Category Archives: Cognition

Parts & wholes – cities & objects

Posted on May 29, 2018 by Bruce Davenport

At Easter, my family & I went on holiday to Venice. It’s one of those cities I’d seen many times (in Canaletto paintings and James Bond movies) and long wanted to visit. Once upon a time, I worked at the … Continue reading →

Posted in Cognition, Objects | Leave a comment

Objects and memories – evoked or invoked?

Posted on August 10, 2017 by Bruce Davenport

When I’ve been thinking about objects and memory, I have often used the verb ‘to evoke’ as in “The object evokes memories that might otherwise not have been recalled.” The word seemed to capture the feeling that this happened without … Continue reading →

Posted in Cognition, memory, Objects, Perception | Leave a comment

Identity & assemblage

Posted on July 10, 2017 by Bruce Davenport

I’ve stumbled on three clusters of ideas over the last couple of years that all seem to point in similar directions but which belong in different domains of study. On the one hand, I find these ideas really useful when … Continue reading →

Posted in art, Cognition, identity, reminiscence | 1 Comment

A plethora of perspectives

Posted on May 3, 2017 by Bruce Davenport

It’s been a while (10 months!) since I last posted on this blog. I’ve been studying, and writing a dissertation for, a MSc in Psychology. There were some fascinating potential tangents to explore along the way but it was too … Continue reading →

Posted in Cognition, embodiment, object handling, Objects, qualitative methods, research methodology, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Brain dump – knowing and sharing

Posted on July 9, 2016 by Bruce Davenport

I tried to sit down and read a paper but I’m still banging my head against this idea of different ways of knowing and I couldn’t settle down so I’m going to off-load onto text. Skinner (him of behaviourism, pigeons, … Continue reading →

Posted in Cognition, research methodology | Leave a comment

Fluid thinking and creativity: constructs and tasks

Posted on January 16, 2016 by Bruce Davenport

I recently read an interesting paper which reported a pilot study on the effects of creative reminiscence on people with dementia and their carers (Fletcher & Eckberg, 2014). The paper is helpful in a variety of ways, not least for … Continue reading →

Posted in Cognition, measurement of impact | 2 Comments

Not so contemporary after all

Posted on July 13, 2015 by Bruce Davenport

I confess, I was feeling quite contemporary reading this almost-up-to-date psychology and behavioural economics on the elusive nature of the self. Julian Baggini’s book, ‘The Ego Trick‘ (2011) was an eye-opener into the moral and legal issues created when we … Continue reading →

Posted in Cognition, identity | Leave a comment

Vexatious Objects

Posted on June 30, 2015 by Bruce Davenport

I was following a chain of references, in search of a possible dissertation topic, when I came upon the book “Creations of the Mind: Theories of Artifacts and their Representation” (2007), edited by Margolis and Laurence. I was really only … Continue reading →

Posted in Cognition, developmental psychology, Objects | Leave a comment

Language and action

Posted on June 1, 2015 by Bruce Davenport

I recently finished reading ‘Language & Action in Cognitive Neuroscience’ (Coello & Bartolo, 2013). It’s one of those edited books with every chapter from different authors, which allows debates and tensions within a field to emerge. It’s also a treasure … Continue reading →

Posted in ageing, Cognition, Language, Motor control, Objects, rehearsal | Leave a comment

Social Identity and Reminiscence – SIT – (3 of 3)

Posted on May 18, 2015 by Bruce Davenport

The previous blog post felt like I was running the risk of re-stating the blindingly obvious but in a theoretical framework that was new to me. This post concerns insights from Social Identity Theory which are relevant to reminiscence and … Continue reading →

Posted in Cognition, object handling, Perception, rehearsal, reminiscence, social psychology, wellbeing | Leave a comment