Order and serial position effects in response time with multiple-item probe recognition

We examined the order effect in item-recognition response time, that is, differences in response time for multiple-item probes containing items in the same or in the reverse order as those in the memory set. Experiment 1 used the response condition in which only one item must be positive for a positive response, Experiment 2 used homogeneous probes in which all the items are either positive or negative, and Experiment 3 used the condition in which all the items must be positive. Of particular interest were the serial position variations in order effects for probes containing items that were adjacent in the memory set. We previously found that such effects are an indication of subjective grouping of the memory set and the matching of the probe with these subgroups. The order effect in the one-positive condition was only weak in most cases, but it was strong with homogeneous probes when the memory set was objectively grouped or was ungrouped but with a constant set size. There were also strong order effects in the all-positive condition for probes with items that were nonadjacent in the memory set. Our results are interpreted in terms of a parallel match process based on a distribution over position of items in subjective or objective groups. We account for the origin of the distribution-over-position process in terms of multiple representations of the grouped memory sets. The model assumes that each subgroup is represented in memory several, and perhaps very many, times and that considerable error in item positioning can occur over the multiple representations of any group.     

Visual and phonological components of working memory in children

Previous studies have shown that young children's immediate memory for a short series of drawings of objects is mediated by a visual component of working memory, whereas older children rely chiefly upon a phonological component. Three experiments investigated the hypothesis that older children rely also, but to a lesser extent, on visual working memory. Experiment 1 confirmed previous evidence that 11-year-olds' memory is disrupted by phonemic similarity of object names, but is unaffected by visual similarity of the objects themselves. However, when articulatory suppression was used to prevent phonological coding, levels of recall were sensitive to visual rather than phonemic similarity. Experiment 2 compared the effects of interpolating an auditory-verbal or a visual postlist task on memory for drawings viewed either with or without suppression. The visual task had a clear disruptive effect only in the suppression condition, where it interfered selectively with recall of the most recent item. Experiment 3 compared the effects of interpolating an auditory-verbal or a mixed-modality (visual-auditory) postlist task when subjects were not required to suppress. There was greater interference from the mixed-modality task, and this effect was confined to the last item presented. These experiments are taken as confirming the presence of a small but reliable contribution from visual memory in 11-year-old children's recall. As in younger children, visual working memory in 11-year-olds is sensitive to visual similarity and is responsible for a final-item visual recency effect. The results also show that older children's use of visual working memory is usually masked by the more pervasive phonological component of recall. Some implications for the structure of working memory and its development are discussed.     

Verbal recoding of visual stimuli impairs mentalimagetransformations

Two experiments were carried out to test the hypothesis that verbal recoding of visual stimuli in short-term memory influences long-term memory encoding and impairs subsequent mental image operations. Easy and difficult-to-name stimuli were used. When rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise, each stimulus revealed a new pattern consisting of two capital letters joined together. In both experiments, subjects first learned a short series of stimuli and were then asked to rotate mental images of the stimuli in order to detect the hidden letters. In Experiment 1, articulatory suppression was used to prevent subjects from subvocal rehearsal when learning the stimuli, whereas in Experiment 2, verbal labels were presented with each stimulus during learning to encourage a reliance on the verbal code. As predicted, performance in the imagery task was significantly improved by suppression when the stimuli were easy to name (Experiment 1) but was severely disrupted by labeling when the stimuli were difficult to name (Experiment 2). We concluded that verbal recoding of stimuli in short-term memory during learning disrupts the ability to generate veridical mental images from long-term memory.     

Book reviews

Redeeming Laughter: The Comic Dimension of Human Experience. Peter L. Berger, 1997 Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter 216 pp., £13.40 (hb) ISBN 3–11–015562–1

Reflections on Sociology and Theology. David Martin, 1997 Oxford: Clarendon Press viii +257 pp., £30.00 ISBN 0–19–827384–3

Wilderness Wanderings: Probing Twentieth‐Century Theology and Philosophy. Stanley Hauerwas, 1997 Oxford: Westview Press/Harper Collins 242 pp., £21.50 (hb) ISBN 0–8133–3349–0

The Longing for Home. Leroy Rouner, ed., 1997 Boston University Studies in Philosophy and Religion, Vol. 17 Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press 248 pp., US$34.00 (hb) ISBN 0–268–01310–1

The Psychology of Religion: An Empirical Approach. Ralph W. Hood, Jr., Bernard Spilka, Bruce Hunsberger & Richard Gorsuch, 1996, 2nd edition New York, London: Guilford Press 546 pp., US$70.00, £45.00 (hb) ISBN 1–57230–116–3

America's Communal Utopias. Donald E. Pitzer, ed., 1997 Chapel Hill, London: University of North Carolina Press 537 pp., US$60.00 (hb), US$24.95 (pb) ISBN 0–8078–2299‐X (hb), ISBN 0–8078–4609–0 (pb)

Reinventing American Protestantism: Christianity in the New Millennium. Donald E. Miller, 1997 Los Angeles, CA: California University Press 254 pp, US$ 27.50 (hb) ISBN 0–520–20938–9

Resurgent Evangelicalism in the United States: Mapping Cultural Change since 1970. Mark A. Shibley, 1996 Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press 156 pp., US$24.95 ISBN 1–57003–106–1

Struggle for the Spirit: Religious Transformation and Popular Culture in Brazil and Latin America. David Lehmann, 1996 Cambridge and Oxford: Polity Press xiv +244 pp., £39.50 (hb) ISBN 0–7456–1784–0

The Soul of Development: Biblical Christianity and Economic Transformation in Guatemala. Amy L. Sherman, 1997 Oxford: Oxford University Press 224 pp., £37.99 ISBN 0–19–510671–7

Jamaica Genesis: Religion and the Politics of Moral Orders. Diane J. Austin‐Broos, 1997 With a Foreword by Raymond T. Smith Chicago; The University of Chicago Press 328 pp., US$19.95, £15.95 (pb), US$50.00, £39.95 (hb) ISBN 0–226–03286–8 (pb), ISBN 0–226–03284–1 (hb)

Black God: The Afro‐Asian Roots of the Jewish, Christian and Muslim Religions. Julian Baldick, 1997 London, New York: I.B.Tauris 198 pp., £39.50 (hb) ISBN 1–86064–123–7

Image of the Prophet Muhammad in the West: A Study of Muir, Margoliouth and Watt. Jabal Muhammad Buaben, 1996/1417 AH. Markfield: The Islamic Foundation 394p., £ 9.50 (pb); £19.50 (hb) ISBN 0–86037–261–8 (pb), ISBN 0–86037–260‐X (hb)

New Religious Movements in Western Europe: An Annotated Bibliography. Bibliographies and Indexes in Religious Studies, No. 41 Elisabeth Arweck & Peter B. Clarke, 1997 Westport, CT & London: Greenwood Press xliii + 381 pp., £71.50 (hb) ISBN 0–313–24324–7

The New Age Movement: The Celebration of the Self and the Sacralization of Modernity. Paul Heelas, 1996 Oxford: Blackwell 266 pp., £45.00, US$49.95 (hb); £13.99; US$21.95 (pb) ISBN 0–631–19331–6 (hb), ISBN 0–631–19332–4 (pb)

New Age Religion and Western Culture. Wouter J. Hanegraaff, 1996 Leiden & New York: E. J. Brill 580 pp., NLG 235.00, US$ 147.50 (hb), NLG 80.00, US$51.75 (pb) ISBN 90–04–10695–2 (hb), ISBN 90–04–10696–0 (pb)

Embers of Wan Letters from a Quaker Relief Worker in War‐Torn Germany. Grigór McClelland, 1997 London: British Academic Press 230 pp., £25.00 (hb) ISBN 8–6064–312–4

Visionaries: The Spanish Republic and the Reign of Christ. William A. Christian Jr., 1996 Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press xxii + 544 pp. £32.00 ISBN 0–520–20040–3

The Topography of Remembrance: The Dead, Tradition and Collective Memory in Mesopotamia. Gerdien Jonker, 1995 Leiden: E. J. Brill xiii + 284 pp., c. £66.00 ISBN 90–04–10162–4

Faith in History: Armenians Rebuilding Community. Susan Paul Pattie, 1997 Washington & London: Smithsonian Institution Press 282 pp., £38.25 ISBN 1–56098–629–8

The Good Parsi: The Fate of a Colonial Elite in a Postcolonial Society. Tanya M. Luhrmann, 1996 Cambridge, MA & London, England: Harvard University Press xi +317 pp., £33.50 (hb), £15.50 (pb) ISBN 0–674–35675–6 (hb), ISBN 0–674–35676–4 (pb)

The Feast of the Sorcerer Practices of Consciousness and Power. Bruce Kapferer, 1997 Chicago & London, University of Chicago Press 367 pp., US$65.00, £51.95 (hb), US$27.50, £21.95 (pb) ISBN 0–226–42411–1 (hb), ISBN 1–226–42413–8 (pb)

Religion in Japan: Arrows to Heaven and Earth. P.F. Kornicki & I.J. McMullen, eds., 1996 Cambridge: Cambridge University Press xxv +315 pp., £40.00, US$59.95 ISBN 0–521–55028–9

Teaching Right and Wrong: Moral Education in the Balance. Richard Smith & Paul Standish, eds., 1997 Stoke on Trent, England: Trentham Books 157 pp., £13.95 (pb) ISBN 1–85856–084–5     

Individual differences between liars and the ability to detect lies

It is difficult to detect deception. Studies suggest it is little, ifany, better than chance. But some guidance is available. This study examinedpersonality traits, in particular self-consciousness in public and abilityto control behaviour. The effects can be observed in hand movements. Thisstudy examined the effects, of giving this information to assessors, upontheir ability to detect deception.     

In the Begining Science said…

From DNA to Dean: Reflections and Explorations of a Priest-scientist , Arthur Peacocke
God and the Web of Creation , Ruth Page