On the failed institutionalization of German comparative psychology prior to 1940.

Despite an illustrious history marked by the work of Wolfgang Köhler and Mathilde Hertz, among others-the significance of which still resonates in different fields of animal behavior research-and the fact that interesting work in the field continues, comparative psychology has no official status within German psychology. A partial explanation for this lack of official representation might derive from unsuccessful attempts historically to secure institutional status. "Gifted" animals served as much of the impetus for the beginning of a scientific animal psychology in Germany and contributed to its institutionalization by providing the incentive for the establishment of organizations dealing with animal psychology.

Relational information processing of novel unrelated actions by infants.

Declarative memory in infants is often assessed via deferred imitation. Not much is known about the information processing basis of the memory effect found in these experiments. While in the typical deferred imitation study the order of actions remains the same during demonstration and retrieval, in two experiments with n=30 respective n=25, 10- and 11-month-old infants, the order of novel unrelated actions in demonstration and retrieval was varied (same, reversed, mixed).

Rediscovering a missing link: The sensory physiologist and comparative psychologist Mathilde Hertz (1891-1975).

Although her work was greatly respected by scholars from both psychology and biology, such as Wolfgang Köhler, Max Wertheimer, and Karl von Frisch, the life and work of the German sensory physiologist and comparative psychologist Mathilde Hearz (1891-1975) have remained relatively obscure until recently. Her research represented a combination of biological principles fused with a psychological-phenomenological perspective. After a prolific career within a short time span, Hertz's career came to an abrupt end in 1933, despite the intervention efforts of Max Planck.