Call for papers
Submission deadlines:
1 February 2026
Publication:
One of the two 2026 issues
Submission guidelines
All contributions must be interdisciplinary and written in a way that makes them accessible to a heterogeneous readership of experts and non-experts alike. Submissions must be original and unpublished.
All accepted papers will be published in both Italian and English. Nodes editorial board will handle translation into one of the two languages if not provided by the authors (in this case, the submission deadline is 15 days earlier than the indicated date).
Authors are invited to consult Nodes’ editorial guidelines available at: https://nodesjournal.com/en/contacts/
Manuscripts must be submitted – prepared according to the editorial guidelines (see the section “Template for the drafting of the article”) – to: nodesjournal@gmail.com
The Aesthetic Experience of Performing Arts under the Joint Investigation of Science and Humanities – from Philosophy to Neuroscience
Performing arts – such as theatre, dance, and music – have always been fundamental aesthetic expressions and cultural tools for exploring the human condition, where emotion, cognition, and behaviour intertwine in a unique collective experience shared between performer and audience. In recent years, neuroscience has begun to shed new light on the neural mechanisms underlying the perception, production, and reception of the performing arts, opening up an interdisciplinary dialogue rich in potential for studying the phenomena of human nature and culture.
In upcoming issues of Nodes, we aim to explore the intersections among the human, social, and natural sciences – particularly (but not exclusively) cognitive science, psychology, aesthetics, philosophy, anthropology, sociology, communication, and media studies – by welcoming contributions that investigate and deepen the understanding of the perceptual-cognitive, psychological, neural, and cultural mechanisms involved in the aesthetic experience of performing arts. This exploration also takes into account recent technological developments that have enabled the study of psychophysiological responses of audiences outside the laboratory, in ecological settings.
The journal will host contributions addressing this theme from the perspectives of various disciplines within both the humanities and the sciences. In this sense, submissions may focus on either the performer’s point of view or the spectator’s aesthetic experience.
We therefore invite scholars and experts from the relevant fields to submit essays and experimental research addressing the following topics:
- Embodiment and stage action
- Neuroaesthetics of theatre, dance, and music
- Theatre as a tool for neuroscientific research
- Performance, audience, and empathy
- Between virtual and augmented reality: new perspectives for contemporary performing arts
- Neuroscience applied to actor-actress/performer training
- Performing arts, neurodiversity, and inclusion
Types of Contributions
- Experimental research articles
- Theoretical essays
- Review articles
- Opinion papers