Introduction to <i>topiCS</i> Volume 14, Issue 1

This year's first issue of Topics in Cognitive Science comprises two very distinct topics: one devoted to a new type of papers authored by a special set of scholars, the Fellows of the Cognitive Science Society, the other being a special issue on an exciting topic, namely an approach to modeling the mind based on network science. Election as Fellow of the Society recognizes a scholar's sustained excellence and impact on the Cognitive Science community. The Fellows Topic was initiated in 2021 by the incoming Executive Editor to provide these scholars an opportunity for showcasing their scientific work and outlining what they consider to be its major contributions to the field. Intended as an on-going and open-ended forum for all Fellows, the topic is launched here with a small, but fine selection of papers. In the preface to the Fellows Topic (Bender, 2022), the editor depicts its multilayered agenda and introduces the two Fellows who inaugurate the topic: Cleotilde ‘Coty’ Gonzalez from Carnegie Mellon University and Steven Sloman from Brown University, renowned for their work on, respectively, how people make decisions (summarized here in Gonzalez, 2022) and how they think (Sloman, 2022). The two not only do a great job outlining the answers that their research provides to fundamental questions in cognitive science, but they also provide a bird's eye view that allows for reflection on the field more broadly. The topiCS team wishes to take this opportunity to thank Coty and Steve for their wonderful papers; to congratulate all Fellows of the Cognitive Science Society—and especially the newly elected recipients—for their awards and for the outstanding work that earned them these awards, and to extend an invitation to submit to this topic to all Fellows. The second topic in this issue, edited by Yoed N. Kenett (Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa) and Thomas Hills (Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, UK), presents network science as a powerful approach to studying cognition. As pointed out in the Editors’ Introduction to their topic (Kenett & Hills, 2022), network science terminology was already used in classic cognitive theory half a century ago, to describe how concepts are stored and organized in semantic memory. Spanning a broad range of themes, the collection of papers recruited for “Networks of the Mind” illustrates how much more network science can help to achieve: from modeling individual information encoding to large-scale processes of culture change, and from investigating a wide range of applications to advancing theory-building in cognitive science more broadly, thereby opening up promising and exciting avenues for future developments. topiCS encourages letters and commentaries on all topics, as well as proposals for new topics. Letters are not longer than two published pages (ca. 400–1000 words). Commentaries (between 1000 and 2000 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 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 (Andrea.Bender@uib.no) 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).