Jim Davies

Jim Davies is a cognitive scientist and author of several popular science books:

• Riveted: The Science of Why Jokes Make Us Laugh, Movies Make Us Cry, and Religion Makes Us Feel One With the Universe
• Imagination: The Science of Your Mind's Greatest Power
• Being the Person Your Dog Thinks You Are: The Science of a Better You

He co-hosts, with Dr. Kim Hellemans, the award-winning Minding the Brain podcast, which explores cognitive and brain sciences.

He is a full professor at Carleton University's Department of Cognitive Science and the School of Computer Science. He is director of the Science of Imagination Laboratory, and has won awards for his podcasting, teaching and research. His research focuses on understanding how humans generate visual scenes in their imagination.

Dr. Davies is a four-time TEDx speaker. If you would like to invite him to give a talk, please email [email protected]

The CV has hyperlinks to publications. You can read about his media appearances.

He writes a serialized fiction fantasy story for Altered Reality magazine, and is a game designer. Jim's sister JD Spero is also a novelist.

Dr. Davies is an effective altruist, and a member the Science Writers and Communicators of Canada, the International Association for the Cognitive Science of Religion, The International Association for Empirical Aesthetics, the Virtual World Society, the Calligraphy Society of Ottawa, the Independent Game Developer's Network, and is honoured to be a lifetime member of both the Cognitive Science Society and the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence.

 

Recent News

• November 5, 2024: A new episode of the Minding the Brain podcast is out. This month's episode features Jim Davies interviewing the legendary psychologist Daniel Schacter about how we should think about memory errors. Listen or watch a video at https://mindingthebrainpodcast.com/2024/11/01/memory-errors-with-daniel-schacter-78/
• September 1, 2024: A new episode of Eve Pixiedrowner and the Micean Council is out. This month's episode is entitled Gretchen: An Impromptu Ally. https://www.alteredrealitymag.com/serials/eve-pixiedrowner-and-the-micean-council-by-jim-davies/
• August 21, 2024: A new episode of the Minding the Brain podcast is out. This month's episode is about how cultures learn things that the people in them do not. https://mindingthebrainpodcast.com/2024/06/01/cultural-evolution-74/
• April 23, 2024: Jim Davies is interviewed by Grace Oborne on Midweek, from the Carleton University School of Journalism about the future impact of deepfake technology on journalism. Listen at time 44:40 to 47:40. https://soundcloud.com/capital-news-online/midweek-february-14-2024
• April 23, 2024: Jim Davies published a preprint on PsyArXiv about the cognitive biases implicated in alien abduction beliefs.
  Davies, J. (2024). Cognitive biases implicated in alien abduction beliefs. PsyArXiv, submitted March 5.
  https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/zm4es
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