arose in Africa about
Heated debate on cognition and religion in the Guardian
If you like it hot, there has just been a heated exchange at the Guardian webpage, started by Andrew Brown reporting in his blog on a talk by Justin Barrett (whom we are proud to have as a member of