Nicky and Clive present a series of lectures and workshops on cognition, communication and creativity.

The Captured Thought~ Explorations of the subjective nature of thinking

Nicola Clayton (Professor of Comparative Cognition) and Clive Wilkins (Artist-in-Residence). Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge

In these four lecture-course we will explore the complex relationship between experiential memory (episodic memory), muscle memory (body memory) and our ability to travel backwards and forwards in the mind’s eye (mental time travel), including a discussion of Nicky’s scientific research on corvids and children, and Clive’s newly published work ‘The Moustachio Quartet’, a series of novels that can be read in any order. We shall incorporate various aspects of science, art and the performing arts to explore the nature of memory and why it is subjective: what it is like to have it?; what it is like to lose it; what it is like to have extreme memory skills as shown by recent research on subjects with Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory syndrome?; and can we do it without words?… for some non-human animals share this ability with us. Most of all, why do we question all these things, and what does this tell us about creativity, social skills, and our ability to think with and without words?

“We don’t remember what happened. What we remember becomes what happened. As in life, stories rely heavily on the sequence in which events unfold. In truth, our memories are as much about what will happen next, as about what has already occurred~ it would be a poor sort of memory that only worked backwards.”

Lecture 1: The Seven Myths of Memory

Lecture 2: Perception and Perspective Taking

Lecture 3: The Psychology of Cognition Illusion~ why the mind is tricked

Lecture 4: Thinking without Words

Further Reading

Clayton, N.S.& Wilkins, C. A. P. (2016). Big Picture: Art is the process of memory.  The Psychologist29, 15-16.

Clayton, N. S.& Wilkins, C. A. P. (2017). Memory, Mental Time Travel and the Moustachio Quartet. Royal Society Interface Focus30, 22-26.

Clayton, N. S.& Wilkins, C. A. P. (2017). Seven Myths of Memory. Behavioural Processes, 152, 3-9.

Nicky and Clive present a series of  summer lectures and workshops on memory, perception, cognition and communication~ the thinking skills of creativity~ for the Hubei Project.

For further information visit www.cambridgeducation.org

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Cambridge International Education and Cultural Centre~ Formal Christmas Dinner 2016