O tempo e a linguagem

Pós-graduação em Linguística e Língua Portuguesa - FCLAR

Estudo contrastivo das emoções em expressões idiomáticas corporais do italiano e do português brasileiro: uma vertente cognitivista

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Expressões Idiomáticas bilíngues relativas ao campo lexical do vestuário: uma reflexão sobre suas metáforas e metonímias

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Por uma teoria da expectativa

The aim of this paper is to show a cognitive semantic investigation on the idea of expectation, defined as a mental construct which organizes the thinking and works as specific motivation in the process of communication. Expectation is an idea that may be created in the speaker's or in the listener's mind. It may be verbalized or not. Its semantic information may not be realized in real life, bringing frustration to communication. This study of expectation suggested that it is useful to have a theory to explain what other approaches left over. The working methodology focused in the gathering of data related to the phenomenon and the procedures to explain them inside a cognitive approach. The utterances are directly dependent of how the mind words. Therefore, studying speech we can have an access to people's mind. The idea of expectation may be interpreted under different traditional semantic labels. However, there are some peculiarities that can be explained only by a cognitive approach to language. We find words and phrases in the languages which reveal the presence of an expectation, such as "I think that...", "there has been an expectation about..." All answers are expected to fulfill an expectation. This investigation brought evidence that the mental expectation is essential to the act of communication. Therefore, the study of expectation in languages and in people's mind is important for the researches on cognitive semantics.

Cognição e conceptualização do tempo: o processo da significação do tempo linguístico de alguns enunciados em língua portuguesa

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Subtle Cognitive Deficits in Adults With a Previous History of Sydenham's Chorea During Childhood

Objective. To evaluate the neuropsychological profile and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of adults who had rheumatic fever (RF) during childhood with and without Sydenham's chorea (SC).Methods. Three groups of patients were assessed: adults who had RF with SC during childhood (SC group), adults who had RF without SC during childhood (RF group), and controls (CT group). A range of neuropsychological tests looked at several cognitive domains. HRQOL was measured through a Brazilian version of the Short Form 36 (SF-36) health survey.Results. Twenty patients were included in the SC group, 23 patients in the RF group, and 19 patients in the CT group. The 3 groups were homogeneous regarding sex (P = 0.078), age (P = 0.799), schooling (P = 0.600), socioeconomic status (P = 0.138), intelligence quotient (P = 0.329), and scores for anxiety (P = 0.156) and depression (P = 0.076). The SC group demonstrated inferior performance in tests that assessed attention (Digit Span Forward [ P = 0.005], Corsi Block Forward [ P = 0.014]), speeded information processing (Trail Making A [ P = 0.009], Symbol Search [ P = 0.042]), and executive functions and working memory (Corsi Block Backward [ P = 0.028]), and higher scores for attention deficit scale (P = 0.030) when compared with the RF and CT groups. They also showed a tendency toward lower scores in the physical aspects, vitality, emotional aspects, and mental health domains of the SF-36. The RF group had a lower score for the general health domain than the CT group (P = 0.030).Conclusion. Patients who had SC during childhood can exhibit inferior performance in tasks that evaluate attention, speeded information processing, executive functions, and working memory in adult life. Therefore, there is indirect evidence of the persistence of dysfunction in cerebral circuits involved with the basal ganglia. They also presented a worse self-evaluation in HRQOL that was not related to cognitive impairments.

Prevalence and Correlates of Cognitive Impairment among the Elderly in a General Hospital

Aims: To estimate the prevalence and correlates of cognitive impairment (CI) among the elderly in a general hospital. Methods: A cross-sectional study, including 200 Brazilian inpatients aged 60 years or over, using the Mini Mental State Examination to evaluate CI (dependent variable), and the Geriatric Depression Scale and the Katz and Lawton Index to evaluate basic (BADL) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL). Results: 56% were women, 29% were dependent for BADL and 77.5% for IADL. The prevalence of CI was 29% and, in the logistic regression, it remained associated with higher age (1 74 years old), number of previous hospitalizations (1 3) and dependency for BADL (being dependent raised the odds of being cognitively impaired). Conclusions: It is essential to train the hospital staff to properly assist these patients, and to orient and support their caregivers. Copyright (C) 2009 S. Karger AG, Basel

Cerebellar Cognitive Affective Syndrome in Machado Joseph Disease: Core Clinical Features

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Non-pharmacological interventions on cognitive functions in older people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI)

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Gait and risk of falls associated with frontal cognitive functions at different stages of Alzheimer's disease

The decline in frontal cognitive functions contributes to alterations of gait and increases the risk of falls in patients with dementia, a category which included Alzheimer's disease (AD). The objective of the present study was to compare the gait parameters and the risk of falls among patients at different stages of AD, and to relate these variables with cognitive functions. This is a cross-sectional study with 23 patients with mild and moderate AD. The Clinical Dementia Rating was used to classify the dementia severity. The kinematic parameters of gait (cadence, stride length, and stride speed) were analyzed under two conditions: (a) single task (free gait) and (b) dual task (walking and counting down). The risk of falls was evaluated using the Timed Up-and-Go test. The frontal cognitive functions were evaluated using the Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB), the Clock Drawing Test (CDT) and the Symbol Search Subtest. The patients who were at the moderate stage suffered reduced performance in their stride length and stride speed in the single task and had made more counting errors in the dual task and still had a higher fall risk. Both the mild and the moderate patients exhibited significant decreases in stride length, stride speed and cadence in the dual task. Was detected a significant correlation between CDT, FAB, and stride speed in the dual task condition. We also found a significant correlation between subtest Similarities, FAB and cadence in the dual task condition. The dual task produced changes in the kinematic parameters of gait for the mild and moderate AD patients and the gait alterations are related to frontal cognitive functions, particularly executive functions.

Representation in cognitive neuroscience

This article discusses the possible representational nature of two brain cognitive functions: perceptual and executive. Assuming the Newellian definition of representational processes as those that establish an isomorphic relation between two structures, I claim that perceptual processes generate only a partial correspondence (between stimuli properties and brain states) and therefore should not be properly conceived as representational. on the other hand, executive processes encompass the combination of copies (i.e., representations) of perceptual patterns, generating new patterns that subserve behavior. In summary, I criticize the notion of perceptual representations, and propose that brain representational processes are related to executive functions, having a pragmatic dimension.

Effects of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation on the Cognitive Event-Related Potential P300: A Literature Review

The objective of this study was to perform a systematic review regarding the effects of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) on the cognitive event-related potential P300. A search was performed of the PubMed database, using the keywords "transcranial magnetic stimulation" and "P300." Eight articles were selected and, after analysis of references, one additional article was added to the list. We found the comparison among studies to be difficult, as the information regarding the effects of TMS on P300 is both scarce and heterogeneous with respect to the parameters used in TMS stimulation and the elicitation of P300. However, 7 of 9 studies found positive results. New studies need to be carried out in order to understand the contribution of these variables and others to the alteration in the latency and amplitude of the P300 wave.

Analog Modeling of Human Cognitive Functions with Tripartite Synapses

Searching for an understanding of how the brain supports conscious processes, cognitive scientists have proposed two main classes of theory: Global Workspace and Information Integration theories. These theories seem to be complementary, but both still lack grounding in terms of brain mechanisms responsible for the production of coherent and unitary conscious states. Here we propose following James Robertson's "Astrocentric Hypothesis" - that conscious processing is based on analog computing in astrocytes. The "hardware" for these computations is calcium waves mediated by adenosine triphosphate signaling. Besides presenting our version of this hypothesis, we also review recent findings on astrocyte morphology that lend support to their functioning as Local Hubs (composed of protoplasmic astrocytes) that integrate synaptic activity, and as a Master Hub (composed, in the human brain, by a combination of interlaminar, fibrous, polarized and varicose projection astrocytes) that integrates whole-brain activity.