The representation of meaning in memory

534 The final two "'quarters" of this volume are occupied by a smaller number of pages but a i-;l~larger number (27) of authors, represented in the proceedings of the third L. H. Gray Memorial Conference held in Manchester in January 1971 on the subject: "Radiation effects and ihe cell cycle". My liking for a logical sequence of papers is fully satisfied in these remaining pages where the abstracts are printed in order of presentation and provide a valuable record of that important meeting which I attended. The list of participants is too long to print here but two names should be mentioned : firstly, W. K. Sinclair was a pioneer of the technique of synchronising mammalian cells with respect to their progress through the cell cycle and so his data on radiation effects made an important contribution to the Conference. Secondly, Alma Howard (one of the editors of this volume) was, ,H course, one of the authors (with Pelc in 1953) of the classical paper which showed thai DNA synthesis occurs during only a circumscribed phase of the cell cycle. She organised the Conference and hci summary of the final discussion concludes the volume (except for 19 pages of references ~xbich provide valuable source material.)

The Representation o1' Meaning in Memoo', by W. K i n t s c h ( w i t h t h e c o i i a h o r a t i o n Of E. J. C r o t h e r s , G . G l a s s , J. M. K e e n a n , G . M c K o o n

a n d D. M o n k ) . ~ii

279

p a g e s , 25 i l l u s t r a t i o n s , 33 t a b l e s , L a w r e n c e E r l b a u m A s s o c i a t e s , Pub|isher~,, ttillsdaie: N . J . , 1974, £ 8.00. As the cover states, this volume presents empirical and theoretical investigations of the role of meaning in psychological processes. The opening chapter discusses attitudes to the area. Under Part 1 theoretical propositions are discussed, firstly a propositional theory for the presentation of meaning in knowledge and memory, followed by a discussion of the adequacy of this, then a process model for episodic memory is outlined. This deals mainly with encoding and retrieval aspects of memory, discussing storage and organisation. Part I t of the book consists of a report on experimental investigations and include~ such topics as rate of reading and comprehension, sentence memory, the retrieval of information and the use Of knowledge in memory search. This is a very specialised book which may be of considerable interest to the reseacch neurologist specialising in memory, language or learning. The views represented are not always those which would be generally accepted in this area. 1 would, therefore, recommend the book for librao, reference use, but it would probably not be of any great importance to the clinical neurologist, A statement of the position of Kintsch, and a book, I think, of more general use to neurologists, would be the same author's text: Learning, Memor), amt Conceptual Processes, Wiley and Sons Ltd., 1970, This latter book, 1 think, would be useful to those interested both in clinical neurology and in research R 12). Savage