Rat memory: Have we anthropomorphized?

I-36: Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis - Where Have We Been and Where Are We Going

Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is now considered routine in IVF laboratories with micromanipulation capability and access to genetic diagnostic services. The past two decades have witnessed a dramatic increase in the use of PGD, the number of cycles performed, and the indications for which PGD has been used. This increase has been mirrored by a slow, but steady, increase in the range o...

Have We Forgotten Auditory Sensory Memory? Retention Intervals in Studies of Nonverbal Auditory Working Memory

Researchers have shown increased interest in mechanisms of working memory for nonverbal sounds such as music and environmental sounds. These studies often have used two-stimulus comparison tasks: two sounds separated by a brief retention interval (often 3-5 s) are compared, and a "same" or "different" judgment is recorded. Researchers seem to have assumed that sensory memory has a negligible im...

User Reactions to Anthropomorphized Interfaces

It is still an open question whether software agents should be personified in the interface. In order to study the effects of faces and facial expressions in the interface, a series of experiments was conducted to compare subjects' responses to and evaluation of different faces and facial expressions. The experimental results obtained demonstrate that: 1) personified interfaces help users engag...

We have journeyed far.

The article by Goldberg and colleagues found in this issue is a meticulous history of the changes in incidence and in-hospital and long term case fatality rates of myocardial infarction (MI) for a defined New England community from 1975 to 1995 (1). The authors suggest that there is a decline in the incidence of acute MI as well as in the short term and one-year mortality in survivors postdisch...

Have we won?