Describes the Liberal Arts Studiolo from the Ducal Palace at Guibbio, Italy. Discusses how the room's design and decoration mirrors its educational uses. Notes that the object of education was to provide the young person with a kind of mental library of materials that could be drawn upon quickly. (RS)

Results from an English acceptability-rating experiment are presented that demonstrate that people find doubly nested relative-clause structures just as acceptable when only two verb phrases are included instead of the grammatically required three. Three possible accounts of the results are considered. (Author/VWL)

Argues that metamemory should be conceptualized as personalized, constructed knowledge consisting of accurate and naive beliefs. Illustrates the advantages of such a conceptualization using data about the development of children's beliefs about long-term retention. Concludes by sketching future directions for research in this area. (DSK)

Examines the literature on the validity of memory work and the evidence for the efficacy of therapeutic interventions based on the recovery of childhood-sexual-abuse memories. Current empirical evidence does not support recovered-memory therapy; in fact, participation in recovered-memory therapy may be harmful to clients. (Author/EMK)

Discusses motivations for research replications and makes recommendations for appropriate research strategies. Illustrates research strategies in a review of studies replicating a 1948 study by Soviet psychologist Z.M. Istomina on preschoolers' memory. Concludes that none of the studies closely replicated Istomina's methods, but some replicated…

Two studies tested the hunter-gatherer theory predicting that females should have better incidental memory for objects and locations than males. Subjects were 3- to 6-year olds and adults. Results indicated that females and males remembered more toys or objects congruent with their own sex but that there was no overall advantage for females.…

Investigates relationships between verbal and visual short-term memory (STM) and the acquisition of decoding from the pre-reading through the early acquisition stages in 63 Hebrew-speaking children over a three-year period. Finds that visual parameters may make a crucial contribution to the acquisition of decoding skills, and the size of…

The use of early memories of the marriage relationship in counseling couples provides couples and therapists with insight into individual's convictions about present relationships. This is an extension of the use of early recollections in Adlerian therapy. The literature is reviewed and case examples are provided. (Author/EMK)

Outlines the scenario-mapping and focus (SMF) account of text interpretation, which puts mapping of text onto knowledge in a key position with respect to processing. Reviews supporting evidence. Uses plural reference and nonlogical quantification as illustrations of problems that might be better understood within the SMF framework. (SR)

Five experiments compared metamemory abilities in 6- to 9-year olds with autism, mentally retarded children, and normal controls. Found that children with autism were not impaired on any of the metamemory tasks, although they were less likely than controls to make spontaneous use of memory strategies involving other people. Unexpectedly few…

Describes a genetic engineering project to build an intelligent mouse. Cites understanding the molecular basis of learning and memory as a very important step. Concludes that while science will never create a genius mouse that plays the stock market, it can turn a mouse into a quick learner with a better memory. (YDS)

Tests 78 children (8- to 12-year-olds) on cognitive, linguistic, academic, phonemic awareness, and memory ability. Explores the relationship between phonemic awareness, phonological memory, reading and spelling. Finds that phonemic awareness tasks are significantly correlated with reading decoding and spelling measures with slightly higher…

Investigates the extent to which forward inferences are activated and encoded during reading, as well as their prevalence and their time course. Finds that inferences were encoded and retained in working memory in both high- and low-predictability conditions, and that high-predictability forward inferences were encoded into long-term memory.…

Explores whether indirect measures of memory are associated with age. Results, based on 30 younger and 30 older adults, suggest that direct measures, such as number of words recalled, were related to age, whereas indirect measures (consistency of order of presentation of words recalled) were not associated with age. (RJM)

A study of three adolescents with mental retardation found that six-picture matching was more accurate when a written list was available at the time the participant selected the comparison pictures than on trials in which a list was written, read, or both, but was not available during comparison selection. (CR)