A retrieved context account of spacing and repetition effects in free recall.

Repeating an item in a list benefits recall performance, and this benefit increases when the repetitions are spaced apart (Madigan, 1969; Melton, 1970). Retrieved context theory incorporates 2 mechanisms that account for these effects: contextual variability and study-phase retrieval. Specifically, if an item presented at position i is repeated at position j, this leads to retrieval of its context from its initial presentation at i (study-phase retrieval), and this retrieved context will be used to update the current state of context (contextual variability).

Problems in Maintenance ECT in Bipolar Disorder: Replacement by Lithium and Anticonvulsants.

The authors describe three elderly patients whose electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) was characterized by protracted and unsatisfactory courses and frequent relapse. Sustained improvement resulted from the discontinuation of maintenance ECT and continuation of pharmacotherapy with combinations of lithium and carbamazepine or valproic acid. The patients are compared to a more typical patient with bipolar disorder who was successfully treated with long-term maintenance ECT.