Visual perception in Parkinson disease dementia and dementia with Lewy bodies

OBJECTIVE To quantify visual discrimination, space-motion, and object-form perception in patients with Parkinson disease dementia (PDD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), and Alzheimer disease (AD). METHODS The authors used a cross-sectional study to compare three demented groups matched for overall dementia severity (PDD: n = 24; DLB: n = 20; AD: n = 23) and two age-, sex-, and education-matched control groups (PD: n = 24, normal controls [NC]: n = 25). RESULTS Visual perception was globally more impaired in PDD than in nondemented controls (NC, PD), but was not different from DLB. Compared to AD, PDD patients tended to perform worse in all perceptual scores. Visual perception of patients with PDD/DLB and visual hallucinations was significantly worse than in patients without hallucinations. CONCLUSIONS Parkinson disease dementia (PDD) is associated with profound visuoperceptual impairments similar to dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) but different from Alzheimer disease. These findings are consistent with previous neuroimaging studies reporting hypoactivity in cortical areas involved in visual processing in PDD and DLB.

Narrated PowerPoints and Audio Podcasts in Clinical Teaching: One Clerkship's Experience

Introduction: Clinical medical education is increasingly utilizing novel technological approaches in order to supplement traditional lecture-based didactics. The Neurology Core Clerkship at Baylor College of Medicine is a four week required course taken by clinical medical students. Given the large amount of information to be disseminated in a short period of time, part of the didactic material has been provided online in the form of narrated PowerPoint files or lecture audio tracks along with stand-alone PowerPoint files. The narrated files are generated using the native PowerPoint narration function while the stand-alone audio files are created as MP3 format files using an inexpensive digital recording device. [See PDF for complete abstract]

On sex-related differences in auditory and visual sensory functioning

The present study was designed to elucidate sex-related differences in two basic auditory and one basic visual aspect of sensory functioning, namely sensory discrimination of pitch, loudness, and brightness. Although these three aspects of sensory functioning are of vital importance in everyday life, little is known about whether men and women differ from each other in these sensory functions. Participants were 100 male and 100 female volunteers ranging in age from 18 to 30 years. Since sensory sensitivity may be positively related to individual levels of intelligence and musical experience, measures of psychometric intelligence and musical background were also obtained. Reliably better performance for men compared to women was found for pitch and loudness, but not for brightness discrimination. Furthermore, performance on loudness discrimination was positively related to psychometric intelligence, while pitch discrimination was positively related to both psychometric intelligence and levels of musical training. Additional regression analyses revealed that each of three predictor variables (sex, psychometric intelligence, and musical training) accounted for a statistically significant portion of unique variance in pitch discrimination. With regard to loudness discrimination, regression analysis yielded a statistically significant portion of unique variance for sex as a predictor variable, whereas psychometric intelligence just failed to reach statistical significance. The potential influence of sex hormones on sex-related differences in sensory functions is discussed.

Performance on auditory and visual temporal informationprocessing is related to psychometric intelligence

The present study investigated the relationship between psychometric intelligence and temporal resolution power (TRP) as simultaneously assessed by auditory and visual psychophysical timing tasks. In addition, three different theoretical models of the functional relationship between TRP and psychometric intelligence as assessed by means of the Adaptive Matrices Test (AMT) were developed. To test the validity of these models, structural equation modeling was applied. Empirical data supported a hierarchical model that assumed auditory and visual modality-specific temporal processing at a first level and amodal temporal processing at a second level. This second-order latent variable was substantially correlated with psychometric intelligence. Therefore, the relationship between psychometric intelligence and psychophysical timing performance can be explained best by a hierarchical model of temporal information processing.

Beyond questionnaires – Exploring adult education teachers' mathematical beliefs with pictures and interviews

Because of the impact that mathematical beliefs have on an individual’s behaviour, they are generally well researched. However, little mathematical belief research has taken place in the field of adult education. This paper presents preliminary results from a study conducted in this field in Switzerland. It is based on Ernest’s (1989) description of mathematics as an instrumental, Platonist or problem solving construct. The analysis uses pictures drawn by the participants and interviews conducted with them as data. Using a categorising scheme developed by Rolka and Halverscheid (2011), the author argues that adults’ mathematical beliefs are complex and especially personal aspects are difficult to capture with said scheme. Particularly the analysis of visual data requires a more refined method of analysis.

Larger visual stimuli are perceived to last longer from time to time: The internal clock is not affected by nontemporal visual stimulus size

Performance on interval timing is often explained by the assumption of an internal clock based on neural counting. According to this account, a neural pacemaker generates pulses, and the number of pulses relating to a physical time interval is recorded by a counter. Thus, the number of accumulated pulses is the internal representation of this interval. Several studies demonstrated that large visual stimuli are perceived to last longer than smaller ones presented for the same duration. The present study was designed to investigate whether nontemporal visual stimulus size directly affects the internal clock. For this purpose, a temporal reproduction task was applied. Sixty participants were randomly assigned to one of two experimental conditions with stimulus size being experimentally varied within either the target or the reproduction interval. A direct effect of nontemporal stimulus size on the pacemaker-counter system should become evident irrespective of whether stimulus size was experimentally varied within the target or the reproduction interval. An effect of nontemporal stimulus size on reproduced duration only occurred when stimulus size was varied during the target interval. This finding clearly argues against the notion that nontemporal visual stimulus size directly affects the internal clock. Furthermore, our findings ruled out a decisional bias as a possible cause of the observed differential effect of stimulus size on reproduced duration. Rather the effect of stimulus size appeared to originate from the memory stage of temporal information processing at which the timing signal from the pacemaker-counter component is encoded in reference memory.

Visual-auditory differences in duration discrimination of intervals in the subsecond and second range

A common finding in time psychophysics is that temporal acuity is much better for auditory than for visual stimuli. The present study aimed to examine modality-specific differences in duration discrimination within the conceptual framework of the Distinct Timing Hypothesis. This theoretical account proposes that durations in the lower milliseconds range are processed automatically while longer durations are processed by a cognitive mechanism. A sample of 46 participants performed two auditory and visual duration discrimination tasks with extremely brief (50-ms standard duration) and longer (1000-ms standard duration) intervals. Better discrimination performance for auditory compared to visual intervals could be established for extremely brief and longer intervals. However, when performance on duration discrimination of longer intervals in the 1-s range was controlled for modality-specific input from the sensory-automatic timing mechanism, the visual-auditory difference disappeared completely as indicated by virtually identical Weber fractions for both sensory modalities. These findings support the idea of a sensory-automatic mechanism underlying the observed visual-auditory differences in duration discrimination of extremely brief intervals in the millisecond range and longer intervals in the 1-s range. Our data are consistent with the notion of a gradual transition from a purely modality-specific, sensory-automatic to a more cognitive, amodal timing mechanism. Within this transition zone, both mechanisms appear to operate simultaneously but the influence of the sensory-automatic timing mechanism is expected to continuously decrease with increasing interval duration.

The Church Music Program: The Effect of Moving from Performance-based to Education-based Emphasis in a Church Music Program

This research project sought to answer the primary research question: What occurs when the music program in a church changes its emphasis from performance to education? This qualitative study of a church choir included participant observation of Wednesday evening and Sunday morning rehearsals over a 12 week period, individual interviews, group interviews, written responses, and written and visual assessment of musical skills. The goal was a rich description of the participants and emerging themes resulting from the shift in emphasis. Analysis of data occurred through inductive processing. Data was initially coded and then the codes were categorized into sub-themes, and finally into major themes. Early analysis of the data began with reflection in a researcher journal. Following the completion of the study the journal was entered into a word processor, as were transcriptions of videotaped rehearsals, and written reflections from the participants. After all data had been reviewed repeatedly and entered into the word processor, it was coded, reexamined, and finally categorized into sub-themes and themes. After coding and identification of major themes and sub-themes the finding were challenged by looking for disconfirming evidence. Finally, after the completion of the analysis stage, member checks were conducted. The results of the analysis of data revealed themes that could be associated either with the choir or the director. The key themes primarily associated with the choir were: Response to the change in rehearsal format; Attitude toward learning; Appropriateness of community learning model; and, Member's perceptions of the results of the program. The key themes associated with the director were identified as: Conductor assuming the role of educator; Conductor recognizing the choir as learners; Conductor treating rehearsals as a time for teaching and learning; and, Conductor's perception of the effectiveness of the change in focus. The study concluded that a change in focus from performance to education did not noticeably improve the sound of the choir after twelve-weeks. There were however, indications that improvements were being made by the individual members. Further study of the effects over a longer period of time is recommended.

Journey and Transformation: Visual narrative by Deleah Pettie

http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/carver_narratives/1006/thumbnail.jpg

Accesibilidad digital para usuarios con discapacidad visual en entornos educativos

Este artículo presenta los avances de un trabajo de tesis de Magister en Tecnología Informática Aplicada en Educación de la Facultad de Informática de la UNLP, cuyo tema es “Accesibilidad digital para usuarios con limitaciones visuales y su relación con espacios virtuales de aprendizaje". 2 Aborda el tema de accesibilidad digital desde el marco teórico seleccionado y se mencionan los ejes de análisis dentro del marco del uso de las tecnologías como herramientas que favorecen la cognición. Se enuncia la propuesta de tesis y los primeros resultados. Se realiza una primera comparación donde se discuten las ventajas y desventajas de los espacios digitales al acceder mediante los lectores de pantalla, permitiendo establecer líneas de trabajo futuro.

Entre la universidad, la empresa y el estado : Trayectorias personales, saberes y prácticas en la génesis del diseño industrial y de la comunicación visual en la Argentina. Décadas 1950 y 1960

El trabajo se propone analizar diferentes relaciones entre la universidad, la empresa privada y el Estado al momento del surgimiento del diseño industrial y de la comunicación visual, inscriptas bajo el ala del diseño como disciplina institucionalizada. Para tal fin haremos hincapié en las trayectorias de individuos y grupos que promovieron los nuevos espacios como cátedras, carreras, institutos, y departamentos en las universidades, departamentos y agencias en las empresas, e impulsaron la investigación y la formación especializada en una agencia estatal. A este respecto nos planteamos la reconstrucción y análisis de las posiciones y los tramas de relaciones sociales entre los actores, los liderazgos e ideas que confluyeron en ese marco institucionalizador. A fines de la década del ´50 se abrieron espacios en instituciones estatales ?universidades nacionales y agencias del Estado- desde los que se promovió la formación e investigación en diseño industrial y comunicación visual. Al mismo tiempo, en medio del proceso de industrialización que demandaba nuevos especialistas, las empresas privadas abrieron secciones específicas dedicadas a proyectar diseños integrales para sus productos. Para entender los sistemas de valores sobre los que se originaron estos espacios indagaremos en los documentos, artículos, libros y bienes materiales ?entre otros- que los propios actores pusieron en circulación en ese tiempo y lugar. Haremos foco en las categorías de análisis y en las definiciones por ellos dictadas en ese momento sobre el diseño. El impulso a esta nueva disciplina se abordará desde la complejidad de las trayectorias de estos agentes entendiendo la pluralidad de intereses, afinidades y razones dadas en los ámbitos público y privado. Desde esta perspectiva intentaremos dar cuenta de las historias de los individuos involucrados y de los grupos que integraron esos espacios, y su injerencia en la creación de una agencia estatal. Así podremos constatar los factores que determinaron las políticas de cambio, las prácticas y los métodos de estudio propuestos en la universidad, la empresa privada y el Estado

La orientación vocacional - ocupacional en sujetos con necesidades educativas especiales derivadas de la discapacidad visual en la etapa de transición escuela secundaria - Educación superior

Este trabajo está dirigido a indagar los factores asociados a las elecciones que realizan los sujetos con Necesidades Educativas Especiales derivadas de la Discapacidad Visual en la etapa de transición entre la escolaridad secundaria y las posibilidades de proseguir estudios superiores. Para este fin, se ha tomado en consideración que la Orientación Vocacional Ocupacional y la transición hacia la vida adulta adquieren características específicas en el caso de jóvenes que presentan Discapacidad Visual, particularmente en relación con la preparación para la continuación de estudios superiores. El interés de este trabajo reside en poder esclarecer la existencia de factores que facilitan u obstaculizan ese tránsito, a partir de la observación de sujetos disminuidos visuales y ciegos que finalizan sus estudios secundarios. Se trata de un tema que ha ocasionado interés y preocupación acerca de las estrategias a seguir para garantizar un ingreso y permanencia exitosos en los estudios superiores elegidos. Sin embargo, si se desconocen o más bien se carece de evidencia acerca de los factores a los que obedece el fenómeno descripto, es difícil poder diseñar estrategias de intervención que resulten adecuadas. Con el fin de tomar conocimiento sobre las problemáticas específicas de los jóvenes que finalizan sus estudios secundarios y que presentan Discapacidad Visual, se eligió una escuela especial de referencia en la mencionada discapacidad y se seleccionaron en ella los alumnos que participaron de este proyecto