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 Language disorders in understudied languages
Submission Date: 2026-03-01

We welcome manuscripts on any type of speech and/or language disorders in speakers of understudied languages.

Guest editors:

Adolfo Garcia, Universidad de San Andrés, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Email: adolfo.garcia@gbhi.org
Boon Lead Tee, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, USA. Email: boonLead.Tee@ucsf.edu
Jessica De Leon, University of California, San Francisco, USA. Email: jessica.Deleon@ucsf.edu
Suvarna Alladi, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore, India. Email: alladisuvarna@gmail.com
Maria Luisa Gorno-Tempini, University of California, San Francisco, USA. Email: marialuisa.GornoTempini@ucsf.edu

Overseeing Editor: 

Randi Starrfelt, University of Copenhagen, København, Denmark. Email: randi.starrfelt@psy.ku.dk

Special issue information:

Speech and language assessments offer a scalable, affordable framework for diagnosing and tracking neurological disorders. However, research comes predominantly from English speakers, neglecting most of the world’s 7,000 languages. Paradoxically, then, potentially equitable tools seem to broaden existing cross-cultural inequities. Facing this challenge, we invite research on speech and language impairments in persons from underrepresented languages. Manuscripts may target any type of acquired, neurodegenerative, or neurodevelopmental disorder, be it primarily linguistic or not. Cross-sectional, longitudinal, and single-case studies are welcome, as are methodological works, test adaptations, reviews, commentaries, and position papers. Submissions from low- and middle-income countries are especially encouraged.

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 01.06.2025. When submitting your manuscript please select the article type “VSI: Understudied languages”.
Please submit your manuscript before 1st March 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:

Language disorders, linguistic diversity, brain health equity

Special Issue on The Multidimensionality, Variability and Flexibility of Concepts
Submission Date: 2026-03-10

Guest editors:

Veronica Diveica, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
Email: veronicadiveica@mcgill.ca

Emiko Muraki, Western University, London, Canada
Email: emuraki@uwo.ca

Penny Pexman, Western University, London, Canada
Email: ppexman@uwo.ca

Overseeing Editor: Richard Binney, Bangor University, Bangor, UK
Email: r.binney@bangor.ac.uk

Special issue information:

With experience comes an evolving body of conceptual knowledge that shapes how we understand the world and interact with objects, words, and people. Yet, a core challenge in cognitive science remains: how are concepts—whether concrete (e.g., chair) or abstract (e.g., infinite)—represented and flexibly retrieved?
Multiple representation theories propose that concept knowledge emerges from diverse sources, such as sensorimotor, affective, social, linguistic, and introspective processes.

By bridging embodied and amodal frameworks, these hybrid theories offer a compelling account of conceptual processing, helping to resolve long-standing debates. While they have gained growing empirical support, research testing their predictions has largely used behavioral methodologies.

This special issue aims to showcase neuroscience and neuropsychological investigations that test, refine, and expand multiple representation theories, with the overarching goal of advancing brain-based accounts of concept knowledge. We invite submissions focused on key tenets of multiple representation theories, including:
1. The role of processes beyond sensorimotor systems - such as social cognition, interoception, affect, and metacognition - in concept representation.
2. The flexible engagement of these diverse systems in concept processing, depending on context and task demands.
3. Experience-driven individual differences in concept processing (e.g., expertise, culture).
Perspectives, reviews and empirical articles are welcome. While we invite both hypothesis-driven and exploratory reports, exploratory studies should clearly formalize their link to theory. Empirical studies may employ diverse methodologies (e.g., EEG, MRI, TMS, neuropsychological case-series or single case studies).

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 10.06.2025. When submitting your manuscript please select the article type “VSI: Concept Knowledge”.
Please submit your manuscript before 10th March 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:

concepts, semantic cognition, lexical semantics, grounded cognition, embodied cognition

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)