upgraded and can be regarded as a bona ®de progression from the 1st edition rather than just acosmetic freshening of a tired text.As the reader progresses through the book large amounts of information are presented

which advance views as to o�ender typologies in relation to the di�erent crimetypes. In thechapter on crime scene analysis for example the reader is provided with an exposition of theFBI derived typologies of the `Disorganized' and `Organized' scene details together with thecontingent inferences relating to the associated characteristics of the o�enders. Likewise rapeo�ences and o�enders are presented as being classi®able into typologies (again FBI derived)comprising four types: `power reassurance', `anger retaliatory', `power assertive', and `sadistic'.Each successive type is presented with a list of characteristics of rapists'Modus operandi linkingthem to corresponding, putative predictions as to o�ender characteristics. In addition appro-priate interview strategies for the various types are laid out. To take advantage of a powerreassurance rapists supposed need for a�rmation of masculinity for example, it is suggestedthat a female interrogator might withdraw leaving a male colleague to tease out a confessionon a man-to-man basis by subtly minimizing the o�ender's intention to harm, cause distress tothe victim etc. Although in some countries, such as the UK where there are strict rules ofinterrogation, such pre-emptive stratagem would almost certainly be disallowed as crossing theboundary of acceptable practice.As a general stance to the book the authors are refreshingly upfront about their belief that

successful pro®ling is in no small part an art and not solely a science. While taking the line thatpro®ling aptitude is a skilled business rooted in years of education and training, they alsoacknowledge that there may be some truth that common sense and local knowledge may play asigni®cant part in the pro®ling process. Indeed they go so far as to state a preference for the termsociopsychological pro®ling to psychological pro®ling as an admonition to pro®lers toincorporate social core factors into their pro®ling. Ironically perhaps, it is the underlyingmotivation of the authors to write this book and the rationale for laying out what they seeas recommendations for good pro®ling techniques which emerge as somewhat in need ofclari®cation. On the one hand the reader is informed that it is a classroom textbook that willacquaint the readers with general principles of pro®ling and what they need to be able to developsociopsychological pro®les. On the other hand they are told `it is not a cook-bookÐ it will notturn anyone into a pro®ler'. While these statements are not necessarily contradictory one couldbe forgiven for construing the twenty-plus tables and ®gures of typologies as being more than alittle reminiscent of a Mrs. Beeton approach to what is inevitably an immensely complex andintricate process. And forgiven too for believing that however well-intentioned, such a book willbe an irresistible lure for amateur sleuths to build their careers on unsound groundÐ in the veryway the authors claim to have been dismayed by having seen others do in the past.In the ®nal analysis though the book will almost certainly be a success in sales terms

and until the very recent publication of the multi-disciplinary Wiley Book on O�enderPro®ling (Jackson & Bekerian, 1997), it has all but been alone in discussing the subject in asincere and, for the greater part at least, non-autobiographical way.

REFERENCE

Jackson, J. L. & Bekerian, D. A. (1997). O�ender Pro®ling: Theory, research and practice.New York: Wiley.

JULIAN BOONUniversity of Leicester

The whole spectrum of current memory research

COGNITIVE MODELS OF MEMORY. Martin A. Conway (Ed.). Psychology Press, Hove,East Sussex, 1997. No. of pages: 369. ISBN 0-86377-487-3. Price: £39.95 (hardback).

Computational modelling and cognitive neuroscience represent two of the most importantdevelopments to emerge in recent years in the study of human memory, but despite their

Book Reviews 295

# 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Appl. Cognit. Psychol. 12: 287±296 (1998)

considerable impact there still remains a degree of uncertainty as to how these new approachesshould be related to the more traditional methods and modelling techniques of experimentalpsychology. Cognitive Models of Memory, edited by Martin Conway, represents an ambitiousattempt to provide a broad overview of recent trends in the cognitive modelling of aspects ofhuman memory. It forms part of a book series from Psychology Press entitled Studies inCognition, which aims to provide comprehensive summaries of current research in the areas ofexperimental psychology, computational modelling, and cognitive neuroscience, which will berelevant to both researchers and graduate and undergraduate students.Cognitive Models of Memory itself comprises twelve chapters divided into six sections. These

cover the areas of short-term memory, conceptual knowledge, mental models, autobiogra-phical memory, neurobiology of memory, and age-related changes in memory. The authors ofthe chapters are all highly experienced researchers in the area of human memory, and on anindividual basis the quality of the research presented in the chapters is of a very high standardand presented in an accessible style. Taken as a whole, however, the book does not quite live upto its initial promise. The beginning sections of the book, covering short-term memory,conceptual representation, and mental models, are excellent, and provide a detailed review ofthe major empirical ®ndings in the respective areas. In addition, the authors o�er aninformative discussion on how computational and mathematical models of memory can bothcompliment and improve on the insights provided by informal cognitive models, while at thesame time acknowledging some of the limitations of the formal modelling approach. Thee�ectiveness of the early sections of the book is strengthened by a close thematic overlapbetween the chapters which comprise each section. This is something which is lost later on inthe book, however, as the chapters become far more self-contained, with little or no cross-referencing between them. Martin Conway's introduction goes some way to drawing out linksand common themes between the various chapters, but the book lacks a concluding sectionwhich discusses generally the relationships between formal and informal models of memory,and how the problem of mental representation is dealt with within di�erent areas of currentmemory research. As it is, readers are often left to make these links themselves, and this maylessen the overall value of the book to graduate and undergraduate students, as well as to thoseless familiar with the concepts and theories being discussed.Though there is undoubted value in bringing together such diverse approaches to studying

human memory within a single volume, I occasionally had the concern that too much ofimportance was being omitted or overly condensed. The section on short-term memory onlydeals with the temporary retention of verbal material, with little or no reference being made tothe substantial literature on the short-term storage of visual and spatial information. Anexception to this is the chapter on serial order, in which the sequential searching of locations byan animal is given as an ecological example that may explain more complex sequential memoryin humans. Surprisingly, the rest of the chapter makes no mention of any of the empiricalresearch which has investigated serial order for spatial location. Additionally, it is not madesu�ciently clear in the discussion of formal models of serial order that the majority of thesemodels are only intended to account for sequential memory for verbal information, not spatiallocation. Similarly, the sections on the neurobiology of memory and age-related changes inmemory consist of detailed presentations of one or two speci®c models, with little coverage ofalternative perspectives within those areas. Clearly a book cannot be expected to cover every-thing, but as Cognitive Models of Memory is speci®cally aimed at senior undergraduate andbeginning graduate students, some additional chapters within these sections would have beenhighly valuable in providing a more rounded view of current memory research.These reservations aside, Cognitive Models of Memory has much to recommend it. By

combining summaries of recent work from the whole spectrum of current memory research,it should prove highly useful for those researchers who may feel that they have become overlyfocused on a speci®c aspect of memory, and wish to broaden their perspective of otherdevelopments in the ®eld.

DAVID PEARSONUniversity of Aberdeen

296 Book Reviews

# 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Appl. Cognit. Psychol. 12: 287±296 (1998)