Introduction to topiCS Volume 17, Issue 4

Questions on the relationship between language and cognition in general, and the type of architecture hosting linguistic and mental representations in particular, have engaged theoreticians and empirical researchers since the inception of cognitive science. One of the major shifts in the field, most prominently advocated by 2014 Rumelhart Prize awardee Ray Jackendoff, was that from sequential to parallel architectures (e.g., Jackendoff, 1997). This year's last issue of Topics in Cognitive Science, edited by Giosuè Baggio (Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway), Neil Cohn (Tilburg University, the Netherlands), and Eva Wittenberg (Central European University at Vienna, Austria), is entirely devoted to present and future takes on such parallel architectures. Following the editors' introduction (Baggio, Cohn, & Wittenbergin, in press), it starts off with an overview by the theory's most prominent proponent (Jackendoff, in press) and compiles a total of 12 papers that review the state of the art, present alternative views and novel applications, discuss open issues and implications, and explore new directions. topiCS encourages letters and commentaries on all topics, as well as proposals for new topics. Letters are not longer than two published pages (ca. 400–1,000 words). Commentaries (between 1,000 and 2,000 words) are often solicited by Topic Editors prior to the publication of their topic, but they may also be considered after publication. Letters and commentaries typically come without an abstract and with few references, if any. The Executive Editor and the Senior Editorial Board (SEB) are constantly searching for new and exciting topics for topiCS. Feel free to open communications with a short note to the Executive Editor ([email protected]) or a member of the SEB (for a list, see the publisher's homepage for topiCS: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1756-8765/homepage/EditorialBoard.html).