Cross-cultural differences for three visual memory tasks in Brazilian children

Norms for three visual memory tasks, including Corsi's block tapping test and the BEM 144 complex figures and visual recognition, were developed for neuropsychological assessment in Brazilian children. The tasks were measured in 127 children ages 7 to 10 years from rural and urban areas of the States of São Paulo and Minas Gerais. Analysis indicated age-related but not sex-related differences. A cross-cultural effect was observed in relation to copying and recall of Complex pictures. Different performances between rural and urban children were noted. © Perceptual and Motor Skills 2005.

Efficacy of a perceptual and visual-motor skill intervention program for students with dyslexia

Purpose: To verify the efficacy of a perceptual and visual-motor skill intervention program for students with dyslexia. Methods: The participants were 20 students from third to fifth grade of a public elementary school in Marília, São Paulo, aged from 8 years to 11 years and 11 months, distributed into the following groups: Group I (GI; 10 students with developmental dyslexia) and Group II (GII; 10 students with good academic performance). A perceptual and visual-motor intervention program was applied, which comprised exercises for visual-motor coordination, visual discrimination, visual memory, visual-spatial relationship, shape constancy, sequential memory, visual figure-ground coordination, and visual closure. In pre- and post-testing situations, both groups were submitted to the Test of Visual-Perceptual Skills (TVPS-3), and the quality of handwriting was analyzed using the Dysgraphia Scale. Results: The analyzed statistical results showed that both groups of students had dysgraphia in pretesting situation. In visual perceptual skills, GI presented a lower performance compared to GII, as well as in the quality of writing. After undergoing the intervention program, GI increased the average of correct answers in TVPS-3 and improved the quality of handwriting. Conclusion: The developed intervention program proved appropriate for being applied to students with dyslexia, and showed positive effects because it provided improved visual perception skills and quality of writing for students with developmental dyslexia.

Elaboração de programa de intervenção com as habilidades percepto-viso-motoras em escolares com dislexia do desenvolvimento

Pós-graduação em Fonoaudiologia - FFC

The effects of anxiety on visual search, movement kinematics, and performance in table tennis: A test of Eysenck and Calvo's processing efficiency theory

Processing efficiency theory predicts that anxiety reduces the processing capacity of working memory and has detrimental effects on performance. When tasks place little demand on working memory, the negative effects of anxiety can be avoided by increasing effort. Although performance efficiency decreases, there is no change in performance effectiveness. When tasks impose a heavy demand on working memory, however, anxiety leads to decrements in efficiency and effectiveness. These presumptions were tested using a modified table tennis task that placed low (LWM) and high (HWM) demands on working memory. Cognitive anxiety was manipulated through a competitive ranking structure and prize money. Participants' accuracy in hitting concentric circle targets in predetermined sequences was taken as a measure of performance effectiveness, while probe reaction time (PRT), perceived mental effort (RSME), visual search data, and arm kinematics were recorded as measures of efficiency. Anxiety had a negative effect on performance effectiveness in both LWM and HWM tasks. There was an increase in frequency of gaze and in PRT and RSME values in both tasks under high vs. low anxiety conditions, implying decrements in performance efficiency. However, participants spent more time tracking the ball in the HWM task and employed a shorter tau margin when anxious. Although anxiety impaired performance effectiveness and efficiency, decrements in efficiency were more pronounced in the HWM task than in the LWM task, providing support for processing efficiency theory.

Perseveração motora na deficiência visual: impacto da restrição do organismo na tarefa de alcançar objetos

Pós-graduação em Ciências da Motricidade - IBRC

Discurso e imagem: transformações do cânone visual nas mídias digitais

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