Mark Aveyard

Mark Aveyard

Mark Aveyard is an Assistant Professor at the American University of Sharjah, an American-accredited university in the United Arab Emirates, where he teaches courses in cognitive psychology and the psychology of religion, among others. His research investigates aspects of embodied cognition, exploring the integration of mind-body processes in cognition, with publications in Cognition, Cognitive Science, and Memory & Cognition.

Posts by Mark Aveyard

September 11, 2013

What Justifies Faith in Interdisciplinary Work?

Imagine you feel that something is seriously wrong with your heart. Do you seek the help of a cardiovascular specialist or a general practitioner? In this situation nearly everyone chooses the specialist. When our lives are at stake, we don’t much care whether our physician knows a little bit about everything. We care mostly that they know a lot about what threatens our survival. If they can quote Shakespeare, we might invite them to our holiday parties. But we pay for their specialized knowledge.

February 26, 2013

Prayer as an Embodied Cognitive Activity

People think of prayer as a mental activity that happens, at times, to involve physical actions. After believers master the ritual movements of their religious traditions, personal and theological concerns about the mental side of prayer tend to overshadow the importance of such bodily actions.