Three experiments explored memory for symbolic circuit drawings using skilled electronics technicians and novice subjects. In the first experiment a skilled technician reconstructed circuit diagrams from memory. Recall showed marked "chunking", or grouping, by functional units similar to Chess Masters' recall of chess positions. In the second experiment skilled technicians were able to recall more than were novice subjects following abrief exposure of the drawings. This advantage did not hold for randomly arranged symbols. In the third experiment the size of chunks retrieved systematically increased with additional study time. Supplementary analyses suggested that the chunking by skilled subjects was not an artifact of spatial proximity and chunk statistics, and that severe constraints are placed on any explanation of the data based on guessing. It is proposed that skilled subjects identify the conceptual category for an entire drawing, and retrieve elements using a generate-andtest process.The skill of reading nonverbal, symbolic drawings is important for a wide range of occupations including electronics, engineering, chemistry, and architecture. A skilled electronics technician, for example, must be able to understand complex configurations of symbolic circuit elements, and relate these configurations to hardware in need of repair and to the requirements of circuit design problems. While it seems clear that people become more proficient at this sort of skill as a result of training and relevant experience, it is by no means certain how the irnprovement should be characterized at the level of mental processes. The present studies were carried out to obtain a more precise description of what it is that people who are skilled at reading symbolic drawings actually know. This kind of description may be useful for later applications aimed at assessing the skill level of people, developing job aids for skilled performance, or improving training in such skills.The previous research most relevant to understanding the skill of reading symbolic drawings concerns the striking effects of experience on the recall of chess and Go positions. DeGroot (1966), for example, showed that a Chess Master could correctly replace from memory 91% of the chess pieces in amidgame position (approximately 22 of 24 pieces) after only a 5-sec study of the board. A "weak" player could replace only 41% of the pieces correctly.

The spectral analysis of multichannel magnetoencephalographic data is presented. This analysis revealed a local similarity regime in brain activity ͑in more than two decades of frequencies͒ and provided new parameters for noninvasive experimental studies of the brain.

The objective of this study was to compare efficacy of two meditation protocols for treating patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Patients were randomized to two groups-matched for sex, age, and medication status-and blinded to the comparison protocol. They were told the trial would last for 12 months, unless one protocol proved to be more efficacious. If so, groups would merge, and the group that received the less efficacious treatment would also be afforded 12 months of the more effective one. The study was conducted at Children's Hospital, San Diego, Calif. Patients were selected according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Third Edition-Revised (DSM-III-R) criteria and recruited by advertisements and referral. At baseline, Group 1 included 11 adults and 1 adolescent, and Group 2 included 10 adults. Group 1 employed a kundalini yoga meditation protocol and Group 2 employed the Relaxation Response plus Mindfulness Meditation technique. Baseline and 3-month interval testing was conducted using the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS), Symptoms Checklist-90-Revised Obsessive Compulsive (SCL-90-R OC) and Global Severity Index (SCL-90-R GSI) scales, Profile of Moods scale (POMS), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), and Purpose in Life (PIL) test. Seven adults in each group completed 3 months of therapy. At 3 months, Group 1 demonstrated greater improvements (Student's independent groups t-test) on the Y-BOCS, SCL-90-R OC and GSI scales, and POMS, and greater but nonsignificant improvements on the PSS and PIL test. An intent-to-treat analysis (Y-BOCS) for the baseline and 3-month tests showed that only Group 1 improved. Within-group statistics (Student's paired t-tests) showed that Group 1 significantly improved on all six scales, but Group 2 had no improvements. Groups were merged for an additional year using Group 1 techniques. At 15 months, the final group (N=11) improved 71%, 62%, 66%, 74%, 39%, and 23%, respectively, on the Y-BOCS, SCL-90-R OC, SCL-90-R GSI, POMS, PSS, and PIL; P<0.003 (analysis of variance). This study demonstrates that kundalini yoga techniques are effective in the treatment of OCD.

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