Joint Research Success: Forthcoming publication in “Mnemosyne”

We are delighted to announce that a new co-authored article by members of the GROUPMINDS research team has been accepted for publication in Mnemosyne, one of the leading international journals in Classical Studies.

Chrysanthou, C.S., Tzortzopoulou, K., and Waldron, B. “Concordia and Social Cognition in Latin Literature” (Forthcoming in Mnemosyne)

This important study offers a bold and innovative rethinking of the Roman concept of concordia. Moving beyond traditional interpretations that treat concordia primarily as a political or ideological term, the article argues that it can be understood as an intersubjective phenomenon grounded in shared cognitive and emotional processes between individuals.

The contribution is threefold:

• It reconceptualizes concordia as a form of cognitive and affective alignment that may culminate in the formation of an “intermental” or quasi-collective unit.
• It provides a new analytical framework for understanding dyadic relationships in antiquity—such as friendships, teacher–student bonds, and political partnerships—as practices constituted through shared cognition and emotion.
• It demonstrates that Roman representations of concordia anticipate modern theories of embodied, extended, and socially distributed cognition, thereby opening new perspectives on ancient intersubjectivity

Drawing on a wide chronological range—from the Late Republic to Late Antiquity—the article integrates close philological analysis with contemporary cognitive theory. By bringing together Latin literature, Roman political culture, and current models of social cognition, the study exemplifies the interdisciplinary methodology at the heart of the GROUPMINDS project.

This publication is particularly significant as a joint research output of the Principal Investigator and two postdoctoral researchers, reflecting the collaborative and intellectually integrated structure of the team. The article embodies the project’s commitment to collective inquiry: theoretical innovation emerges not from isolated scholarship but from sustained dialogue, shared conceptual development, and co-authored research.

The acceptance of this article in Mnemosyne further demonstrates the continuous productivity and international visibility of the research team, as well as the growing impact of cognitive approaches within Classical Studies.

We warmly congratulate the authors on this outstanding achievement and look forward to the article’s publication.