Postural control as a function of self- and object-motion perception

The goals of this study were to examine the visual information influence on body sway as a function of self- and object-motion perception and visual information quality. Participants that were aware (object-motion) and unaware (self-motion) of the movement of a moving room were asked to stand upright at five different distances from its frontal wall. The visual information effect on body sway decreased when participants were aware about the sensory manipulation. Moreover, while the visual influence on body sway decreased as the distance increased in the self-motion perception, no effects were observed in the object-motion mode. The overall results indicate that postural control system functioning can be altered by prior knowledge, and adaptation due to changes in sensory quality seem to occur in the self- but not in the object-motion perception mode. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V.. All rights reserved.

Construção de Conceitos Matemáticos na Educação Básica numa Abordagem Peirceana

Peircean semiotic analysis is employed to examine the construction/representation of signs-thinking of 32 early elementary school students regarding the concept of length measurement. The work consisted of developing concepts of standard unit, reading and interpretation of measurement by instruments, so that the mathematical language presented in the concrete materials was being signified and re-signified as a tool for perception and representation of new concepts. The pedagogical triad Feeling-Perceiving, Relating-Concept (F-P/R/C) co-related with the dynamism of the semiosis process, defined by Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914) in his semiotic theory on the production of the sign (Object, Representamen and Interpretant), enabled the interpretation and analysis of the students' inferences in the phase of perception (feel, admire), induction (experience), and deduction (concept).