EVENTS
2019
Evolinguistics Symposia 2019
August 13: Evolinguistics Symposium on Gesture and Evolution of Language
Campus Plaza, Kyoto
August 15: Evolinguistics Symposium on Origins of Language
Komaba Campus, The University of Tokyo
Michael will be a keynote speaker at the symposia.
Celebrating Darwin – The 5th Darwin Day Symposium
Homo Loquens: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Evolution of Language
University of Haifa, Israel
February 14
Michael will speak at the symposium.
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2017
New Zealand Rutherford Lecture Series: Mental Travels in Space and Time
New Zealand
June 13–22, 2017
We have a remarkable capacity to mentally relive past events, imagine future ones, and even invent fictitious ones. This mental escape from the present allows us to plan our futures, deliberate on the past, and find inspiration in imagined scenarios. We can also transport ourselves into the minds of others, enhancing empathy and social understanding. Sometimes, our minds elude conscious control and wander in unpredictable ways, providing a potential source of creativity. Michael Corballis will discuss the neuroscience and evolution of our mental excursions, and their implications for innovation, storytelling, and even language itself.
June 13: Whanganui
Prince Edward Auditorium, Wanganui Collegiate, 5:30 p.m.
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June 15: Napier
Ballroom, Napier Conference Centre, 6 p.m.
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June 19: Wellington
Soundings Theatre, Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand, 6 p.m.
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June 20: Christchurch
Charles Luney Auditorium, St Margaret’s College, 6 p.m.
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June 22: Dunedin
Hutton Theatre, Otago Museum, 5:30 p.m.
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2016
Taipei International Book Exhibition
Taipei, Taiwan
February 16–21, 2016
Publishers and literary agents from China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Macau, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand gather here to showcase their latest publications. Michael’s book The Wandering Mind was recently translated into Chinese, and he will be speaking as a featured author on February 17.
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2015
Nelson Arts Festival
Nelson, New Zealand
October 12-28
The Nelson Arts Festival has a proud tradition of bringing the best and most innovative theatre, music, dance, cabaret, and writers to Nelson.
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The Press Christchurch Writers’ Festival
Christchurch, New Zealand
August 28-31
The Press Christchurch Writers Festival 2014 is a four-day festival celebrating authors and story telling. It features an incredible mix of award-winning international and Kiwi writers and journalists exploring a wide range of issues from fiction and poetry to philosophy to earthquake recovery.
Keynote Speaker: 12th International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience
Brisbane, Australia
July 27-31
The 12th International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON 2014) will feature an extensive scientific program of keynote lectures, symposia, oral and poster sessions, and a number of pre-conference workshops in Brisbane and satellite events in Australia and New Zealand. The conference brings together researchers from diverse backgrounds, all with a focus on the relationships between the brain, mind, and behavior.
Michael's keynote talk, “The Wandering Mind: Mental Time Travel, Theory of Mind, and Language,” will be at 2:30 p.m. on July 28.
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2014
Con Amore Conference 2014
Autobiographical Memory: What Animals and Humans Remember about Their Past
Aarhus, Denmark
June 18-19
Michael will present "Mental Time Travel and Language: What You Can and Cannot Tell"
A longstanding tradition in psychology is that only humans can travel mentally in time, reliving autobiographical memories or imagining future episodes. One reason for this may be that only humans have language, and language is exquisitely designed to convey the nonpresent; it is through the invention of symbols and grammatical rules to represent and convey events that language allows us to tell our stories. Evidence from hippocampal recordings, in rats as in humans, nevertheless suggests neurophysiological replay of past events and preplay of possible future ones. Why, then, did only humans evolve a way of communicating their mental time travels? The answer may lie in the complexity of human social and material life, and the benefits of sharing this complex information.
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Auckland Writers Festival
Auckland, New Zealand
May 14-18
Matters of Discovery: Michael Corballis, photographer Andris Apse, poet Caoilinn Hughes, and novelist Charlotte Randall read from their latest works with the theme of discovery, introduced by Stephanie Johnson.
Saturday, May 17
2:30 p.m.–3:20 p.m.
Limelight Room, Aotea Centre
50 Mayoral Drive
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