The Primary Processes: A Preliminary Exploration of A-Rational Mentation from an Evolutionary Viewpoint

In this article we investigate research on nonhuman animal cognition revealing the predominance of primary processes-like operations that are effective and adaptive from an evolutionary perspective. But first and from a different direction, we review a body of recently popular empirical work on human heuristics and biases that proposes System 1 and System 2 as a dual-process model of cognition and emotion; this without acknowledging Freud’s primary and secondary processes. Thus, we explore the parallels between primary process and System 1, as we evaluate the case for the evolutionary nature of primary process. We guide the reader through literature on animal cognition and that of System 1 biases and heuristics to provide the psychoanalytic reader with the opportunity to make important links to psychoanalytic concepts.     

Exploring the role of lexical stress in lexical recognition

Three cross-modal priming experiments examined the role of suprasegmental information in the processing of spoken words. All primes consisted of truncated spoken Dutch words. Recognition of visually presented word targets was facilitated by prior auditory presentation of the first two syllables of the same words as primes, but only if they were appropriately stressed (e.g., OKTOBER preceded by okTO-); inappropriate stress, compatible with another word (e.g., OKTOBER preceded by OCto-, the beginning of octopus), produced inhibition. Monosyllabic fragments (e.g., OC-) also produced facilitation when appropriately stressed; if inappropriately stressed, they produced neither facilitation nor inhibition. The bisyllabic fragments that were compatible with only one word produced facilitation to semantically associated words, but inappropriate stress caused no inhibition of associates. The results are explained within a model of spoken-word recognition involving competition between simultaneously activated phonological representations followed by activation of separate conceptual representations for strongly supported lexical candidates; at the level of the phonological representations, activation is modulated by both segmental and suprasegmental information.     

Book reviews

Hansel, C . E. M. ESP and Parapsychology: A Critical Re-Evaluation. Buffalo: Prometheus Books. 1980. Pp. 325. Hardback 415.95; paperback £7.95. ISBN 0 87975 119 3.

Marks, D. and Kamman, R. The Psychology of the Psychic. Buffalo: Prometheus Books. 1980. Pp. 232. Hardback £16.95; paperback 48.95. ISBN 0 87975 121 5.

Atkin, R. Multidimensional Men. Harmondsworth: Penguin. 1981. £2.95. ISBN o 14 005478 2.

Frith, U. (Ed.). Cognitive Processes in Spelling. London: Academic Press. 1980. Pp. 560. £17.00. ISBN 0 12 268660 8.

Herron, J. (Ed.). Neuropsychology of Left-Handedness. Perspectives in Neurolinguistics and Psycholinguistics. London: Academic Press. 1980. Pp. xiv+357. £13.50. ISBN 0 12 343150 6.

Welford, A. T. (Ed.). Reaction Times. London: Academic Press. 1980. Pp. ix+418. £27-80. ISBN 0 12 742880 1.

Anderson, J. R. Cognitive Psychology and its Implications. San Francisco: Freeman. 1980. Pp. xviii+503. £8.10.

Bolton, N. (Ed.). Philosophical Problems in Psychology. London: Methuen. 1979. £8.50. Pp. xiii+207. ISBN 0 416 70980 X.