The primary aim of the workshop is to bring together researchers from a wide variety of disciplines to discuss work on the interplay of stories and story consumers, in order to better understand how fiction shapes our lives.

 

Key questions of focus include:

• What are the key characteristics of stories and how do these characteristics influence readers?

• How do the properties of a text influence and interact with the reader’s experience and enjoyment?

• How does the reader’s background interact with the narrative experience?

• What impact do the stories we tell, hear, and read have on our lives?

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These are questions that span traditional disciplinary boundaries, and deal with an aspect of human life across cultures and history. Cognitive science, with its diverse toolkit of methodologies and theoretical perspectives, is an ideal meeting point to address these questions.