fictionalThinkrelated

fictionalThinkrelated is a term used in literary and media criticism to describe the study of how fictional content interacts with cognitive processes in readers and within the fictional world itself. It focuses on how narrative form, structure, and devices stimulate, reflect, or manipulate thinking, memory, and problem-solving.

Its etymology reflects a blend of "fictional" and "think-related" and appears in discussions of metafiction and cognitive narratology in the early 21st century. While not tied to a single tradition, the concept is often cited to identify meta-narrative techniques that foreground thinking as a central thematic concern.

Applications of fictionalThinkrelated include analysis of unreliable narration, puzzle-driven plots, and frame stories that invite readers to reassess their assumptions. In interactive or game-like fiction, the term can describe design choices that require deliberate thought, strategy, or hypothesis testing to progress.

In-universe, fictionalThinkrelated may describe scholarly fields, think tanks, or disciplinary debates that claim to study cognition within the narrative. It also appears as a meta-fictional device in which characters reflect on the act of thinking itself, sometimes challenging the reader's own cognitive biases.

Critics note that the term can be broad or overlapping with established ideas such as metafiction, cognitive narratology, and metacognition. Proponents argue that it helps isolate a distinct focus on thinking as both a narrative mechanism and a thematic motif.

See also: metafiction, cognitive narratology, metacognition.