Dreams, Narrative, and Liminal Cognition

Marco Bernini is Associate Professor in Cognitive Literary Studies at Durham University’s English Studies Department. His research focuses on narrative theory and cognitive science for the interdisciplinary study of consciousness, self, and imagination across a variety of media, cognitive processes, and mental states. He also worked on applying the extended mind view to creative writing and authorial intentionality, and on a narrative approach to cognitive theories of complexity and emergence. He has recently established and leads the ‘Narrative and Cognition Lab’ at Durham University and is the author of Beckett and the Cognitive Method: Mind, Models and Exploratory Narratives (Oxford University Press, 2021).

Ben Alderson-Day is a Professor of Psychology and the Co-Director of the Discovery Research Platform for Medical Humanities at Durham University. He completed a PhD at the University of Edinburgh in 2012 before working on Hearing the Voice at Durham University for over 10 years. He is the co-founder of the Early Career Hallucinations Research group and the Scientific Chair of the International Consortium on Hallucinations Research. A specialist in atypical cognition and mental health, his work spans cognitive neuroscience, psychiatry, philosophy, and child development.