ion Goldstein (1944) has reported that, in concrete thought, we are given over and bound to the immediate experience of the given thing or situation in its particular uniqueness. Our thinking and acting are directed by immediate claims. . . . The most concrete way of dealing with situations or things is to react to but one of their properties, which alone is experienced [p. 18]. Less immediate ...

Comparison and reminding have both been shown to support learning and transfer. Comparison is thought to support transfer because it allows learners to disregard non-matching features of superficially different episodes in order to abstract the essential structure of concepts. Remindings promote memory for the individual episodes and generalization because they prompt learners to retrieve earli...

BACKGROUND/AIMS Proverb interpretation is assumed to reflect executive functions. We hypothesized that proverb interpretation is impaired in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) diagnosed as single-domain impairment by common neuropsychological testing. METHODS We compared performance in a proverb interpretation test in single-domain aMCI patients and patients with early Al...

Background/Aims: Proverb interpretation is assumed to reflect executive functions. We hypothesized that proverb interpretation is impaired in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) diagnosed as single-domain impairment by common neuropsychological testing. Methods: We compared performance in a proverb interpretation test in single-domain aMCI patients and patients with early Al...

Background/Aims: Proverb interpretation is assumed to reflect executive functions. We hypothesized that proverb interpretation is impaired in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) diagnosed as single-domain impairment by common neuropsychological testing. Methods: We compared performance in a proverb interpretation test in single-domain aMCI patients and patients with early Al...

Objective: Concretism is a well-known symptom in patients with schizophrenia. Our aim was to develop a screening tool for the use in in early recognition of psychosis. Method: Subjects referred to the early recognition centre at the Psychiatric Services in Münsterlingen/Switzerland completed a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery including multiple choice proverb items. Results: The pe...