A major modification of the Bousfield (1966) measure of category clustering

The measure of category clustering proposed by Bousfleld & Bousfleld (1966) was modified to take into account differences in the distribution of the expected value of number of repetitions. The possible effects of using the clustering index without this major modification are discussed.     

Categorical and schematic organization and the development of retrieval strategies

This study investigated the effects of schematic and categorical organization on young children's recall. Preschool and kindergarten children recalled either a taxonomic list or a story in one of two presentation conditions: an alternate condition, in which the material was presented, children recalled it and the procedure was repeated, or a successive condition in which the material was presented twice and children recalled it twice. Although preschool children's story recall was well organized, their list recall was poorly organized, and organization did not increase over recall trials in either presentation condition. In contrast, kindergarten children's recall of both the story and the list was well organized, and their recall was better organized on the second recall trial than on the first in both presentation conditions. These results are discussed in terms of the development of retrieval strategies during the preschool years/     

La question ontologique et laPhénoménologie de la perception

Sans résuméNous remercions le professeur Gary Brent Madison de l'Université McMaster ainsi que le professeur Théodore Geraets de l'Université d'Ottawa qui ont lu et commenté des versions antérieures de cet article. Nous voulons remercier en particulier la professeure Gisèle Chevalier du Département d'études franÇaises de l'Université de Moncton pour ses précieux conseils sur le fond et la forme du texte. Les erreurs et les omissions demeurent toutefois les nÔtres.     

As time goes by: Sixth graders remember a kindergarten experience

In this research we compared kindergarten children's immediate recall of a class field trip to a museum of archaeology on the same day of the trip to their recall 6 weeks later, 1 year later and 6 years later. Not surprisingly, children remembered less about this event over time. However, what children did recall was recalled as accurately and in as much detail 6 years after the trip as immediately after the trip. Most striking were the effects of cueing on memory over time. Without specific cues the event was forgotten by almost all of the children after 1 year, but with cues, 87 per cent of the children could recall details of the event even after 6 years. The set of ‘core’ activities which all children tended to recall on all recall trials were those activities that made this particular event distinctive. However, with increasing time since experiencing the event, children's recall tended to become more reconstructive and inferential. Thus, forgetting in autobiographic memory seems to involve three processes: decreases in amount recalled, changes in accessibility, and changes in memory content.     

Book reviews

Dharmakirti's Theory of Hetu‐centricity of Anumāna. MANGALA R. CHINCHORE, 1989 Delhi, Motilal Banarsidass i‐xvii+195 pp., Rs. 125.00

A Hindu Perspective on the Philosophy of Religion. ARVIND SHARMA, 1990 London, Macmillan 180 + xi pp., £35.00

Rationality and Mind in Early Buddhism. FRANK J. HOFFMAN, 1987 Delhi, Motilal Banarsidass 126 + xii pp., Rs. 75.00

Allah Transcendent: studies in the structure and semiotics of Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Cosmology. IAN RICHARD NETTON, 1989 London, Routledge 383 pp., £45.00

Moses Maimonides. Arabic Thought and Culture Series OLIVER LEAMAN, 1990 London and New York, Routledge 190 + xii pp., £30.00 hb, £9.99 pb     

Current scientific interest in dissociative amnesia: A bibliometric analysis

In a bibliometric analysis, we used the PubMed search engine to count the number of publications identified by the search term “dissociative amnesia” for the years 2011–2020. We then counted publications from the same decade for five representative comparison disorders: “panic disorder,” “anorexia nervosa,” “obsessive–compulsive disorder,” “attention deficit hyperactivity disorder,” and “bipolar disorder.” Our search yielded only 89 publications for “dissociative amnesia,” and only seven of these involved localized or selective amnesia for specific events. By contrast, we found between 3000 and 21,000 publications for each of the five comparison disorders during 2011–2020. We performed several additional secondary analyses, all of which suggested that the diagnosis of “localized or selective dissociative amnesia” has generated little scientific interest in recent years. Examining possible hypotheses to explain this lack of interest, it appears most likely that the concept of localized or selective dissociative amnesia is not widely accepted among scientists at present.