In two experiments, young subjects, healthy elderly subjects (spouses), and highly intelligent elderly subjects (elite elderly), were compared with dementia patients in a variety of explicit and implicit memory tasks, to investigate two issues: whether priming in Alzheimer-type dementia is contingent upon the presence of pre-existing representations, and whether intelligence modulates performance in explicit memory tasks in healthy ageing. Dementia patients performed as well as spouses in a homo-phone-spelling task. Moreover, they established new contextual associations when memory was tested by word-stem completion. The hypothesis that priming in dementia is contingent upon pre-existing memory representations was not supported. Spouses, elite elderly, and young subjects did not differ in their ability to recognize correctly recently heard stimuli or to complete word stems. However, recall of lists of words and paired associates was better in both young and elite elderly subjects than in spouses. It is concluded that intellectual capacity rather than chronological age in healthy subjects modulates performance in explicit-memory tasks.

Seventy-five persons (57 male and 18 female) with a high risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) were randomly assigned in equal numbers to three 8-week behavioral treatment programs. All three treatments were designed to alter simultaneously a number of risk-elevating behavior patterns, in the expectation that change in any one behavior pattern would reinforce change in others. Weight, blood pressure, and aerobic fitness were regularly assessed in all subjects. Serum lipids were also measured, but less frequently. All three interventions produced significant beneficial changes in the major objective measures, and the changes were well maintained after 12 months. The most improved group exhibited the following mean changes: weight loss of 9.2 kg, reductions in blood pressure of 12.9/8.8 mm Hg, improvement in aerobic capacity of 33%, reduction in serum cholesterol of 0.45 mmol/liter, and reduction in current overall CHD risk of 41%. The effectiveness of the interventions was positively related to the degree to which the programs emphasized training in, and detailed application of, behavioral change principles.

Plastic surgery patients undergoing either local (LA) or general (CA) anaesthesia of at least fortylive minutes' duration and a non-patient control group were used to examine the extent and duration 0/ deterioration in rnental functioning following CA and the factors influencing such deterioration. Mental jilflctioning was assessed by a ba{(ery of six tests administered one week before anaesthesia, four days after anaesthesia and six weeks after anaesthesia. Mental performance of CA patients but not of LA patients was significantly impaired on the fourth postoperative day. Six weeks ajrer anaesthesia CA patients were still per/orming significantly below controls. There was marked variation in the pallern of recovery, some CA patients failing to regain their pre-operative level 0/ performance after six weeks. Severity of deterioration jollowing general anaesthesia was significantly correlated with habitual ca/leine consllmption.

Electrographic (EEG, EOG, EMG) indices have been used for some decades in the definition of the stages of sleep and more recently in the