Galen Strawson (2004) has championed an influential argument against the view that a life is, or ought to be, understood as a kind of story with temporal extension. The weight of his argument rests on his self-report of his experience of life as lacking the form or temporal extension necessary for narrative. And though this argument has been widely accepted, I argue that it ought to have been rejected. On one hand, the hypothetical non-diachronic life Strawson proposes would likely be psychologically fragmented. On the other, it would certainly be morally diminished, for it would necessarily lack the capacity for integrity.

Media stories often reach citizens via a two-step process, transmitted to them indirectly via their social networks. Why are some media stories strongly transmitted and impact opinions powerfully in this two-step flow while others quickly perish? Integrating classical research on the two-step flow of political communication and novel theories from cognitive psychology, this article outlines a model for understanding the strength of political frames in the two-step flow. It argues that frames that resonate with cognitive biases (that is, deep-seated psychological decision rules) will be transmitted more and have a stronger influence on opinion when citizens recollect media frames in their social networks. Focusing on the case of episodic and thematic frames, the study tests this model. It introduces a novel research design: implementing the children’s game ‘Telephone’ in consecutive experimental online surveys fielded to nationally representative samples. This design helps gauge the reliability of transmission and the degree of persuasiveness in actual chains of transmission.

Objectives: Episodic memory deficits are both common and impactful among persons infected with HIV; however, we know little about how to improve such deficits in the laboratory or in real life. Retrieval practice, by which retrieval of newly learned material improves subsequent recall more than simple restudy, is a robust memory boosting strategy that is effective in both healthy and clinical populations. In this study, we investigated the benefits of retrieval practice in 52 people living with HIV and 21 seronegatives. Methods: In a within-subjects design, all participants studied 48 verbal paired associates in 3 learning conditions: Massed-Restudy, Spaced-Restudy, and Spaced-Testing. Retention of verbal paired associates was assessed after short- (30 min) and long- (30 days) delay intervals. Results: After a short delay, both HIV+ persons and seronegatives benefited from retrieval practice more so than massed and spaced restudy. The same pattern of results was observed specifically for HIV+ persons with clinical levels of memory impairment. The long-term retention interval data evidenced a floor effect that precluded further analysis. Conclusions: This study provides evidence that retrieval practice improves verbal episodic memory more than some other mnemonic strategies among HIV+ persons. (JINS, 2017, 23, 214–222)