Cognitive Neuropsychology -- New Editor and free access to TB highlighted article

A few days ago I highlighted an article that appeared in Cognitive Neuropsychology. As a result of this, the Cognitive Neuropsychology has made the article available free of charge: click here to access it.

It is worth noting that Cognitive Neuropsychology is now under new editorial guidance, that of Brenda Rapp. The journal was founded by Max Coltheart in 1984 and was (and perhaps remains) arguably the main outlet for traditional cognitive neuropsychological research. Beginning under the guidance of Alfonso Caramazza (the journal's second editor) and now with more force under Brenda Rapp, the journal has expanded its mission beyond traditional patient-based work to include brain imaging and other methods. Brenda summed up the journal's mission succinctly: "the goals: cognitive, the methods: neural" Her entire editorial can be found here. Below is an excerpt:

... the particular insight that was critical in creating the journal's unique identity amongst other cognitively oriented journals was the understanding that when “wishing to test theories concerning how some general mental activity is normally carried out, (researchers) need not confine themselves to investigations of those whose competence in this activity is normal” (Coltheart, 1984). This notion formed the basis of the journal's focus on research involving neuropsychological cases to develop and test theories of normal cognition. However, in recent years, the increasing sophistication of methods for the collection and analysis of neural data has allowed a broader range of neural evidence to be brought to bear on cognitive questions, making this an appropriate moment to expand upon the insight that neuropsychological data can be brought to bear on questions of cognition. Thus, consistent with the neuropsychological character of the journal and changes in direction already initiated by Alfonso Caramazza (the journal's second editor), the journal's Scope and Aims have now been expanded to promote research based on a broader understanding of the neuropsychological approach. This broader understanding includes not only methods based on brain pathology, but also on neural recording, neural stimulation or brain imaging. In other words, the journal will publish research that is not limited to the study of brain-lesioned individuals but also includes neurologically-intact adults, children or even non-human animals, as long as the methods involve some type of neural manipulation or measurement and the findings make an explicit and theoretically sophisticated contribution to our understanding of normal human cognition.