The heated debate over the methodology of repressed memory therapy is becoming tainted by purely emotional reactions on both sides. Evidence on both sides is ignored by one side or the other, and an objective overview is lacking. The definition of what constitutes "evidence" may be at the heart of the debate, along with a…

Those supporting the idea of the "false memory" syndrome are the same as those supporting the "false allegation" syndrome. Only in the 1980s has the issue of child sexual abuse, once inconceivable, become an accepted phenomenon. (JPS)

Explains the "false memory" advocates as the result of a backlash against political gain by an oppressed minority. Confirming a diagnosis of molestation by mental health professionals is not founded on a single memory, but rather on a constellation of memories and symptoms. (JPS)

Interviewed Israeli students to assess the Adult Attachment Interview's test-retest reliability and effects of the interviewers on the interview itself. Information about subjects' memory and intellectual abilities was obtained from external sources. Found a high degree of interrater and test-retest reliabilities, irrespective of interviewers.…

In memory strategy utilization deficiency, a child spontaneously produces an appropriate strategy but receives little or no benefit from it for recall. Three studies suggest two causes: children's failure to relate the task situation to their event knowledge, or to link the strategy to a second strategy, in this case linking a selective attention…

Presents a model of information processing that demonstrates how to facilitate knowledge acquisition. Various instructional strategies designed to reduce the effect of impositions are described, such as use of novelty, mystery, and questioning techniques; reducing complexity of instructional messages; and the automaticity of secondary skills. (JKP)

Examined the ability of 1-year olds to remember the location of nonvisible targets. Found that infants were able to associate a nonvisible target with a direct landmark and to code its distance and direction with respect to themselves or the larger framework. Difficulty of coding with indirect landmarks was associated with cognitive complexity and…

Two studies involving 177 undergraduates examined the effects that mental representations derived from maps and verbal descriptions have on the recall of facts from a text. Findings suggest that there may be fundamental differences between visual and verbal representations of the same space. (SLD)

Examined changes in preschoolers' ability to distinguish among memories of performed, pretended, and imagined episodes, and used source monitoring as a tool for inferring the nature of preschoolers' conceptualization of pretense. Found significant improvements between ages three and four in their ability to distinguish performed actions from…

Examined four and seven year olds' recall of standard features of a repeated event as opposed to features that deviated from that event. Younger children had more difficulty determining which features occurred in the events. Concludes that younger children organize their memory for general and specific event episodes differently than older…

Discusses studies of the neurobiology of memory and cognition. Presents the findings of anatomic and physiological studies of monkeys that have led to discoveries about the structure of working memory. (MCO)

This study, with 39 4-year-olds, found that children had better free recall accuracy and lowered suggestibility when they participated with a "babysitter" rather than observed a babysitter and child. Addition of forensic context (by a policeman prior to questioning) increased error in free recall but did not affect children's accuracy in…

Assessed 25-month-old girls' and boys' immediate and delayed recall of sequences depicting female-stereotyped, male-stereotyped, and gender-neutral activities. Girls showed equivalent recall of all sequence types. Boys showed better recall of male- than female-stereotyped sequences, and equivalent recall of male-stereotyped and gender-neutral…

Two studies investigated the effect of age on memory for visual and spatial information. Five to 10 year olds were asked to reconstruct a previously seen spatial arrangement of objects. The association between an object's identity and its location was weaker for younger than for older children. (LB)

Outlines a new personality typology that provides a coherent system for construing and conducting research on learning styles. Discusses analytic, holistic, objective, and subjective styles as the affect versatility. Presents implications for educational goals, such as determining which students can benefit from stylistic versatility and which…