[Apologies for cross-posting]
Dear colleagues and friends,
On Friday, October 2nd, Michael Corballis will deliver the 19th Macnamara
lecture at McGill. He is world-renowned for his research on the cognitive
capacities of the modern human brain, such as its capacity for language and
imagination and the lateralization of these and other capacities in the
brain, and for his theorizing about the evolution of these capacities.
After an early education in mathematics in New Zealand (BSc and MSc), he
switched to psychology, and subsequently came to McGill for graduate
studies (PhD, 1965). He continued here as a research associate, eventually
becoming a full professor before returning to New Zealand' where he now
lives. He has had a brilliant career, publishing 11 books, 289 refereed
journal articles, 73 book chapters, and 95 reviews and commentaries, and
receiving many honours.
Here are the details of the Macnamara Lecture and the informal seminar that
Dr. Corballis will present. I have also attached a poster for the main
Macnamara Lecture. I would greatly appreciate it if you could forward this
announcement to others who might be interested and post the poster where
interested students could see it.
*Date of both presentations: Friday, October 2, 2015*
*1. The Macnamara Lecture (afternoon)*
Title: *"The wandering mind: Mental time travel, theory of mind, and
language"*
Time: 3:30 PM
Location: * Room 504, McIntyre Medical Building, McGill University, *
3655 Promenade Sir William Osler
(round building, just north of the intersection of Drummond and Doctor
Penfield Avenues)
Abstract :
About half the time, the mind wanders away from on-going tasks, into
past memories and possible futures events, into the minds of others, and
even into unworldly fantasy. Spontaneous activity of the brain is also
revealed in dreams and hallucinations, and may well be responsible for
creative thinking, the discovery of new and unusual combinations of ideas.
It has been argued mind wandering, at least in the form of mental time
travel, is unique to humans, but data from hippocampal recording suggesting
that even rats appear to “play back” earlier experiences, and even
“preplay” new ones. What is unique to humans is language, the adaptation
allowing us to relay to others events and information removed from the
present in time and place. Through stories, soap operas, gossip, and even
lectures, language enables us to share our mind wanderings, understand
other minds, and generate social cohesion and culture in the form of
folklore, creation myths, religions—and science.
*2. Informal seminar (morning):*
Title: *"The lopsided brain: Evolution of cerebral asymmetry and
language".*
Time: 10:30 AM
Location: *Room S2/2, South wing of the Stewart Biology Building. * 1205
Doctor Penfield Avenue (between Stanley and Drummond). Enter via the
Penfield Avenue entrance.
Abstract:
Cerebral asymmetry and language have often been considered unique to
humans, although evidence now suggests gradual evolution from bilateral
networks. One such network is the mirror system identified in the primate
brain, and specialized for the observation and execution of action. I will
describe evidence from human brain imaging suggesting that the mirror
system fissioned during hominin evolution into at least three independent
lateralized networks, one correlated with handedness, one with speech, and
one with action observation.
*POSTER:*
[image: Inline image 1]
