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Cognition on cognition
Book Reviews COGNITION on Cognition. - J. Mehler and S. Franck (Eds.) (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1995, 486pp., Price: US $45.00) The journal Cognition: International Journal of Cognitive Science was first published in the late 1960s by T.G. Bever and Jaques Mehler. It was intended to provide a more multidisciplinary forum than that offered by most existing journals in psychology and linguistics. The volume COGNITION on Cognition is a reprint of a series of articles that originally appeared in a special issue assembled to celebrate the 50th volume of the journal. The book consists of 23 chapters arranged into three main sections: (1) Neuropsychology, (2) Thinking and (3) Language and Perception. The section on Neuropsyehology is relatively short, but includes a number of stimulating papers. The chapter by Cosmides and Tooby is particularly intriguing in that it approaches the interpretation of the structure and function of the human mind from an evolutionary perspective, 'because the architecture of the human mind acquired its functional organization through the evolutionary process'. Galaburda's chapter on developmental dyslexia reviews prenatal and immediate postnatal factors in brain development contributing to this syndrome. The section on Thinking consist of 8 chapters, and deals with several issues fundamental to cognitive science such as the nature of concepts and reasoning. There are also several papers devoted to how infants develop species-specific behaviors. The final group of papers deal with aspects of language and perception, and concludes with a chapter on Folk Psychology The arrangement of the chapters sometimes seems a bit arbitrary, but if there is a theme to this collection of papers, it is perhaps that they are muitidisciplinary with no special allegiance to either psychology, linguistics or neurology. Generally speaking, it will be of most interest to cognitive scientists with a slight philosophical rather than biological bend. Ola A. Seines
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Baltimore, MD, USA Metacognition: Knowin 8 About Knowing. - J. Metcaffe and A.P. Shimamura (Eds.) (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1996, 334pp., Price: US $17.50) This edited volume describes the latest psychological research on metacognition, the seemingly human ability to reflect upon our mental
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activity. Despite its feeble roots in turn-of-the-century introspectionism and its outfight rejection by behaviorists, metacognition has re-emerged to become an experimentally tractable and theoretically rich topic of study. This resurgence of interest makes a survey of the latest research particularly timely, and this book presents a highly readable and informative overview. The introductory chapter offers an insightful exposition on factors limiting the progress of psychological research and presents explicit guidelines for facilitating progress. Subsequent chapters provide datarich insights into such interesting topics as what causes frustrating, 'tipof-the-tongue' states and how they are resolved, how accurate humans are in assessing what they know, and relatedly, how accurate eyewitness testimony is. Other chapters are primarily of interest to the cognitive scientist. These include descriptions of several metacognitive theories and detailed, though accessible computational models. Diagrams guide the reader through the more complex models. Although studies are described at a variety of levels of analysis, the focus of the book is clearly cognitive. Most of the research focuses on how self-reflective processes affect perception, memory, and decisionmaking in cognitively normal individuals. Only in the two chapters written by the volume's editors is there any lengthy discussion of metacognition in patient groups. The particularly interesting chapter on neuropsychology delineates the experimental conditions under which memory and perception seem to occur without conscious awareness. These studies raise interesting issues about the extent to which metacognitive research informs us of the 'biology' of consciousness. Although there is little discussion of the development of self-reflective processes throughout childhood, there is an informative chapter on ageassociated changes in metacognition. Many readers will find comfort in learning that although people tend to believe their memory abilities decrease with age, there is only a modest correlation between an individual's actual memory performance and their perceptions of that performance. The comprehensive, authoritative, and well-edited chapters make for a book that should be of widespread interest. Pauline M. Maki
Department of Psychiatry Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Baltimore, MD, USA
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Baltimore, MD, USA Metacognition: Knowin 8 About Knowing. - J. Metcaffe and A.P. Shimamura (Eds.) (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1996, 334pp., Price: US $17.50) This edited volume describes the latest psychological research on metacognition, the seemingly human ability to reflect upon our mental
519
activity. Despite its feeble roots in turn-of-the-century introspectionism and its outfight rejection by behaviorists, metacognition has re-emerged to become an experimentally tractable and theoretically rich topic of study. This resurgence of interest makes a survey of the latest research particularly timely, and this book presents a highly readable and informative overview. The introductory chapter offers an insightful exposition on factors limiting the progress of psychological research and presents explicit guidelines for facilitating progress. Subsequent chapters provide datarich insights into such interesting topics as what causes frustrating, 'tipof-the-tongue' states and how they are resolved, how accurate humans are in assessing what they know, and relatedly, how accurate eyewitness testimony is. Other chapters are primarily of interest to the cognitive scientist. These include descriptions of several metacognitive theories and detailed, though accessible computational models. Diagrams guide the reader through the more complex models. Although studies are described at a variety of levels of analysis, the focus of the book is clearly cognitive. Most of the research focuses on how self-reflective processes affect perception, memory, and decisionmaking in cognitively normal individuals. Only in the two chapters written by the volume's editors is there any lengthy discussion of metacognition in patient groups. The particularly interesting chapter on neuropsychology delineates the experimental conditions under which memory and perception seem to occur without conscious awareness. These studies raise interesting issues about the extent to which metacognitive research informs us of the 'biology' of consciousness. Although there is little discussion of the development of self-reflective processes throughout childhood, there is an informative chapter on ageassociated changes in metacognition. Many readers will find comfort in learning that although people tend to believe their memory abilities decrease with age, there is only a modest correlation between an individual's actual memory performance and their perceptions of that performance. The comprehensive, authoritative, and well-edited chapters make for a book that should be of widespread interest. Pauline M. Maki
Department of Psychiatry Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Baltimore, MD, USA