For the past months I have been asked innumerable times why I agreed to serve as Chief Editor of the Journal of Neurophysiology. It was actually an easy decision, precisely because the Journal of Neurophysiology has always represented many of the scientific and scholarly values and ideals that I hold precious. Our challenge now is to hold on to the core mission of the Journal of Neurophysiology...

Learning to read and write in English requires children to master the alphabetic principle, the idea that the letters in printed words represent the sounds in spoken words in a more or less regular manner. Children need at least two skills in order to grasp the alphabetic principle. The first is phonological awareness, or a sensitivity to the sound structure of spoken words. The second is knowl...