A Journal devoted to the Study of the Nervous System and Behavior.

CORTEX is an international journal devoted to the study of cognition and of the relationship between the nervous system and mental processes, particularly as these are reflected in the behaviour of patients with acquired brain lesions, normal volunteers, children with typical and atypical development, and in the activation of brain regions and systems as recorded by functional neuroimaging techniques. It was founded in 1964 by Ennio De Renzi.

Special Issue on Neurocognitive Processes in Mental Scene Construction
Submission Date: 2026-04-01

This special issue will highlight recent advances from cognitive neuroscience that address neurocognitive processes in mental scene construction.

Guest editors:

David Pearson, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK
Email: david.pearson@aru.ac.uk

Paolo Bernardis, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy
Email: paolobernardis@units.it

Peter Bright, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK
Email: peter.bright@aru.ac.uk

Editor

Overseeing Editor: Pia Rotshtein,
School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Haifa, Israel
Email: protshtei@univ.haifa.ac.il

Special issue information:

Mental scene construction involves neurocognitive processes of generating and maintaining complex and coherent scenes or events. It has been implicated during autobiographical recall, the episodic simulation of future events, imagining fictitious scenes, and aspects of spatial navigation. Over the last decade, much research has suggested that scene construction is supported by brain regions including the hippocampus, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, and the oculomotor system.

This special issue will highlight recent advances from cognitive neuroscience that address neurocognitive processes in scene construction. We welcome research and review papers on mental scene construction in relation to topics including but not limited to autobiographical memory, episodic future simulation, and mental imagery.

For more information, see the opening editorial for this special issue.

Manuscript submission information:

Submission instructions:​Cortex’s submission system will be open for submissions to our Special Issue from 01.07.2025. When submitting your manuscript please select the article type “VSI: Mental Scene Construction”.
Please submit your manuscript before 01st April 2026.

Please ensure you read the Guide for Authors before writing your manuscript. The Guide for Authors and link to submit your manuscript are available on the Journal’s homepage: https://www.elsevier.com/journals/cortex/0010-9452/guide-for-authors.

Inquiries, including questions about appropriate topics, may be sent electronically to cortex@ed.ac.uk

Keywords:

(scene construction) AND (autobiographical memory) OR (episodic memory) OR (navigation) OR (future simulation) OR (eye movement) OR (eye movements)