Hypermnesia for pictures: Incremental memory for pictures but not words in multiple recall trials

Two studies are reported on multiple forced recall following a single visual presentation of a sequence of pictures or words. In both experiments, a hypermnesic memory function (in which performance improved with repeated recall) was obtained for pictures, while a flat, nonincremental function was obtained for words. Interpolation of intervals of thinking between recall trials further enhanced hypermnesia for pictorial items. Retrieval, whether overt (recall trials) or covert (thinking), apparently produces increased net recovery of pictures but not words.     

Case study of a Thai conduction aphasic

A case study of a 55-year-old nonfamilial left-handed monolingual Thai patient with clinical and pathoanatomic evidence of major infarction in the left temporoparietal region is presented. He was studied at 9 years poststroke with a Thai adaptation of the Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Exam and supplementary tests. His language characteristics included fluent spontaneous speech, near-normal auditory language comprehension, and poor repetition, leading to a diagnosis of conduction aphasia. In regard to this aphasic syndrome, issues concerning classification, neuroanatomic correlates, and underlying neuropsychological mechanisms are addressed. The nature of his grammatical disturbance is examined critically in light of the notion of “information load.”     

'Can I (let you let me) leave?’ Therapy with the adolescent and his family

A number of dimensions are reviewed in relation to adolescence. The focus is primarily on adolescence in the context of the family, but it is acknowledged that this is an arbitrary and restricted view of wider social and cultural contexts. It is briefly suggested why this area of work may have been under-represented in professional work in the past. An outline is given of varying ways of defining adolescence, and the impact of this developmental stage in the family life cycle for the adolescent and his family. Within this context, choices must be made over approaches to treatment, and a structural hierarchical framework is proposed. Some of these dilemmas are discussed in relation to therapy with a family where the presenting problem was drug addiction in the younger son. This case was chosen for the many difficulties it raised for the therapist and the other professionals directly involved. The subsequent discussion looks at the implications of some of the mistakes made in therapeutic strategy.     

On people’s understanding of the diagnostic implications of probabilistic data

Two lines of prior research into the conditions under which people seek information are examined in light of two statistical definitions of diagnosticity. Five experiments are reported. In two, subjects selected information in order to test a hypothesis. In the remaining three, they selected information in order to convince someone else of the truth of a known hypothesis. A total of 567 university students served as subjects. The two primary conclusions were as follows: (1) When the task is highly structured by the environment, subjects select information diagnostically, and (2) when the task is less structured, so that subjects must seek relevant information not manifest, they select information pseudodiagnostically. Possible relations to other laboratory inference tasks and to clinical judgment are discussed.     

Book Reviews

Religions sans Frontières? Present and Future Trends of Migration, Culture and Communication Roberto Cipriani, ed., for the Research Committee “Sociology of Religion”; of the International Sociological Association, Rome, Presidenza del Consiglio del Ministri, Dipartimento Per L'Informazione e L'Editoria, 1994 384 pp. no ISBN on book

Worldviews in Transition: An Investigation into the New Age Movement in South Africa Chrissie Steyn, 1994 Pretoria: University of South Africa (Studia Originalia 22) xvi + 367 pp., R79.00 or £14.86 (+ p&p) ISBN 0–86981–845–7

Women and Missions: Past and Present. Anthropological and Historical Perceptions Fiona Bowie, Deborah Kirkwood & Shirley Ardener, eds, 1995 Berg: Providence/Oxford xx + 279 pp., plates, £14.95 ISBN 9–780854968725

Syncretism/Anti‐Syncretism: The Politics of Religious Synthesis Charles Stewart & Rosalind Shaw, eds., 1994 London: Routledge 215 pp., £37.50 (hb), £12.99 (pb) ISBN 0–415–11117‐X.

Beyond the Basilica: Christians and Muslims in Nazareth Chad F. Emmett, 1995 Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press xix + 303 pp., £17.50 US$22.00 pb, ISBN 0–226–20711–0

Islamic Britain: Religion, Politics and Jolentity among British Muslims Phillip Lewis, 1994 London: I. B. Tauris & Co. 250 pp., £11.95 ISBN 1–85043–861–7

Religion & Revelation: A Theology of Revelation in the World's Religions Keith Ward, 1994 Oxford: Clarendon Press 350 pp., £40 hb, £13.95 pb ISBN 0–19–826466–6 & 826375–9

Religiöser Pluralismus oder christliches Abendland? Herausforderung an Kirche und Gesellschaft Reinhart Hummel, 1994 Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft 223 pp., DM39.80, FR40.80, ÖS311.00 ISBN 3–534–11717–4

A Short History of Judaism Lavinia & Dan Cohn‐Sherbok, 1994 Oxford: Oneworld Publications viii +148 pp., £5.95 ISBN 1–85168–069–1

Unforgotten Fragments Beryl Pogson & Others, compiled by Lewis Creed, 1994 York: Quacks Books 352 pp., £15.95 ISBN 0–948333–29–4

Centenary Fragments Beryl Pogson & Others, compiled by Lewis Creed, 1994 York: Quacks Books 379 pp., £15.95 ISBN 0–948333–36–7

A Plain Guide to Bible Theology: A Realistic Approach L. G. Hardinge, 1993 Swansea: Abertawe Desktop (OR: L G Publication, 1994) 217 pp., £10.50 (pb) ISBN 0–9524013     

Effects of training in rapid decoding on the reading comprehension of adult ESL learners

We report an experimental investigation of the effects on comprehension of increasing the decoding speed of three adult learners of English as a Second Language (ESL). Participants were taught to read lists of 25 difficult words in isolation until they could read the entire list at a mean rate of not more than 1.5 secs per word. They were then asked to read passages containing these words. Decoding speed and accuracy measures, for both the word lists and passages, and passage comprehension measures, were obtained. In a temporally contiguous within-subjects repeated trials reversal design, decoding training on isolated words was shown to be associated with significant increases in decoding speed and accuracy both in isolation and context, and improvements in the participants' comprehension. With all participants rate and accuracy gains in context were maintained in the final reversal phase, though the comprehension score gains did not. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for a decoding sufficiency hypothesis.