CENTRAL bankers were compelling figures in the 1920s, not least because they preferred to operate in secret. The cloak was peculiarly attractive to Sir Montagu Norman, governor of the Bank of England (pictured above, right), who adopted a false identity when he travelled, though this sometimes attracted attention rather than deflecting it. Asked for his reasons for promoting a policy, Norman replied: “I don’t have reasons. I have instincts.” Benjamin Strong, Norman’s principal collaborator, ran the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which was responsible for America’s international financial relationships. In the mid-1920s, Strong decided the American economy was sufficiently prosperous that he could widen his brief to promote economic stability. Liaquat Ahamed suggests that Strong more than anyone else “invented the modern central banker”.
Norman and Strong were wedded to the gold standard. Emile Moreau, the less clubable governor of the Banque de France, was an obsessive hoarder of gold and tended to do his nation’s own thing. The arrogant Hjalmar Schacht (above left), a spiky German nationalist who headed the Reichsbank, had, by a remarkable sleight of hand, ended Germany’s hyperinflation in 1923, but he was unable to persuade his fellow central bankers to forget reparations, even though they all appreciated that heavy post-war payments were “bleeding Germany white”.
The quartet, united by a belief that they knew best, had persuaded the great powers to leave the fate of their economies to the antique workings of the gold standard—“a barbarous relic” in the view of John Maynard Keynes. They had the power, in a legendary phrase, to “crucify mankind upon a cross of gold”, and they did so. The problem was that there was not enough gold to finance world trade. Stocks were concentrated in America and France, and countries like Britain, where it was scarce, had to borrow heavily, and to adjust interest rates and government spending at the expense of employment in order to replenish gold reserves.
A loan organised by Strong enabled Norman to get Britain back onto the gold standard in 1926 (it had slipped off during the first world war). Norman’s advice helped persuade Strong to lower interest rates in 1927, which only increased irrational exuberance on Wall Street.
These early central bankers were an odd lot. Norman, who dabbled with spiritualism, apparently informed a colleague that he could walk through walls. He suffered regular nervous breakdowns, and was actually on sick leave when Britain left the gold standard again in 1931. Strong suffered from permanent ill health and was often affected by the generous use of morphine to control pain. He died in October 1928 before the Wall Street Crash and the Great Depression, but Mr Ahamed does not appear to believe that things would have turned out any differently had he lived: in a crushing conclusion, he writes that the Great Depression was “the direct result of a series of misjudgments by economic policymakers…by any measure the most dramatic series of collective blunders ever made by financial officials.” Looking back in 1948, Norman’s judgment was no less harsh. “We achieved absolutely nothing,” he said, “except that we collected a lot of money from a lot of poor devils and gave it to the four winds.”
Politicians were left to clear up the mess they left. One of them was Hitler, who readily instigated a series of measures to combat German unemployment which were similar to those Gordon Brown is adopting today. (Schacht later joined the anti-Hitler resistance.) Britain’s prospects brightened as soon as the gold standard was dropped. The French, less troubled, remained loyal to gold until 1936.
But the most original solution was that of President Franklin Roosevelt, soon after his inauguration in 1933. Mr Ahamed resurrects a 59-year-old agricultural economist from Cornell University by the name of George Warren, whose study of long-term trends in commodity prices led him to believe that, since falling prices were associated with depression, recovery ought to be encouraged by rising prices. The president liked the idea and decided to devalue the dollar—despite vigorous opposition from the gold bugs—simply by increasing the gold price. One of his own economic advisers lamented: “This is the end of Western civilisation.” For a number of weeks, the president would consult his advisers over boiled eggs at breakfast and randomly drive up the gold price, beginning at $31.36 an ounce until it settled at $35. By then a recovery was under way.http://LOUIS1J1Sheehan1Esquire.US
This absorbing study of the first collective of central bankers is provocative, not least because it is still relevant. Mr Ahamed, who was a World Bank economist and now manages investments in America, likens central bankers to Sisyphus. This was the man whom the gods condemned to roll a large stone up a steep hill only for it to roll down again when it reached the peak. These great central bankers were so wedded to a dogma that they were incapable of imagining its failure.
Perhaps this kind of single-mindedness is endemic to central bankers; since the early 1990s the idea of controlling inflation at all costs has been so compelling that central bankers have ignored such unintended consequences as bubbles in the housing and stock markets. But these were big enough, when they burst, to trigger a worldwide slump. Not lords of finance surely; more like high priests. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
hormone 4.hor.00987 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire. Hormone-replacement treatment appears to protect healthy older women from verbal-memory losses that typically accompany aging, a new study finds.
However, this estrogen and progesterone therapy confers no benefit to the women on tests of attention, visualizing items in space, and memory for pictures and quantities, according to a report in the February American Journal of Psychiatry.http://louis2j2sheehan2esquire2.wordpress.com
Earlier investigations that asked whether hormone-replacement treatment boosts memory and thinking in healthy women after menopause yielded mixed results. In part, the confusion may result because women who elect to receive hormone therapy are often healthier and better educated than those who don't. So, hormone recipients may start out with a cognitive advantage. http://louis2j2sheehan2esquire2.wordpress.com
Psychologist Pauline M. Maki of the National Institute on Aging in Baltimore and her colleagues avoided this problem by studying only women who had comparably high levels of physical health, education, income, and verbal ability. The women, between 50 and 89 years old, all had been through menopause. The researchers gave cognitive tests to 81 women who had never received hormones and 103 women who had received estrogen-replacement therapy, sometimes with progesterone, for periods of 6 months to more than 20 years.
Women who had taken estrogen for 6 months to 1 year performed as well on a verbal-memory test as did those who had undergone much longer courses of therapy, Maki says. They all outperformed those with no hormone treatment.
Her team has now launched a 6-year study of memory and thinking skills among more than 2,000 healthy postmenopausal women, some of whom are receiving hormone therapy.
Scientists who pursue such research should avoid the stereotype of menopause as a deficiency that requires medical treatment, remarks psychiatrist Nada L. Stotland of Illinois Masonic Medical Center in Chicago in an editorial accompanying the research report. Instead, menopause initiates a healthy developmental phase, she says. For tens of thousands of years, some women in hunter-gatherer groups performed vital roles into their seventies without hormone therapy, she points out. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
However, this estrogen and progesterone therapy confers no benefit to the women on tests of attention, visualizing items in space, and memory for pictures and quantities, according to a report in the February American Journal of Psychiatry.http://louis2j2sheehan2esquire2.wordpress.com
Earlier investigations that asked whether hormone-replacement treatment boosts memory and thinking in healthy women after menopause yielded mixed results. In part, the confusion may result because women who elect to receive hormone therapy are often healthier and better educated than those who don't. So, hormone recipients may start out with a cognitive advantage. http://louis2j2sheehan2esquire2.wordpress.com
Psychologist Pauline M. Maki of the National Institute on Aging in Baltimore and her colleagues avoided this problem by studying only women who had comparably high levels of physical health, education, income, and verbal ability. The women, between 50 and 89 years old, all had been through menopause. The researchers gave cognitive tests to 81 women who had never received hormones and 103 women who had received estrogen-replacement therapy, sometimes with progesterone, for periods of 6 months to more than 20 years.
Women who had taken estrogen for 6 months to 1 year performed as well on a verbal-memory test as did those who had undergone much longer courses of therapy, Maki says. They all outperformed those with no hormone treatment.
Her team has now launched a 6-year study of memory and thinking skills among more than 2,000 healthy postmenopausal women, some of whom are receiving hormone therapy.
Scientists who pursue such research should avoid the stereotype of menopause as a deficiency that requires medical treatment, remarks psychiatrist Nada L. Stotland of Illinois Masonic Medical Center in Chicago in an editorial accompanying the research report. Instead, menopause initiates a healthy developmental phase, she says. For tens of thousands of years, some women in hunter-gatherer groups performed vital roles into their seventies without hormone therapy, she points out. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Thursday, December 25, 2008
drd4 6.drd.0 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
A gene thought by some scientists to foster a bold, novelty-seeking personality, as well as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), apparently spread substantially in human populations over roughly the past 40,000 years, according to a new study.
One form of the gene gained evolutionary favor near the end of the Stone Age because it enhanced survival and reproduction, proposes a team led by biologist Yuan-Chun Ding of the University of California, Irvine. The form is now the second-most-prevalent variant of the so-called DRD4 gene, which codes for a type of dopamine receptor (DRD4) found on brain cells.
Ding's team theorizes that prehistoric people who trekked from Africa to distant locales may have relied on nervy, intrepid individuals to lead the journey. Many bearers of this variant of the DRD4 gene would have had the requisite personalities to head up migrating groups, Ding's group asserts in the Jan. 8 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
To study variations in this gene, the researchers scrutinized the DNA sequence of the gene in 600 adults from Africa, Asia, Europe, the Americas, and the Pacific.
The most common DRD4 arrangement�found in about two-thirds of people�differs slightly from several less prevalent variations of the gene, the researchers say.
In contrast, the novelty- and ADHD-linked form of the gene diverges markedly from the most common pattern. It's likely that this version of the DRD4 gene, which occurs in a sizable minority of people worldwide, resulted from one or more unusual mutations of the common form and then increased in frequency as the Stone Age wound down, around 40,000 years ago, Ding and his coworkers theorize.http://Louis-j-sheehan.com
Although this gene conferred advantages in prehistoric times, it appears to stoke childhood behaviors that now get diagnosed as ADHD, the researchers add.
Nonetheless, in an earlier study, they found that children with ADHD who possess this particular form of the DRD4 gene do much better on attention tests than ADHD kids with different versions of the gene do. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire .
Other scenarios may explain the spread of this specific DRD4 gene, say Henry Harpending of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and Gregory Cochran of the research firm Reconstruction Concepts in Albuquerque, N.M., in a comment published with the new study. For example, the prehistoric advent of societies in which women produced most of the food would have left men with lots of time to compete for mates. In these groups, a gene facilitating risky "show-off" behaviors in men would have proliferated, the anthropologists suggest.http://Louis-j-sheehan.com
One form of the gene gained evolutionary favor near the end of the Stone Age because it enhanced survival and reproduction, proposes a team led by biologist Yuan-Chun Ding of the University of California, Irvine. The form is now the second-most-prevalent variant of the so-called DRD4 gene, which codes for a type of dopamine receptor (DRD4) found on brain cells.
Ding's team theorizes that prehistoric people who trekked from Africa to distant locales may have relied on nervy, intrepid individuals to lead the journey. Many bearers of this variant of the DRD4 gene would have had the requisite personalities to head up migrating groups, Ding's group asserts in the Jan. 8 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
To study variations in this gene, the researchers scrutinized the DNA sequence of the gene in 600 adults from Africa, Asia, Europe, the Americas, and the Pacific.
The most common DRD4 arrangement�found in about two-thirds of people�differs slightly from several less prevalent variations of the gene, the researchers say.
In contrast, the novelty- and ADHD-linked form of the gene diverges markedly from the most common pattern. It's likely that this version of the DRD4 gene, which occurs in a sizable minority of people worldwide, resulted from one or more unusual mutations of the common form and then increased in frequency as the Stone Age wound down, around 40,000 years ago, Ding and his coworkers theorize.http://Louis-j-sheehan.com
Although this gene conferred advantages in prehistoric times, it appears to stoke childhood behaviors that now get diagnosed as ADHD, the researchers add.
Nonetheless, in an earlier study, they found that children with ADHD who possess this particular form of the DRD4 gene do much better on attention tests than ADHD kids with different versions of the gene do. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire .
Other scenarios may explain the spread of this specific DRD4 gene, say Henry Harpending of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and Gregory Cochran of the research firm Reconstruction Concepts in Albuquerque, N.M., in a comment published with the new study. For example, the prehistoric advent of societies in which women produced most of the food would have left men with lots of time to compete for mates. In these groups, a gene facilitating risky "show-off" behaviors in men would have proliferated, the anthropologists suggest.http://Louis-j-sheehan.com
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
first 3.fir.002889 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Soon, every single American will have a digital avatar—and we’re not talking about Second Life characters. Researchers at Virginia Tech are building a nationwide computer simulation that will include 300 million synthetic individuals with true-to-life characteristics taken from U.S. Census data. The researchers say there are many uses for the simulation, from predicting the spread of infectious diseases to tracking fads and modeling traffic flow. http://www.myspace.com/louis_j_sheehan_esquire
The program, known as EpiSimdemics, already has 100 million simulated residents.
http://louis-j-sheehan-esquire.blog.friendster.comEach resident is endowed with as many as 163 variables, including age, education, occupation, family size, and general health. Although each synthetic resident isn’t meant to represent a specific real-life person, the information is taken from publicly available demographics data. The residents are mapped to real houses and real neighborhoods and assigned local schools, grocery stores, and shopping centers. The researchers hope to add more variables, including air travel using real-life flight data. http://louis-j-sheehan-esquire.blog.friendster.com/
One of the first uses will be to study the spread of infectious diseases like the flu. Since the program can model the movements of the residents and their interactions with each other, by seeding a few residents with a virus, the program will simulate how the virus spreads, even taking into account the progress of the disease in each person. http://myface.com/Louis_J_Sheehan
But the researchers have bigger plans for their virtual reality nation: “The vision is for a Google-like interface, where you approach the system and ask it a question,” says researcher Christopher Barrett. “The framework is there, and now we’re pushing the system to larger and larger scales.” Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
The program, known as EpiSimdemics, already has 100 million simulated residents.
http://louis-j-sheehan-esquire.blog.friendster.comEach resident is endowed with as many as 163 variables, including age, education, occupation, family size, and general health. Although each synthetic resident isn’t meant to represent a specific real-life person, the information is taken from publicly available demographics data. The residents are mapped to real houses and real neighborhoods and assigned local schools, grocery stores, and shopping centers. The researchers hope to add more variables, including air travel using real-life flight data. http://louis-j-sheehan-esquire.blog.friendster.com/
One of the first uses will be to study the spread of infectious diseases like the flu. Since the program can model the movements of the residents and their interactions with each other, by seeding a few residents with a virus, the program will simulate how the virus spreads, even taking into account the progress of the disease in each person. http://myface.com/Louis_J_Sheehan
But the researchers have bigger plans for their virtual reality nation: “The vision is for a Google-like interface, where you approach the system and ask it a question,” says researcher Christopher Barrett. “The framework is there, and now we’re pushing the system to larger and larger scales.” Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
rocks 4.roc.0002 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
New research explains why a cancer-causing form of chromium has been turning up in ground and surface waters far from industrial sources. http://www.soulcast.com/Louis3J3Sheehan/
Chrome plating and dye manufacturing are among the industries that generate chromium (VI), a form that the element assumes in certain compounds. But recently, researchers have discovered the toxic agent in regions—including California and parts of Mexico and Italy—beyond the reach of industrial contamination.
In these cases, "it was obvious that [chromium (VI)] had to be coming from a natural material," says Scott Fendorf, an environmental chemist at Stanford University.
Fendorf and his coworkers focused on the mineral chromite, found in certain rocks and soils common to the Pacific coasts and other seismically active areas. Over time, chromite slowly releases chromium (III), a relatively benign form of the element.
The researchers reacted chromite with birnessite, a manganese-containing mineral that often forms in weathered rocks and soils containing chromite. In water, powders of the two solids produced chromium (VI). "Both minerals tend to be fairly insoluble, but they dissolved just enough" to react, says Fendorf. http://www.soulcast.com/Louis3J3Sheehan/
The researchers conclude that within 100 days, chromite and birnessite could generate chromium (VI) at concentrations above the World Health Organization's limit for drinking water—which is 50 micrograms per liter. In acidic conditions, such concentrations could be reached in fewer than 10 days, the team reports in the April 17 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The work indicates that certain chromite-rich regions are at high risk for natural chromium (VI) generation. "You need to watch the groundwater pretty closely in these areas," Fendorf says. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Chrome plating and dye manufacturing are among the industries that generate chromium (VI), a form that the element assumes in certain compounds. But recently, researchers have discovered the toxic agent in regions—including California and parts of Mexico and Italy—beyond the reach of industrial contamination.
In these cases, "it was obvious that [chromium (VI)] had to be coming from a natural material," says Scott Fendorf, an environmental chemist at Stanford University.
Fendorf and his coworkers focused on the mineral chromite, found in certain rocks and soils common to the Pacific coasts and other seismically active areas. Over time, chromite slowly releases chromium (III), a relatively benign form of the element.
The researchers reacted chromite with birnessite, a manganese-containing mineral that often forms in weathered rocks and soils containing chromite. In water, powders of the two solids produced chromium (VI). "Both minerals tend to be fairly insoluble, but they dissolved just enough" to react, says Fendorf. http://www.soulcast.com/Louis3J3Sheehan/
The researchers conclude that within 100 days, chromite and birnessite could generate chromium (VI) at concentrations above the World Health Organization's limit for drinking water—which is 50 micrograms per liter. In acidic conditions, such concentrations could be reached in fewer than 10 days, the team reports in the April 17 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The work indicates that certain chromite-rich regions are at high risk for natural chromium (VI) generation. "You need to watch the groundwater pretty closely in these areas," Fendorf says. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Brighten 77.bri.2222000 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire . A distressingly large number of children suffer physical or sexual abuse. A new study adds a genetic twist to the much-noted tendency of maltreated kids to become violent, law-breaking adults.http://www.myspace.com/louis_j_sheehan_esquire
Abused boys who inherited a highly active version of one gene crucial in brain chemistry later had far fewer behavioral problems and arrests for violent crimes than did abused boys who were born with a sluggish version of the same gene, say psychologist Avshalom Caspi of King's College in London and his colleagues.
"There's an interplay between two variations of this gene and the experience of childhood maltreatment," remarks King's College psychologist Terrie Moffitt, a study coauthor. "One genetic variation may protect abused boys from converting their stressful experiences into antisocial behavior toward others."http://www.myspace.com/louis_j_sheehan_esquire
Individual differences in the gene for monoamine oxidase A, or MAOA, proved critical for maltreated boys tracked up to age 26, the scientists report in the Aug. 2 Science. Situated on the X chromosome, the MAOA gene yields an enzyme that lowers brain concentrations of chemical messengers such as norepinephrine, serotonin, and dopamine.
Earlier studies had linked genetic deficiencies in MAOA production to extreme aggression in mice and in men of a Dutch family.
Caspi's team probed the molecular structure of MAOA genes in 442 young men in New Zealand who had been studied since age 3 (SN: 4/15/95, p. 232). By age 11,
36 percent of the boys had experienced some form of maltreatment, including physical and sexual abuse and frequent shuttling from one caretaker to another.
Although only 12 percent of maltreated boys possessed the low-activity MAOA gene, Caspi found, they account for nearly half of all later convictions for physical assault and other violent crimes.
Moreover, 85 percent of severely maltreated boys with the low-activity MAOA gene developed antisocial behavior by young adulthood. Antisocial behavior includes persistent fighting, bullying, stealing, and law breaking with no sign of remorse.
In contrast, antisocial behavior and criminal arrests occurred in only a minority of maltreated males who had inherited the highly active MAOA gene. High MAOA activity may promote "trauma resistance," even though the boost doesn't make all maltreated boys solid citizens, Moffitt contends.
Compared with the males, females in the same study showed a significant but less dramatic effect of the MAOA gene on the linkage between childhood maltreatment and later antisocial behavior. One reason that females engaged in less of such behavior than males did may be that, by having two X chromosomes, girls more often inherited at least one copy of the high-activity MAOA gene, Moffitt theorizes.
The new findings open the door to identifying biological mechanisms that connect childhood maltreatment to ensuing behavior problems, comments psychologist Seth D. Pollak of the University of Wisconsin�Madison. "And when you have a mechanism, you can begin to design effective treatments," he says. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Abused boys who inherited a highly active version of one gene crucial in brain chemistry later had far fewer behavioral problems and arrests for violent crimes than did abused boys who were born with a sluggish version of the same gene, say psychologist Avshalom Caspi of King's College in London and his colleagues.
"There's an interplay between two variations of this gene and the experience of childhood maltreatment," remarks King's College psychologist Terrie Moffitt, a study coauthor. "One genetic variation may protect abused boys from converting their stressful experiences into antisocial behavior toward others."http://www.myspace.com/louis_j_sheehan_esquire
Individual differences in the gene for monoamine oxidase A, or MAOA, proved critical for maltreated boys tracked up to age 26, the scientists report in the Aug. 2 Science. Situated on the X chromosome, the MAOA gene yields an enzyme that lowers brain concentrations of chemical messengers such as norepinephrine, serotonin, and dopamine.
Earlier studies had linked genetic deficiencies in MAOA production to extreme aggression in mice and in men of a Dutch family.
Caspi's team probed the molecular structure of MAOA genes in 442 young men in New Zealand who had been studied since age 3 (SN: 4/15/95, p. 232). By age 11,
36 percent of the boys had experienced some form of maltreatment, including physical and sexual abuse and frequent shuttling from one caretaker to another.
Although only 12 percent of maltreated boys possessed the low-activity MAOA gene, Caspi found, they account for nearly half of all later convictions for physical assault and other violent crimes.
Moreover, 85 percent of severely maltreated boys with the low-activity MAOA gene developed antisocial behavior by young adulthood. Antisocial behavior includes persistent fighting, bullying, stealing, and law breaking with no sign of remorse.
In contrast, antisocial behavior and criminal arrests occurred in only a minority of maltreated males who had inherited the highly active MAOA gene. High MAOA activity may promote "trauma resistance," even though the boost doesn't make all maltreated boys solid citizens, Moffitt contends.
Compared with the males, females in the same study showed a significant but less dramatic effect of the MAOA gene on the linkage between childhood maltreatment and later antisocial behavior. One reason that females engaged in less of such behavior than males did may be that, by having two X chromosomes, girls more often inherited at least one copy of the high-activity MAOA gene, Moffitt theorizes.
The new findings open the door to identifying biological mechanisms that connect childhood maltreatment to ensuing behavior problems, comments psychologist Seth D. Pollak of the University of Wisconsin�Madison. "And when you have a mechanism, you can begin to design effective treatments," he says. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Sunday, November 16, 2008
memory kids 6663.mem.23 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
The second year of life may be particularly memorable. Around the time of their first birthday, children make dramatic advances in remembering simple events for 4 months after witnessing them, a new study finds. This memory breakthrough depends on a proliferation of neural connections in memory-related brain structures known to develop as infants approach age 1, propose Harvard University psychologists Conor Liston and Jerome Kagan.LOUIS-J-SHEEHAN.INFO
The researchers recruited 12 babies and toddlers at each of three ages: 9 months,
17 months, and 24 months. Children watched an experimenter both perform and describe three action sequences. In one sequence, for example, the experimenter said "Clean-up time!" while wiping a table with a paper towel and then throwing the towel into a trash basket. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Kids in the two older groups watched four demonstrations of each action sequence, and 9-month-olds saw six repetitions. After each presentation, the experimenter encouraged children to imitate what they had just seen.
Four months later, the youngsters�then ages 13 months, 21 months, and 28 months�were asked to reenact each set of actions with the same materials after hearing the same verbal descriptions.LOUIS-J-SHEEHAN.INFO
The children now 28 months old correctly performed a majority of previously observed actions, usually in their original order, Liston and Kagan report in the Oct. 31 Nature. The 21-month-olds reenacted what they had seen almost as well as their older peers did. Far fewer signs of accurate recall appeared in 13-month-olds, the only participants who had been under 1 year of age during initial memory trials. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
The researchers recruited 12 babies and toddlers at each of three ages: 9 months,
17 months, and 24 months. Children watched an experimenter both perform and describe three action sequences. In one sequence, for example, the experimenter said "Clean-up time!" while wiping a table with a paper towel and then throwing the towel into a trash basket. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Kids in the two older groups watched four demonstrations of each action sequence, and 9-month-olds saw six repetitions. After each presentation, the experimenter encouraged children to imitate what they had just seen.
Four months later, the youngsters�then ages 13 months, 21 months, and 28 months�were asked to reenact each set of actions with the same materials after hearing the same verbal descriptions.LOUIS-J-SHEEHAN.INFO
The children now 28 months old correctly performed a majority of previously observed actions, usually in their original order, Liston and Kagan report in the Oct. 31 Nature. The 21-month-olds reenacted what they had seen almost as well as their older peers did. Far fewer signs of accurate recall appeared in 13-month-olds, the only participants who had been under 1 year of age during initial memory trials. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
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