PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

R Zenhausern

Publications and source records attributed to R Zenhausern.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1995

Electromyographic effects of fatigue and task repetition on the validity of estimates of strong and weak muscles in applied kinesiological muscle-testing procedures.

The study investigated the effects of fatigue and task repetition on the relationship between integrated electromyogram and force output during subjective clinical testing of upper extremity muscles. Muscles were studied under two conditions differing in the nature and duration of constant force production (SHORT-F) and (LONG-F). The findings included a significant relationship between force output and integrated EMG, a significant increase in efficiency of muscle activity with task repetition, and significant difference between Force/integrated EMG ratios for muscles labeled "Strong" and "Weak" in the LONG-F condition. This supports Smith's 1974 notion that practice results in increased muscular efficiency. With fatigue, integrated EMG activity increased strongly and functional (force) output of the muscle remained stable or decreased. Fatigue results in a less efficient muscle process. Muscles subjectively testing "Weak" or "Strong" yield effects significantly different from fatigue.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

The direct access method of teaching reading and the diagnosis and remediation of reading disability.

A distinction among reading disabled children based on whether phonetic or semantic deficits predominate has important implications for remediation. Two kinds of reading disability are related to two distinct aspects of the indirect phonological approach used in the vast majority of reading instructions. This approach to determining the meaning is a conversion of the written form of a word to its phonetic counterpart, making the comprehension auditory. Phonetic reading disabled children have a difficulty with the first step in the process, converting the written word to its sound. Semantic reading disabled children can convert the word to its sound, but this does not lead to determining meaning. Significant gains in performance, may occur by using a direct access to meaning, rather than through the intermediary of sound. The Direct Access approach to reading has one premise: Do not use a "word to sound to meaning" approach. The results of a demonstration project indicate the Direct Access approach to reading can be very useful for many reading disabled children.

Child↗
PubMed1988

The interaction of hemispheric related strategies and individual differences in learning.

The present study examined both the theoretical and practical applications of the Lateral Eye Movements (LEM) in an educational setting. Normal fifth and sixth grade students were tested on their ability to recall and recognize word pairs before and after exposure either to a verbal rehearsal or to an imagery strategy. There was an interaction between the type of strategy taught and the predominant direction of LEM. Right movers showed a significant improvement using a verbal rehearsal strategy but no change using an imagery strategy. Left movers showed a significant improvement with an imagery strategy, but a significant decrease with a verbal rehearsal strategy. These results both verify the validity of LEM as an individual difference variable and provide an initial decision mechanism for choices involving educational strategies.

Child↗
PubMed1987

The relationship of reading disability and the techniques of teaching reading.

Lateral Eye Movements were found to be a marker variable for two types of reading disability that can be related to specific stages of the way reading is usually taught. Current techniques used in the teaching of reading rely on the phonological route to meaning: if a child can "auditorize" a word, its meaning can be derived through auditory comprehension. This study has isolated two groups of disabled readers who are deficient in distinct aspects of this phonological route. Approximately 85% of disabled readers have a problem with the first step; they have difficulty converting the written word into its phonological counterpart. The remaining 15% have no difficulty with this first step, but the phonological representation of a word does not lead to its meaning.

Child↗
PubMed1983

Grapheme to phoneme conversion: the basis of reading disability?

Although there have been many attempts to discriminate subtypes of reading disabled children, this study provides evidence of two common factors that seem to generalize to the vast majority of children with specific reading disability. The first, a right hemisphere cognitive style, may have some diagnostic utility. The second, a grapheme to phoneme deficit, may be at the heart of the disability. Techniques for diagnosis and remediation are discussed.

Child↗
PubMed1981

Differential hemispheric activation in good and poor readers.

good and poor readers were found to differ on a cognitive style variable based on the differential use of one hemisphere over the other. While 20 good readers were equally divided (9 to 11) between right and left hemisphere activators, 17 of the 20 poor readers were right activators. The finding of no difference between the groups on a lateralized discriminative reaction time task when integrated with previous research led to the conclusion that some types of dyslexia result from a deficit in visual to auditory recoding.

Brain↗
PubMed1981

The interaction of hemispheric preference, laterality, and sex in the perception of emotional tone and verbal content.

Twenty male and 20 female subjects, divided into those who showed a right or left hemispheric preference, listened to auditory messages with conflicting verbal content and emotional tone. The messages were presented to each ear to determine whether the effect of hemisphere of input on the evaluation of the messages was modified by hemispheric preference. Except for left preference males, subjects responded on the basis of preference rather than laterality.

Dominance, Cerebral↗
PubMed1976

Field dependency and perceptual cues in perception of two trapezoid illusions.

40 males and 40 females rated as field-independent or field-dependent on the Group Embedded-figures Test were tested on two dynamic trapezoid illusions and made position judgments of static trapezoidal targets. Field-independent subjects reported more illusory experiences on the perception of rotation of an oscillating target than the perception of oscillation of a rotating target. The opposite was true for field-dependent subjects. Position judgments were related to the latter illusion but not the former. There was strong evidence of a differential use of perceptual cues for the two dependent groups.

Adolescent↗