Deadline extended!
2026-01-17
nCognito: Papers in Cognitive Cultural Studies
Journal of the Cognitive Poetics Research Group. The journal aims to publish the results of interdisciplinary research in literary studies and cognitive science. It aims to papers that examine what cognitive processes shape the reception of literary texts, films, and other media, such as digital media, using findings from cognitive and evolutionary psychology. Each issue of the journal will have a specific thematic scope on the cognitive and emotional mechanisms that have developed during evolution and their manifestations, including the influence of causal thinking, mindreading, narrative empathy, suspense generation, and moral judgment in different aesthetic practices. In pursuit of this goal, the journal welcomes publications in the following broad areas of cognitive poetic scholarship: the aestheticization of meaning through metaphor, metonymy, allegories and symbols; metaphor and metonymy in the narrative fabric; the cognitive nature of poetic creation; the understanding of narrative stories and the (re)construction of meaning from literary texts; the construction of mental representations of characters and fictional worlds; the emotional processes involved in the reception of art and literature, the construction of meaning from literary texts, and other interdisciplinary issues. The journal is published online on the OJS journal platform of Klebelsberg Kuno Library of the University of Szeged. Authors and reviewers will come from universities all over the country and from abroad.
Announcements
Current Issue
Vol. 4 No. 1-2 (2025): Moral Emotions in Literary Reception
This special issue explores moral judgment as a central dimension of narrative reception, emphasizing its role in shaping how readers make sense of narrative worlds. The issue focuses in particular on moral emotions, arguing that they function as key drivers of narrative understanding rather than as secondary responses. Special attention is given to negative moral emotions such as anger, indignation, contempt, and moral disgust, which are shown to intensify engagement, guide attention, and structure interpretive outcomes. The articles examine how these emotions influence readers’ ethical positioning toward characters and actions and how they affect memory and interpretation. At the same time, the volume highlights the capacity of literary narratives to challenge entrenched moral expectations by suspending, complicating, or reconfiguring default judgments. By analyzing narrative strategies and linguistic devices that shape moral emotions, the issue offers a nuanced account of ethical engagement as a dynamic interplay between cognitive mechanisms, cultural norms, and individual experience.
Published: 2025-12-01