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Short-term memory (repetition of sequences) was studied in three patients with conduction aphasia. Even though these patients could reproduce the items presented they could not recall the correct order of the items. It was tentatively concluded that the disorder underlying the repetition defect in these three patients was an impairment of their memory for sequences.

The effects of intonation on the recall of normal sentences, anomalous (grammatical but unmeaningful) sentences, anagram (ungrammatical but meaningful) strings, and word lists were examined. Results indicated that intonation facilitated recall only in the anomalous sentence condition, suggesting that, in such learning situations, intonation may function as an additional component of grammar, rather than as an independent linguistic variable.

The hypothesis that chlorpromazine (CPZ) has the effect in visual information processing of protecting the short term memory visual trace by serving to filter or habituate stimuli following an initial stimulus was tested in 40 normal college students. The method involved the tachistoscopic presentation of paired, successive 3 x 2 consonant arrays, separated by a 200-millisecond interval, with instructions to report either the first or the second array, in a double blind repeated measurement design in which Ss served as their own placebo controls and a single dose of 50 milligrams of CPZ was administered. Under the particular conditions obtaining in this investigation, the results do not support the hypothesis, but suggest that when ipsimodal, isomorphic distraction follows an initial relevant stimulus, CPZ tends to reduce STM span. The results do afford partial support for the hypothesis that CPZ has the effect of delaying the processing (coding) of visual information. A CPZ mechanism of action on response criteria in deciding the relevance of stimuli is advanced and related to clinical effects of CPZ in acute schizophrenics.

Summary Functional specialization between hemispheres in lateralized (right hand-right eye) and crossed (right hand-left eye) subjects was assessed; words and forms were projected tachistoscopically into the right or left visual half-field under conditions of rapid visual recall. Unilateral ocular-handedness when compared to crossed laterality resulted in superior visual perception of language but poorer form perception. The superiority of the lateralized subjects on the Verbal Test suggested greater differentiation of the hemispheres for language concomitant with greater bilateral form perception, whereas the superior performance of the crossed subjects on the Forms Test suggested greater hemisphere specialization for processing visual spatial information concomitant with greater bilateral representation of written language. No support was found for an “interference” hypothesis which predicted impairment in non-verbal, minor hemisphere functions in less lateralized (left-hemisphere) subjects. The results confirmed the hypotheses: (1) that crossed control in binocular visual functioning is not necessarily indicative of a perceptual problem, and (2) that the advantage of lateralization results from increased asymmetry of function rather than decreased interference between linguistic and non-verbal perceptual system.

The original intention of this work was to repeat and extend the observation of Deutsch that the injection of the anticholinesterase DFP, dissolved in peanut oil, into the hippocampus of rats facilitated recall of a task which had been forgotten by control animals (given the peanut oil alone). The present work shows that the amnesia in such control animals is not natural forgetting but results from the peanut oil injections themselves. Indeed, such injections given 24 h previously also impair initial learning (although once a task has been learned under such conditions it is well-remembered a week later). The amnesia caused by the peanut oil injections was not counteracted by intraperitoneal injection of the more specific anticholinesterase, physostigmine. Our findings do not support Deutsch's conclusion, from his experiments with DFP, that changes in cholinergic function are involved in the natural decay of memory with time.

A programmed training task based on the token test was designed and administered to 24 adult aphasics. The point at which the patient failed the token test determined where he began the program and how many training sessions he would receive, provided he did not exceed the error rate before he finished the program. Improvement and errors within the program were analyzed to evaluate this training. Mildly or mild to moderately impaired patients showed significant improvement, while moderately and severely handicapped aphasics did not. This training, however, did not generalize to other “direction-following” tasks for any group of subjects. Within the program, generalization items were the most difficult for all aphasics. Neither in- versus outpatient status nor frequency of training sessions were significantly related to success with this program. This training procedure appeared effective for mildly impaired aphasics. The only overlap between the two groups which emerged in this study involved the youngest subject whose aphasia was the result of a recent traumatic injury.

2 experiments investigated organizational strategies in the short-term memory of MA matched normal and retarded children. Sequences of digits were presented auditorily for immediate and delayed recall (0, 6, and 12 sec.). During Exp. I the retention intervals were silent, and during Exp. II they were filled. Recall was either in order of presentation (forward) or in reverse order (backward). Recall order was determined by a signal that either preceded (cue-before) or followed (cue-after) each digit string. As predicted, both normals and retardates recalled fewer items correctly under conditions assumed to require more efficient organization of information (the backward and cue-after conditions). Recall order interacted significantly with serial position, indicating no primacy effect for backward recall by normal and retarded Ss. Developmental differences in rehearsal efficiency were discussed.

A theory which holds that information is normally stored within a specialized memory rather than the system immediately responsible for the performance of behavior is advanced. The transfer of information from storage to the system immediately responsible for performance, according to the theory, can occur independently of the occurrence of external stimuli. Usually such information transfer would be prompted by motivational cues and always result in anticipation of stimuli. The hippocampus is regarded as part of a system responsible for determining which information is to be transferred from storage to the performance system. The effects of hippocampal ablation are explained in terms of the elimination of such transfer. A subsidiary system relying upon habit formation is held to be responsible for the learning of which hippocampally ablated animals are capable.

Most reports arising from operant conditioning procedures have little or no emphasis on the actual behavior shaping or acquisition phase of the responses which are the cumulative frequency of the well-practiced act. There is a need for more detail for beginners or those desiring a clearer understanding of procedures leading to the finally reported data. The procedure reported here is typically used to compare animal subjects or conditions, such as drugs, both in the acquisition and final phases of behavior. Beginning with an unconditional response (e.g. feeding) a bridging stimulus is paired in classical conditioning fashion. From that point on the bridging stimulus and UCS (feeding—or shock) are used immediately as reward or reinforcement only for responses “in the direction of the final desired behavior. The number of timed standardized behavior shaping sessions to criterion is the best index of acquisition phase performance and the total number bar presses or the rate of bar pressing (slope) is the usual index of operant responding. With timid animals it is often necessary to administer tranquilizers.

This study concerned the effects of caffeine alkaloid on cognitive performance. It was indicated from previous experimentation with this drug that caffeine reduces drowsiness and increases alertness. Caffeine at a dosage level of 150 to 300 mg. is reported to offset fatigue-induced performance decrement in both physical and mental tasks and slows the development of boredom. It was hypothesized that 300 mg. of caffeine, administered in the form of a capsule, will enhance performance on the Paced Sequential Memory Task developed by Lloyd, et al. (1960). Ss were 60 volunteer Howard University students taking undergraduate courses in psychology. They were randomly assigned to four treatment groups: (1) drug, (2) drug disguised, (3) placebo, and (4) no drug. Ss were instructed on the nature of the task, then tested individually. The original data analysis showed no statistically reliable effects, despite a considerable spread of treatment means. Due to extremely high withingroups variance, the data were re-analyzed with outliers removed according to Grubbs' (1950) criterion. A significant interaction was found between presence of drug and presence of pill, suggestive of an “active placebo” effect in the direction of performance enhancement It is noteworthy that such an effect would be misinterpreted in the conventional drug vs placebo model.

Summary. Two attempts to facilitate the aural reception of prose material in educationally subnormal children were compared. The methods used were (1) to show illustrations of items occurring in the details as they were presented, with the aim of aiding imaginal, in addition to verbal, recoding, and (2) to slow the rate of presentation of the material to allow more time for the subjects to analyse and store the information. Both methods produced similar significant improvements in recall performance that were large enough to be of practical usefulness. Ways of studying the recoding performance of educationally subnormal children to provide information to enable further improvement in reception were examined.

Two experiments examined the probed recall of visually presented letter sequences in which the items appeared at different spatial locations. Three types of probe were compared: (1) spatial position; (2) temporal association; and (3) combined position and association. In the first experiment, in which the spatial locations of the items were correlated with their temporal order, spatial probes were more effective than temporal association probes. In the second experiment spatial location was uncorrelated with temporal order, and spatial probes were less effective than temporal association probes. Regardless of the probe, errors tended to be items presented close in time to correct responses: spatial proximity was far less important. The results are discussed in terms of a storage system in which items and their spatial locations are organized within a temporal format. Both experiments showed superior combined probe performance, demonstrating that short-term retrieval is not limited to the use of one type of cue at a time. Secondary aspects of the results showed additionally that subjects can “edit” their responses to avoid making obvious mistakes, and that spatial location can be partially forgotten rather than being completely lost.

Where a strong therapeutic working alliance exists, dreams can be used in conjoint marital therapy. Certain simple techniques are helpful in encouraging the recall and recounting of dreams. Dreams can be reported and discussed either between the marital couple or with the therapist in the three-way therapeutic situation. The therapist must structure the discussion in such a way as to encourage positive uses of the dream material, such as the recall of childhood memories and the mutual discussion of areas of deep feeling. Communication and closeness between a couple can be enhanced by proper use of this technique.

(1959). A Study of Clustering in Free Recall Based on Synonyms. The Journal of General Psychology: Vol. 60, No. 1, pp. 3-10.

This study was designed to compare the copying and recall performances of the Bender-Gestalt of 80 psychiatric patients, falling into five diagnostic groups. To obtain a quantitative measure of the copying performance the Pascal and Suttell scoring system was utilized; however, lack of scoring items for design A and no really satisfactory recall scoring system led to a revised system which resulted in a significantly more discriminating system than Olin and Reznikoff's. Also the study yielded various quantitative and qualitative differences between the five diagnostic groups, the most significant being between the organic and the functional (schizophrenic, depressive, neurotic, and character disorder) sub-groups. Thus performance on the Bender, especially the quantitatively scored recall performance, can be used as a valid diagnostic instrument to differentiate organic from non-organic patients. Yet in each sub-group the various aspects of the Bender performance (copying score, recall score, and ...

(1961). The Relationship Between Recall and Meaningfulness of Motive-Related Words. The Journal of General Psychology: Vol. 65, No. 2, pp. 229-233.

(1963). A Comparison of Three Scaling Techniques in Estimating the Accuracy of Written Recall. The Journal of General Psychology: Vol. 69, No. 2, pp. 203-207.