Memory deficits among alcoholics: performance on a selective reminding task

This article compared alcoholics and healthy controls on the Buschke Selective Reminding Task. Alcoholics demonstrated deficits in memory and learning when compared to healthy controls, even when controlling for age. Examination of the alcoholic sample initially showed that age predicted memory deficits; however, age was no longer a significant predictor once the number of years of heavy drinking was entered into the regression equation. Findings suggest a direct link or mechanism of action between alcohol use and memory impairments, above and beyond effects of age or education.     

Problems of axiomatizing religion

The paper discusses problems which arise in attempts to axiomatize parts of religion or religious belief systems. Besides those problems already investigated by Bochenski, like that of the propositional content or the meaning of religious discourse there are several further ones. This paper deals with the question whether full Classical Logic is suitable, whether one universe of discourse is sufficient, how to use definitions and analogous concepts and whether justifications satisfy credibility criteria.

     

Automatic and effortful processing in Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Twenty-five boys with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and 23 age-matched controls were compared on verbal memory tasks differentiating automatic versus effortful information processing. Automatic processing tasks included the recognition of new or old words in a list and the recognition of frequency of occurrence of words in a list. Effortful tasks included free recall of lists of both related and unrelated words. Hyperactive boys did not differ from controls in automatic processing capabilities but demonstrated significantly poorer effortful processing. Intercorrelations of the variables revealed high correlations between scores on effortful measures and also raise questions about the purity of automaticity in some tasks employed. Stepwise discriminant analysis demonstrated that free recall of related words (an effortful task) best discriminated between groups. Effort-related processing in hyperactive and normal children is discussed in relation to variables of motivation, affect, arousal, and other higher-order cognitive processes.     

Age differences in implicit memory: fragmented object identification and category exemplar generation.

In a cross-sectional study of 164 participants aged 21 to 91, the authors examined age differences on two implicit tests, fragmented object identification (FOI) and category exemplar generation (CEG), and on tests of explicit memory, attention, and verbal fluency. FOI results revealed impaired perceptual skill learning in those over 60 and a decrease in perceptual priming across young, middle-aged, and older groups. CEG priming was impaired in those over 80. Regression analysis revealed explicit contamination of priming on both the FOI and CEG tests. Across the three implicit measures, age accounted for 4 to 13% of the variance when explicit memory was controlled. Semantic fluency predicted CEG priming, suggesting possible frontal lobe involvement on the test. Altogether, results indicate that age has a small but reliable influence on implicit memory.     

Encoding-imagery specificity in alcohol state-dependent learning.

A free-recall procedure demonstrated state-dependent learning using alcohol. Tests of long-term memory showed that both high- and low-imagery words were less likely to be recalled if stored while intoxicated rather than under sober conditions. However, information encoded and stored while intoxicated was more effectively retrieved when later tests of recall were performed while intoxicated, as compared to recall accomplished in the sober state. This dissociative recall effect was far more robust with low-imagery than with high-imagery words.