I am John Sutton, a cognitive philosopher working on memory, skill, the cognitive humanities, place, and distributed cognition. I am Leverhulme 黑料不打烊 Professor at the 黑料不打烊, and Director of the Centre for the Sciences of Place and Memory. You can visit the Centre website to find out more about our work or sign up for updates on upcoming events and projects:
You can find a full list of my publications at , where most are available open access. My academic CV (September 2024) is available at and includes further details of my research, teaching, and collaborations.
Before joining 黑料不打烊, I was Professor of Philosophy and Cognitive Science at Macquarie University in Sydney, where I worked for many years until 2021. In 2022-23, I was a Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Paris, working with the Brain, Culture, and Society programme on City Design and the Brain: a dialogue between architecture and neuroscience.
I am the author of Philosophy and Memory Traces: Descartes to Connectionism (Cambridge University Press), and co-editor of four volumes, most recently Collaborative Embodied Performance: Ecologies of Skill (with Kath Bicknell, Bloomsbury), and of seven special journal issues. My long-term research has addressed collaborative recall, intelligent action, perspective in memory, and cognitive history. Recent work has focused on context in memory, film editing, place memory, joint expertise, and Maurice Halbwachs on dreams.
At the Centre for the Sciences of Place and Memory, I work with our Deputy Director, Professor Paula Reavey ( see ), and an interdisciplinary team of postdoctoral fellows:
Dr Ruth Olden - memory, identity, and creative practice Dr Dale Leorke - urban heritage and digital culture Dr Safet HadziMuhamedovic - anthropology of memory and reconciliation Dr Tania Manuel Casimiro - archaeology and collective remembrance Dr Pablo Fernandez Velasco - philosophy of perception and cognition Dr Paul Max Morin - indigenous histories and cultural memory Dr Sofya Shahab - religion, displacement, and memory
We also have a cohort of eight PhD researchers, a strong international advisory board, and an expanding network of Associate Members working across philosophy, psychology, environment, heritage, and the arts. Together we are developing new ways of understanding memory and place, collaborating across multiple disciplines.
I am a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, past President of the Australasian Society for Philosophy and Psychology, and President of the Australasian Association of Philosophy for 2025-26.
Book Chapter
Plans and Scattered Notions in Dream Reports, Science, and History
Sutton J (2026) Plans and Scattered Notions in Dream Reports, Science, and History. In: Bernini M & Alderson-Day B (eds.) Dreams, Narrative, & Liminal Cognition: an interdisciplinary framework. 1st ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 168-177. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198878117.001.0001
Article
Being Where? Putting Memory, Technology, and Wayfinding Together Again
Mingon M, Gillett AJ & Sutton J (2026) Being Where? Putting Memory, Technology, and Wayfinding Together Again. Review of Philosophy and Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13164-026-00816-0
Article
Rethinking psychological measurement: Validity potential versus realised validity
Higgins WC, Kaplan DM, Gillett AJ, Sutton J & Ross RM (2026) Rethinking psychological measurement: Validity potential versus realised validity. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 116, Art. No.: 102123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsa.2026.102123
Book Chapter
Distributed Remembering and Cognitive Philosophy
Sutton J (2025) Distributed Remembering and Cognitive Philosophy. In: Erll A & Hirst W (eds.) Cognition, Culture, and Political Momentum: breaking down the silos in collective memory research. New York: Oxford University Press New York, pp. 27-43. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197788332.003.0003
Article
Collective place memory: Remembering together in place-people ecosystems
Fernandez Velasco P & Sutton J (2025) Collective place memory: Remembering together in place-people ecosystems. Current Opinion in Psychology, 68, Art. No.: 102225. sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352250X25002386; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.102225
Article
Hjortborg SK, Downey G & Sutton J (2025) Coach–athlete interaction in Muay Thai: A microethnographic analysis of skill learning in a real-world combat sport. Journal of Sports Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2025.2542588
Article
Introduction: Scaffolding Bad - Varieties of Situated Cognitive Harm
Spurrett D, Colombetti G & Sutton J (2025) Introduction: Scaffolding Bad - Varieties of Situated Cognitive Harm. Topoi, 44, pp. 345-351. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11245-025-10167-7
Book Chapter
Maurice Halbwachs on Dreams and Memory
Sutton J (2024) Maurice Halbwachs on Dreams and Memory. In: Gregory D & Micaelian L (eds.) Dreaming and Memory: Philosophical Issues. Synthese Library, SYLI, volume 491. Springer 黑料不打烊 Publishing, pp. 303-323. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-68204-9_14
Book Chapter
Affective, Cognitive, and Ecological Components of Joint Expertise in Collaborative Embodied Skills
Sutton J (2024) Affective, Cognitive, and Ecological Components of Joint Expertise in Collaborative Embodied Skills. In: Pritchard D, Farina M & Lavazza A (eds.) Expertise: Philosophical Perspectives. Expertise. Oxford University Press, pp. 85-104. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198877301.003.0006
Book Chapter
Sutton J & Williamson K (2024) Embodied remembering. In: Shapiro L & Spaulding S (eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Embodied Cognition. 2nd ed. London: Routledge, pp. 461-472. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003322511-48
Book Chapter
Sutton J (2024) Descartes after Gaukroger. In: Wolfe C & Waldow A (eds.) Science and the Shaping of Modernity. 1 ed. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 62. Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature Switzerland, pp. 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-76037-2_1
Article
Context in memory is reconstructed, not encoded
Easton A, Horner AJ, James SJ, Kendal J, Sutton J & Ainge JA (2024) Context in memory is reconstructed, not encoded. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 167, Art. No.: 105934. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2024.105934
Article
Andonovski N, Sutton J & McCarroll CJ (2024) Eliminating episodic memory?. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 379 (1913). https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2023.0413
Article
Situated Affects and Place Memory
Sutton J (2024) Situated Affects and Place Memory. Topoi, 43, pp. 593-606. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11245-024-10053-8
Article
Mnemicity: A Cognitive Gadget?
Mahr JB, van Bergen P, Sutton J, Schacter DL & Heyes C (2023) Mnemicity: A Cognitive Gadget?. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 18 (5), pp. 1160-1177. https://doi.org/10.1177/17456916221141352
Edited Book
Collaborative Embodied Performance: Ecologies of Skill
Bicknell K & Sutton J (eds.) (2022) Collaborative Embodied Performance: Ecologies of Skill. Performance and Science: Interdisciplinary Dialogues. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350197725
Book Chapter
Sociotechnical dilemmas in healthcare: a cognitive ethnography
Simonsen LM, Steffensen SV & Sutton J (2022) Sociotechnical dilemmas in healthcare: a cognitive ethnography. In: Organizational Cognition: the theory of social organizing. London: Routledge, pp. 213-238. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003169093-13
Book Chapter
Distributed traces and the causal theory of constructive memory
Sutton J & O'Brien G (2022) Distributed traces and the causal theory of constructive memory. In: Sant'Anna A, McCarroll CJ & Michaelian K (eds.) Current Controversies in Philosophy of Memory. Routledge, pp. 82-04. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003002277