Memory aids in reality orientation: a single-case study

A single-case study of retraining both verbal and behavioural orientation in an 84-yr-old patient with senile dementia is described. In contrast to the traditional approach of employing RO sessions in which verbal learning and subsequent free recall is employed, the patient was provided with a watch and a diary containing personalized information and a daily behavioural itinerary. Results suggest that such memory aids can increase orientation and when effective use of these aids becomes the target of a specific behavioural training then purposive behaviour can be engineered.     

Monte Carlo studies in nonmetric scaling

In response to Arabie several random ranking studies are compared and discussed. Differences are typically very small, however it is noted that those studies which used arbitrary configurations tend to produce slightly higher stress values. The choice of starting configuration is discussed and we suggest that the use of a principal components decomposition of the doubly centered matrix of dissimilarities, or some transformation thereof, will yield an initial configuration which is superior to a randomly chosen one.This research was supported by the National Research Council of Canada (Grant No. A8351) and by the National Institute of Mental Health (Grant Nos. MH10006 and MH26504). The authorship order has been determined by Monte Carlo methods.     

A LISP program to determine similarity relations in letter displays

Similarity relations between letters are important in displays used in tacbistoscopic recognition experiments. A LISP program is described that calculates similarity relations on the basis of an empirical letter-similarity matrix or on the basis of feature sharing in a feature-set definition supplied by the user. With either derivation method, there are three options for the type of average to be calculated for target display: (1) the average for the whole target, (2) the average for each letter in the target paired to all other letters in the target, and (3) the average of each letter in the target paired with its immediate neighbors.     

Lexical and grammatical processing of unshadowed messages: A re-examination of the Mackay effect

Mackay (1973) claimed to have provided evidence that subjects could process the grammatical structure and lexical content of nonshadowed messages. In the present study, it was found impossible to repeat Mackay's findings when controls for several factors that had been ignored in Mackay's study were employed. Subsequent experiments indicated that two major factors contributing to Mackay's results were that he had a gap between sentences in his experiment and that the nonshadowed material came out of a background of silence. Both of these probably enabled subjects to switch attention to the nonshadowed material without disruption of shadowing performance.     

The Meaning and the Ends of Teaching Religion

This paper explores the relationship between assessment and ethical value. It starts by reflecting on the traditional assessment convention that distinguishes strongly between process (the ways in which a student constructs a piece of work) and conclusion. The paper then examines three case studies from Holocaust studies, feminist theology, and Providence. The argument of the paper is that these three case studies illustrate that imparting certain values is part of the teaching process, and therefore it should not be excluded from assessment.     

Book reviews

The Continuity of Madhyamaka and Yogācāra in Indian Mahāyāna Buddhism. IAN HARRIS, 1991. Leiden, E. J. Brill. 191 pp., hb £42.85

Twin Peaks: Compassion and Insight. PADMASIRI de SILVA, 1991. Singapore, Buddhist Research Society. p., 170.

Neoplatonism and Islamic Thought Studies in Neoplatonism: Ancient and Modem, Vol. 5. Edited by PARVIZ MOREWEDGE, 1992. Albany, NY, State University of New York Press. 267 pp., pb £16.00     

Introducing an existential-phenomenological approach: Basic phenomenological theory and research–Part I

What is often referred to as the existential approach to counselling and psychotherapy may be defined as the application of existential-phenomenological philosophy towards psychotherapeutic ends, in which individual practitioners choose how to apply their readings of the leading authors. The first of this two-part exposition introduces a form of ‘experiential’ philosophy called phenomenology, a regular experiential method that is in many ways antithetical to the conventional scientific approach. This first paper concentrates on one of the many successive definitions of phenomenology given by Husserl, the philosopher of science, in 1927, with help from his ex-student Heidegger. In the second paper, phenomenology is brought to bear on human experience, and it is Heidegger in Being and Time who added it to the writings of the earlier existentialists Kierkegaard and Nietzsche; to produce existential psychology and philosophy. Also in the second part, three forms of existential therapy are briefly mentioned. This first paper introduces a handful of key ideas for counselling psychologists, and illustrates how philosophical work is an inherent part of life, as well as the production and use of psychological knowledge.     

Tactile-kinaesthetic perception of straightness in blind and sighted humans

A comparison is made between the tactile-kinaesthetic perception of straightness in twenty blind and twenty sighted subjects. Both types of subject are found to perceive a “plus curved” edge as straight, but this curve is significantly less for the blind than for the sighted, i.e. the blind subjects' judgments correspond more closely to the objective straight. Furthermore, the blind, both as individuals and as a group, are significantly finer in their judgments and more consistent. These results are thought to be explained in terms of the more highly developed organisation of the blind's tactile-kinaesthetic perception.