Perceptual and motor skills
-
A correlation of .80 was obtained between mean national licensing examination score in 1988-1995 of graduates of clinical programs and mean score of these programs in 1997. It was maintained that this stability over time strengthens the inference that this mean score is a good index of program quality.
-
This article explored functional roles of the proprioceptive system during the control of goal-directed movements. Proprioceptive information contributes to the control of movement through both reflex and central connections. Spinal and transcortical reflex loops establish a servomechanism which provides automatic corrections of unexpected changes in muscle length and allows compensation for undesirable irregularities in the mechanical properties of muscles by modulating limb stiffness at the subconscious level. ⋯ During a movement, proprioceptive input about velocities and angular displacements of a limb is used to regulate movement by triggering planned sequences of muscle activation and modulating motor commands. After movement, feedback produced by responses is compared with previously stored information, verifying the quality of the movement. Considering potential roles of the reflex and central connections, the proprioceptive system seems to constitute an important aspect of motor control mechanisms, providing the control system with efficiency and flexibility in the regulation of goal-directed movements.
-
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Scotopic sensitivity/Irlen syndrome and the use of coloured filters: a long-term placebo-controlled study of reading strategies using analysis of miscue.
This study investigated the long-term effects of using coloured filters on the frequency and type of errors in oral reading. A double-masked, placebo-controlled crossover experimental design was used, with subjects being assessed over a period of 20 months. ⋯ There was a significant improvement for all groups in the accuracy of miscues over the period, although experimental groups over-all did not improve at a significantly different rate than the control group. The failure to find significantly greater improvement for the experimental groups over the control group for the total period, despite subjects' reports of improved print clarity, may be partly related to the lack of effective letter-sound analysis and synthesis skills and to the use of a word-identification strategy of guessing based on partial visual analysis.
-
The Children's Embedded Figures Test, the Rod and Frame Test to measure the field dependence-independence cognitive style, Cattell's Culture Fair Intelligence Tests to measure cognitive ability, and two cancellation tasks (Zazzo task and Bourdon task) to assess sustained attention were administered to 179 boys and 110 girls whose average age was 9.0 yr. Correlations between scores on measures of field dependence-independence and cognitive ability were moderated. Average correlations between scores on measures of field dependence-independence, cognitive ability, and measures of sustained attention was .23 for the Zazzo task and quite weak (.06) for the Bourdon task.
-
In two samples of 22 dreams, one sample produced by 18 subjects and the other by a single subject, we found an equal proportion of indoor and outdoor settings. The analysis of 13 consecutive dreams of two subjects also showed some shift from indoor to outdoor settings. Dreaming processes apparently produce constant variations of representations and operate a selection of episodic memory elements via the general categories of semantic memory.