Welcome!
I'm a cognitive scientist, writer, teacher, and podcaster. My work explores the intersections of language, culture, body, and mind; it has included forays into finger names, Darwin’s metaphors, pointing gestures, time concepts in New Guinea, the history of measurement, and the evolution of language. I also produce and host the podcast Many Minds, which examines the varieties of mind and intelligence within and beyond our species.
News
January 2024 – Read my new essay for Many Minds on the origins of one of our most ubiquitous and universal expressions: the smile.
September 2023 – Now published: My long-in-the-works essay on the different facets of pointing, ‘Fifteen ways of looking at a pointing gesture’.
July 2023 – The Many Minds podcast has passed 100,000 listens!
June 2023 – I was in St Andrews, Scotland for the Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute (DISI) and Diverse Intelligences Summit.
November 2022 – Check out the preprint of our new article on emblem gestures.
May 2022 – I was a guest on the Colin McEnroe show (Connecticut Public Radio), talking about finger names, pointing, gesture taboos, counting, and more. Listen here.
May 2022 – Read my new essay for Many Minds on human uniqueness—and why we humans are so obsessed with it.
April 2022 – Read my new piece about the colorful history and enduring appeal of hand-based mnemonics.
January 2022 – Just published: our new paper about how the Yupno of Papua New Guinea understand time in terms of ‘uphill’ and ‘downhill’.
Selected popular writing
April 2022. Handy mnemonics: The five-fingered memory machine. The Public Domain Review.
November 2021. Even rainbows have a dark side. Atlas Obscura.
July 2020. If language began in the hands, why did it ever leave? Aeon.
January 2020. Where do finger names come from? JSTOR Daily.
January 2019. What happens to cognitive diversity when everyone is more WEIRD? Aeon.
February 2018. The way humans point isn't as universal as you might think. The Conversation.
November 2016. How we make sense of time. Scientific American Mind. (w/ Rafael Núñez)
March 2016. Why natural selection became Darwin’s fittest metaphor for evolution. Nautilus (blog).
For more info, check out the rest of this site, see my Google Scholar page, peruse my CV, send me an email (kensycoop at gmail.com), or find me on Twitter: @kensycoop