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SUMMARY:‘Peter Pan and the Mind of J. M. Barrie. An Exploration of Cogni
 tion and Consciousness.’ - Dr Rosalind Ridley
DTSTART:20161216T163000Z
DTEND:20161216T180000Z
UID:TALK67481@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Louise White
DESCRIPTION:What is Peter Pan all about? I will explore the texts of ‘Pe
 ter Pan in Kensington Gardens’ (1906) and ‘Peter and Wendy’ (1911) i
 n order to demonstrate the way Barrie’s insight into the limited mental 
 abilities of infants and animals illuminates the mental achievement of hum
 an adult cognition. Barrie had a well-informed\, post-Darwinian perspectiv
 e on the biological origins of human behaviour even though the idea that h
 uman consciousness\, cognition\, culture and sense of moral responsibility
  could have origins in animal behaviour was deeply shocking to the ninetee
 nth century intelligentsia. Barrie’s work contains many insights into wh
 at are now referred to as ‘mental representation’ and ‘theory of min
 d’\, as well as other areas of cognitive psychology that have been exami
 ned by scientific investigation only in the last few decades. Barrie also 
 reflects on the nature of consciousness in a way that parallels modern int
 erests. I believe that Barrie’s work has not been looked at from this sc
 ientific perspective before.\n\nBiography: Ros Ridley was a member of Expe
 rimental Psychology from 1994-2005 where she was the Head of the MRC Compa
 rative Cognition Team. This team worked on primate models of amnesia and s
 troke as well as neurodegenerative diseases including prion disease. In re
 tirement she has taken a broader interest in evolutionary psychology and i
 s a watercolourist.\n\n
LOCATION:Ground Floor Lecture Theatre\, Department of Psychology
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