Investigating the role of emotion during the search process in free recall

Typically, research has shown that emotional words are remembered better than neutral words; however, most studies have reported only the mean proportion of correctly recalled words. The present study looked at various dependent measures used by search models to determine whether emotion can influence the search process as well. The results from Experiment 2 showed that when emotionality was made salient, participants were able to utilize emotional associations, in addition to temporal associations, to cue retrieval of additional emotional words during subsequent sampling but relied mainly on temporal context when the emotional information was not made salient (Experiment 1). Additionally, both experiments showed that emotional words were more likely to be output earlier in the recall sequence, which would suggest that emotion also serves to boost relative strength during initial sampling. Overall, the results suggest that emotion contributes to enhanced memory dynamically by influencing the probability of sampling an item during the search process—specifically, by boosting relative strength and strengthening interitem associations.     

On Lions and Adolescents: Affective Temperaments and the Influence of Negative Stimuli on Memory

The present study investigated the relation between reaction to negative stimuli and memory for stimuli. The relation was further investigated using as a framework individuals’ affective temperaments (AFTs). Eighty adolescents participated in the study. The AFTs are based on selfreported affect and categorizes individuals in four temperaments: self-actualizing, high affective, low affective and self-destructive. Reaction to negative stimuli was measured by interpretation of specific words in a short story. Two days later, participants were presented with a list of words and asked which of them were present in the short story. Individuals’ AFTs were expected to predict the promotion of pleasure or the prevention of displeasure. On a general level, reaction to negative stimuli predicted memory for negative, positive and neutral words. At an individual level, self-actualizers and high affectives’ negative reaction predicted the memory of positive words (i.e., promotion). In contrast, low affectives’ negative and positive reaction predicted the memory of neutral words (i.e., prevention).     

Reproduction of seen actions: stimulus-selective learning

Subjects observed and reproduced abstract, irregular stimulus models generated by the steady movement of a disk across two-dimensional paths. The paths comprised 3 to 7 randomly oriented linear segments linked head-to-foot. Reproductions were expressed by moving a stylus over the surface of a graphics tablet while the disk was tracing its trajectory (concurrent reproduction), or soon after the disk had finished (delayed reproduction). For both concurrent and delayed conditions, fidelity of reproduction fell with increasing number of segments in the model. Overall quality of reproduction did not differ between the two conditions. When a few models were repeated, interspersed among non-repeated ones, performance improved but only when reproduction was delayed. This improvement was stimulus-selective, not a general improvement with practice. Two additional experiments showed that (i) memory for a seen model is well preserved for at least 6 s, with relatively modest need for rehearsal, and (ii) successful reproduction is possible with remarkably little information having been extracted from key points in the model's trajectory.     

The Influences of Friends' and Parental Smoking on Adolescent Smoking Behavior: The Effects of Time and Prior Smoking1

This research examines the relative importance of parental and friends' influences on adolescents' smoking behavior and changes in the effects of social influences during adolescence. Data were collected at 4 times from 7th to 9th grades. Random-effects ordinal regression models were employed to predict the repeated classification of adolescent smoking status using time effects, prior smoking status, friends' smoking, and parental smoking. In general, the effects of friends' smoking are stronger than those of parental smoking, and these differences increase over time. In addition, friends' smoking has greater effects on nonsmokers than smokers. Separate models for males and females disclose some gender differences. In particular, the effects of friends' smoking are stronger for females than for males, and the increasing trend of friends' influences is more noticeable for females than for males. Models for 4 ethnic groups also suggest differential susceptibility to social influences in different cultures.     

Book reviews

Muhammad: a short biography.Martin Forward, 1997. Oxford, Oneworld. 131 pp., pb. £8.99, ISBN 1 85168 131 0

Image of the Prophet Muhammad in the West: a study of Muir, Margoliouth and Watt. Jabal Muhammad Buaben, 1996. Leicester, The Islamic Foundation. 394 pp., hb. n.p., ISBN 0 86037 260 X, pb. n.p., ISBN 0 86037 261 8

Seven Doors to Islam: spirituality and the religious life of Muslims. John Renard, 1996. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London, University of California Press. xv + 333 pp., pb. £13.95, ISBN 0 520 20417 4

Global Communication in Transition: the end of diversity?. Hamid Mowlana, 1996. Thousand Oaks, Sage Publications. 233 pp., pb. n.p., ISBN 0 8039 4319 9

Islamic Fundamentalism. Abdel Salam Sidahmed & Anoushiravan Ehteshami (Eds), 1996. Boulder, Oxford, Westview Press. 284 pp. hb. £43.95, ISBN 0 8133 2429 7; pb. £14.95. ISBN 0 8133 2430 0

Political Participation and Identities of Muslims in Non‐Muslim States. W. A. R. Shadid & P. S. van Koningsveld, 1996. Kampen, KOK, Pharos. 239 pp., hb. FF69,50, ISBN 90 390 0611 3

Islams d'Europe: intégration ou insertion communitaire?. Robert Bistolfi & François Zabbal (Eds), 1995. Paris: L'Aube. 382 pp., pb. FF160, ISBN 2 87678 201 4

Sectarian Influences Within Islam in Britain: with reference to the concept of ’ummah’ and ‘community‘. Ron Geaves, 1996. Leeds, Department of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Leeds. 319 pp., £8.00 ISBN 1871 363 047

Political Islam: essays from the Middle East report. Joel Beinin & Joe Stork (Eds), 1997 Berkeley, University of California Press 395 pp. pb.. Make a Shield from Wisdom: selected verses from Nasir‐i Khusraw's Divan. Annemarie Schimmel (Ed. and tr.), 1993. London and New York, Kegan Paul International. vii + 103 pp., n.p., ISBN 0 7103 0455 2

The Shape of the Holy: early Islamic Jerusalem. Oleg Grabar, 1996. Princeton, Princeton University Press. xiv + 232 pp. with 84 illustrations in color and black‐and‐white, hb. $65, ISBN 0 691036535     

Diversity and Dance: Exploring the Therapeutic Implications of World Dance

This phenomenological study examined the potential power of world dance as a therapeutic tool. The lived experiences of adult females (N = 16) were explored to understand the purposive essence of dance and subsequent benefits to mental health. Findings revealed 15 themes in total: 11 themes highlighted potential benefits of world dance, such as social support and stress relief, and four themes noted potential obstacles to using world dance as a therapeutic tool, such as access or finances. Implications for using world dance within creative counseling practice are provided.     

Adolescents’ Psychological Well-Being and Memory for Life Events: Influences on Life Satisfaction with Respect to Temperamental Dispositions

The aim of the present study was to explore how the number of recalled life events (positive and negative) predicts psychological well-being (PWB) and how PWB predicts life satisfaction (LS). In addition, participants were categorized into one of four different affective temperaments (self-actualizing, high affective, low affective, and self-destructive). One hundred and thirty-five high school students participated in completing the SWLS (LS), PWB (short-version), PANAS (to create affective temperaments), and the life events recollection task. Results indicated that adolescents with high positive affect also had high PWB; adolescents with low affective profiles also had high PWB. Positive and negative life events predicted PWB for self-destructive temperaments, whereas positive life events predicted PWB for low affective temperaments. PWB predicted LS for all temperaments except the self-actualizing group. In conclusion, the temperament combinations may allow the individual to achieve PWB and LS. Even more importantly, selfacceptance may foster LS regardless of temperament and may have more impact on LS than life events.     

Book reviews

Unfolding Islam. P. J. Stewart. xiii + 252 pp. hb., £24.00, London, Ithaca Press, 1994, ISBN 0 86372 194 X; pb. London, Garnet Publishing, 1995, ISBN 1 85964 046 X.

The Basics 2: Islam. Roland Machatschke, 1995. London, SCM Press, 89 pp., pb. £5.95, ISBN 0 334 02603 2.

Voices of Islam. John Bowker 1995. Oxford, Oneworld, 188 pp., pb. £8.95, ISBN 1 85168 095 0.

Abraham, A Symbol of Hope for Jews, Christians and Muslims. Kakl‐Josef Kuschel, 1995. London, SCM, xxix + 286 pp., pb. £14.95, ISBN 0 334 02567 2.

Petrus Alfonsi and his Medieval Readers. J Tolan, 1993. Gainesville, University Press of Florida, 288 pp., pb. £15.00, ISBN 0 8130 1239 2; hb, £31.00, ISBN 0 8130 1238 4.

Islamic Science and Engineering. Donald R. Hill, 1993. Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 250 pp., pb. £16.95, ISBN 0 7486 0455 3.

Islam: the view from the edge. Richard W. Bulliet, 1994. New York, Columbia University Press, 236 pp., pb. $16.95, £11.95, ISBN 0 231 08219 3.

Pioneers of Islamic Revival. Ali Rahnema (Ed.), 1994. London, Zed Books, 279 pp., hb. £36.95, ISBN 1 85649 253 2; pb. £14.95, ISBN 1 85649 254 0.

Freiheit der Religion: Christentum und Islam unter dem Anspruch der Men‐schenrechte [Freedom of Religion; Christianity and Islam tinder the claims of human rights]. Johannes Schwartländer (Ed.), 1993. Mainz, Matthias Grünewald Verlag, 474 pp., DM 48.

Religion, Law and Society: A Christian‐Muslim Discussion. Tarek Mitri (Ed.), 1995. Geneva, WCC Publications and Kampen, Kok Pharos, 154pp, pb. £9.95, ISBN 2 8254 1148 5 (WCC) and 90 390 0514 1.

Muslims in Western Europe. J?rgen Nielsen, 1995 (2nd Edition). Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 190 pp., £14.95, ISBN 0 7486 0617 3.

From Ta'izz to Tyneside: an Arab community in the north‐east of England during the early twentieth century. Richard I. Lawless, 1995. Exeter, University of Exeter Press, 292 pp., pb. n.p., ISBN 0 85989 460 6.

The New Middle East. Shimon Peres with Arye Naor, 1993. Shaftesbury, Element Books, 224 pp., hb. £16.99, ISBN 1 85230 519 3.

The Palestinians: the road to nationhood. David McDowall, 1994. London, Minority Rights Group, 215 pp., hb. £15.95, ISBN 1 873194 70 6.

Mahdism in West Africa: the Ijebu Mahdiyya movement. P.B. Clarke, 1995. London, Luzac Oriental, 224 pp., hb. £30.00, ISBN 1 898942 06 4.

Assaulting with Words: popular discourse and the bridle of Shari^cah. A. A. Ibrahim, 1994. Evanston, IL, Northwestern University Press, 208 pp., hb. 859.95, ISBN 0 8101 1081 4.

The Vanguard of the Islamic Revolution: the Jama't‐i Islami of Pakistan. Seyyed Vali Reza Nasr, 1994. London, I. B. Tauris, 301 pp., hb. n.p., ISBN 1 85043 862 3; pb. £14.95, ISBN 1 85043 864 1.     

The object advantage can be eliminated under equiluminant conditions

A key phenomenon supporting the existence of object-based attention is the object advantage, in which responses are faster for within-object, relative to equidistant between-object, shifts of attention. The origins of this effect have been variously ascribed to low-level “bottom-up” sensory processing and to a cognitive “top-down” strategy of within-object attention prioritization. The degree to which the object advantage depends on lower-level sensory processing was examined by differentially stimulating the magnocellular (M) and parvocellular (P) retino-geniculo-cortical visual pathways by using equiluminant and nonequiluminant conditions. We found that the object advantage can be eliminated when M activity is reduced using psychophysically equiluminant stimuli. This novel result in normal observers suggests that the origin of the object advantage is found in lower-level sensory processing rather than a general cognitive process, which should not be so sensitive to differential activation of the bottom-up P and M pathways. Eliminating the object advantage while maintaining a spatial-cueing advantage with reduced M activity suggests that the notion of independent M-driven spatial attention and P-driven object attention requires revision.