Review Essay: Constructivism,Dialectic, and Mortality

My approach in this review of Irwin Hoffman's Ritual and Spontaneity in the Psychoanalytic Process is historical and explicative. I discuss the book's reprinted works in their original publication sequence in order to highlight the emergence of themes over time. I then discuss the chapters written expressly for this volume in light of these themes.     

Multipotentiality,Giftedness, and Career Choice: A Review

The giftedness and career-choice literatures have traditionally spoken in different terms about the same phenomenon, multipotentiality. Multipotentialed individuals have numerous and diverse abilities and interests. Appropriate interventions are necessary to help them cope successfully with the abundance of career choices available to them. This review links the giftedness and career-choice literatures through a discussion of the concept of multipotentiality and explores ensuing practical implications and challenges to the overall idea.     

Statin Use,Ageing, and Cognition: A Review

Cholesterol performs a number of important roles in normal brain functioning, including the formation of myelin sheaths and communication between cells, and it has been theorised that statin use could disrupt these roles leading to deficits in cognition. Relevant research was identified via the La Trobe University library Summon^TM search tool, using search terms including “statin cognition,” “statins cognition,” “statin brain,” “cholesterol cognition,” “cholesterol brain,” and “statin adverse effects” in addition to examination of the reference lists of the retrieved research articles. Research was examined from the published literature across several different research modalities: systematic reviews and meta‐analyses, randomised control trials, cohort studies, and case reports. On the basis of the surveyed literature, it is not possible to indicate any consistent caution or limitation with regard to the use of statins and their effects upon cognitive functioning due to the contradictory and inconsistent results arising from this literature. In summary, it is not possible to conclusively determine whether there are either cognitive benefits or detriments associated with the use of the statins. The determination of the effect of these agents on neuropsychological functioning requires more methodologically controlled long‐term longitudinal follow‐up studies of these treatments due to the complex and multisystem effects of these agents.     

Neurolaw: Neuroscience,Ethics, and Law. Review Essay

Neurolaw is a new, rapidly developing area of interdisciplinary research on the meaning and implications of neuroscience for the law and legal practices. In this article three recently published volumes in this field will be reviewed.     

Appropriateness measurement: Review,critique and validating studies

The test-taking behaviour of some examinees may be so unusual that their test scores cannot be regarded as appropriate measures of their ability. Appropriateness measurement is a model-based approach to the problem of identifying these test scores. The intuitions and basic theory supporting appropriateness measurement are presented together with a critical review of earlier work and a series of interrelated experiments. We conclude that appropriateness measurement techniques are robust to errors in parameter estimation and robust to the presence of unidentified aberrant examinees in the test norming sample. In addition, the frequently criticized ‘three-parameter logistic’ latent trait model was found to be adequate for the detection of spuriously low scores in actual test data.     

Film Review: After Life: Memory,Death, and Transcendence in Japan

Pastoral Psychology -     

Special Review Section: Sallis on Art,Image, and Representation

Continental Philosophy Review -