Narrative and social cognition: Bridging theory to neuroscientific evidence

Narrative processing involves perspective-taking mechanisms that enablereaders to infer characters’ complex emotional and social experiences, drawing on theirability to understand others’ thoughts and feelings. A growing body of research hasinvestigated the relationship between narrative and social cognition, with particularattention to the impact of narrative exposure on social capabilities. This line of researchsuggests that engagement with narrative can positively influence abilities such as Theoryof Mind and empathy. This paper explores this relationship through a twofold approach.First, it provides a critical overview of the main theoretical approaches addressing thepsychological and neurocognitive mechanisms underlying narrative processing. Second,it aims to bridge theory and empirical evidence by discussing recent behavioral andneuroscientific studies that investigate which specific narrative features may modulatesocial cognition. In particular, we focus on a recent line of electroencephalographicresearch showing that both reading emotionally engaging narratives and writingintrospective self-narratives can modulate neural responses to socio-emotional stimuliassociated with the understanding of others’ mental states. By highlighting the role ofnarrative in enhancing social cognition, this work points to potential implications forclinical practices, education, and overall well-being.