Peter Krøjgaard from AGHOK has been appointed Professor of developmental psychology at Department of Psychology, Aarhus University.

For more information, look here.

Dorthe Berntsen’s new book on Involuntary Autobiographical Memories is now available.

The Danish National Research Foundation and Aarhus University have just signed a contract for a Center of Excellence for research on autobiographical memory beginning in 2010. The name of the center is Con Amore* (Center On Autobiographical Memory Research).

Autobiographical memory can be defined as a neurocognitive (brain/mind) system for consciously recollecting the personal past. This ability is closely related to the ability of imagining possible events in the personal future. People who have difficulties remembering their personal past also have difficulties imagining their personal future.

Our goal is to develop a center that tries to integrate many different aspects of autobiographical memory research, including basic autobiographical memory research with adults, development of autobiographical memory from infancy to young adulthood and dysfunctional aspects of autobiographical memory, such as in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and amnesia. We believe Con Amore will meet a growing international need for developing and integrating theoretical and empirical research on autobiographical memory.

Professor Dorthe Berntsen (center leader), Associate Professor Peter Krøjgaard and Professor Ocke-Schwen Bohn (all senior faculty at Aarhus University) are core members of Con Amore. The center also involves Professor David C. Rubin (Duke University) and Professor Kim Plunkett (Oxford University) who participate on a part time basis. In addition a number of PhD students and Postdocs will take part in building an interesting and stimulating environment for autobiographical memory research.

Because of its uniqueness, the participation of first rate researchers, and because autobiographical memory research internationally is in the need of a hospitable and dynamic research center, we believe Con Amore will be able to attract outstanding junior and senior researchers from many parts of the world for shorter and longer visits.

The Danish National Research Foundation supports Con Amore with 42 million Danish kroner (apx 8 million USD) over a 5 year period with the possibility of a prolongation, if the center lives up to expectations.

*) In Danish academia Con Amore means something you do out of sheer interest and fascination with the topic.

During Richard Walker’s stay he participated as a member of the evaluation committee of Anne Scharling Rasmussen’s ph.d. dissertation. The committee commended Anne’s thesis for including a considerable amount of empirical work and several theoretically motivated articles at a high international level. In addition, Anne was complimented for her creativity in developing new methods.

In the seminar on Friday, Richard Walker presented some of his work on the fading affect bias (FAB), addressing several questions about the FAB, e.g. who shows the FAB and mechanisms of the FAB.

On November 6, 2009, AGHOK will host a seminar with associate professor Richard Walker, Winston-Salem State University, USA and professor Martin A. Conway, Leeds University, UK. Richard Walker will present some of his work on the fading affect bias and Martin A. Conway will give a talk entitled: “SenseCam: The future of everyday memory research”.

Time: Friday, November 6, 2009, at 10.00-12.00
Place: Room 628, Building 1481

Later the same day, Anne Scarling Rasmussen, will defend her Ph.D. dissertation entitled: “Studies on the possible functions of autobiographical memory: Individual memories and individual differences”. The defence will take place at 14.15 in the Auditorium, building 1481.

On October 30, 2009, Uffe Schjødt, research assistant at Department of the Study of Religion, Aarhus University, will give a presentation on the neural substrates of prayer.

Time: Friday, October 30, 2009, at 13.00-15.00
Place: Room 628, Building 1481

On October 9, 2009, Professor Armin Geertz, Department of the Study of Religion, Aarhus University, will give a presentation on Hopi Indian cultural life scripts.

My talk is based on fieldwork, archive material, publications and my own analyses. My main interest in the Hopi Indians was to explore their religion through observation of their religious ceremonies and general participation in their daily life as well as tape-recorded open-ended interviews on a variety of topics, formal narratives and songs. My research was not focused on life scripts, but on perspectives that are similar to life scripts in anthropology and the study of religion, especially their worldview, traditions and socialization techniques.I have written three books on the Hopis: their ritual iconography, a particular springtime religious ceremony and their creative use of tradition in interaction with Europeans and Americans. I have also written a number of articles exploring various aspects of their religion and recently have been applying cognitive and social psychological theories. To the latter, I look forward to discussing with you how to apply cultural life script theory to the Hopis.

The format of my talk will be a general introduction to the Hopis, significant ideas and complexes of ideas, how life stages are dealt with by them and an exploration of some of the tools used in relating individual lives to cultural life scripts. One tool most certainly is religious ritual. I have worked a little on the issue of ritual violence which the attached article discusses. Other tools are gossip, witchcraft, grand narratives, personal narratives and dreams.

After my talk, I hope that you will ask me questions from your point of view and help me to think in your terms and understand your approaches. This, I hope, will help me think about my area of study in new and productive ways.

Time: Friday, October 9, 2009, at 13.00-15.00
Place: Room 628, Building 1481

As Peter Krøjgaard has been appointed Professor, he will give his inaugural lecture at the Department of Psychology, Aarhus University, October 2.

Following the lecture there is a reception.

Everybody is welcome.

Time: Friday, October 2, 2009, at 15.00-16.00
Place: The Auditorium, the Nobel Park.

Peter Krøjgaard from AGHOK has been appointed Professor of developmental psychology at Department of Psychology, Aarhus University.

For more information, look here.

On August 12, 2009, we will meet and discuss one of the recent manuscripts of David C. Rubin, Duke University.

We read and discuss a couple of chapters from Barbara’s forthcoming book, Natural Reflections: Human Cognition at the Nexus of Science and Religion to be published by Yale University Press in January 2010.

The event includes lunch.

This is a joint event between AGHOK and Armins Geert’s group at Religionsvidenskab.

Time: Monday, September 7, 2009, at 10.00-13.00
Place: Room 620, Building 1483

Sarah van Mastrigt (Cambridge University and Aarhus University) will present some of her research in criminology.

More details to be announced.

Time: Friday, September 11, 2009, at 12.00-15.00
Place: Room 628, Building 1481

Annette Bohn is among the 5 promising researchers, who were awarded Aarhus University Research Foundation’s prize for the best PhD dissertations from Aarhus University in 2008. The prize comes with 50,000 Dkr.

Annette Bohn’s research area is autobiographical memory and its development across the life span. She has done research on the role of cultural life scripts for the development of a coherent life story across childhood and adolescence.

Further, she has looked at the role of the cultural life script for life story recall in different generations of Danes. A cultural life script is a culturally agreed upon list of certain transitional events which are expected to happen at certain points in a prototypical person’s life. In her studies, Annette Bohn found support for the hypotheses that the cultural life script plays a major role for the development of life stories, and for the organization of autobiographical memory in general.

Finally, Annette Bohn has studied flashbulb memories for the fall of the Berlin Wall in different groups of Germans, who experienced the event as either very positive or very negative. This study was the first one to compare positive and negative flashbulb memories for one and the same highly surprising public event.

On November 6, 2009, AGHOK will host a seminar with associate professor Richard Walker, Winston-Salem State University, USA and professor Martin A. Conway, Leeds University, UK. Richard Walker will present some of his work on the fading affect bias and Martin A. Conway will give a talk entitled: “SenseCam: The future of everyday memory research”.

Time: Friday, November 6, 2009, at 10.00-12.00
Place: Room 628, Building 1481

Later the same day, Anne Scarling Rasmussen, will defend her Ph.D. dissertation entitled: “Studies on the possible functions of autobiographical memory: Individual memories and individual differences”. The defence will take place at 14.15 in the Auditorium, building 1481.

During Richard Walker’s stay he participated as a member of the evaluation committee of Anne Scharling Rasmussen’s ph.d. dissertation. The committee commended Anne’s thesis for including a considerable amount of empirical work and several theoretically motivated articles at a high international level. In addition, Anne was complimented for her creativity in developing new methods.

In the seminar on Friday, Richard Walker presented some of his work on the fading affect bias (FAB), addressing several questions about the FAB, e.g. who shows the FAB and mechanisms of the FAB.