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Occupational therapy effects on visual-motor skills in preschool children.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the assumption that preschool children who receive occupational therapy will demonstrate significant improvement in their visual-motor skills as measured on the Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration (VMI) and the two supplemental Visual Perception and Motor Coordination tests. METHOD: Preschool children with developmental delays (n = 12) received occupational therapy a minimum of one individual 30-minute session, and one group 30-minute session per week for 1 school year. Their performance was compared to that of two control groups; preschool students without disabilities who received occupational therapy (n = 16) for one 30-minute group session per week and students without disabilities (n = 15) who received no occupational therapy. The VMI and two supplemental tests were administered three times to each student, at the beginning, middle, and end of school year. RESULTS: Planned comparison tests showed that students with developmental delays demonstrated statistically significant improvement in visual-motor skills and developed skills at a rate faster than expected when compared to typically developing peers on the VMI. The effect size for preschool students without disabilities who received occupational therapy exceeded the effect size for the VMI and Visual Perception supplemental test for the preschool students without disabilities who received no therapy, although, the difference in the post-test performance of these two groups was not statistically significant. DISCUSSION: The results of this study demonstrate that intervention, including occupational therapy, can effectively improve visual-motor skills in preschool-aged children.

Child↗

Neuropsychologic rehabilitation for visuoperceptual impairments.

Impairments of visual perception resulting from brain damage can have serious implications for many aspects of patients' lives, and these impairments should be targeted for intervention. Rehabilitation programs need to be individually tailored to each patient's needs; thus, characterization of a patient's visual perception and related abilities, by means of neuroophthalmologic and neuropsychologic evaluations, is a necessary starting point for rehabilitation. Several promising treatment approaches based on restorative and compensatory methods are described, although as yet there is limited systematic study of the efficacy of these methods. Treatment models and compensatory devices from the mature field of low-vision rehabilitation have obvious application in the rehabilitation of cortically based visual perceptual impairments. In addition, ongoing rapid advances in the cognitive neuroscience of vision are likely to provide guidance in the development of new interventions. One area in which functional imaging studies may prove useful is gaining information regarding critical periods of recovery and plasticity. For some visuoperceptual disorders, restorative procedures may be of particular benefit in facilitating brain reorganization during certain recovery periods, but rehabilitation specialists still have few empiric data to guide their efforts. Despite the major limitations in our understanding of key issues influencing outcome, most patients with cerebral visual dysfunction can receive some benefit from carefully designed rehabilitation programs.

Auditory Perception↗

Subliminal convergence of Kanji and Kana words: further evidence for functional parcellation of the posterior temporal cortex in visual word perception.

Recent evidence has suggested that the human occipitotemporal region comprises several subregions, each sensitive to a distinct processing level of visual words. To further explore the functional architecture of visual word recognition, we employed a subliminal priming method with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during semantic judgments of words presented in two different Japanese scripts, Kanji and Kana. Each target word was preceded by a subliminal presentation of either the same or a different word, and in the same or a different script. Behaviorally, word repetition produced significant priming regardless of whether the words were presented in the same or different script. At the neural level, this cross-script priming was associated with repetition suppression in the left inferior temporal cortex anterior and dorsal to the visual word form area hypothesized for alphabetical writing systems, suggesting that cross-script convergence occurred at a semantic level. fMRI also evidenced a shared visual occipito-temporal activation for words in the two scripts, with slightly more mesial and right-predominant activation for Kanji and with greater occipital activation for Kana. These results thus allow us to separate script-specific and script-independent regions in the posterior temporal lobe, while demonstrating that both can be activated subliminally.

Adult↗

The neurophysiological time pattern of illusionary visual perceptual transitions: a simultaneous EEG and fMRI study.

Several divergent cortical mechanisms generating multistability in visual perception have been suggested. Here, we investigated the neurophysiologic time pattern of multistable perceptual changes by means of a simultaneous recording with electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Volunteers responded to the subjective perception of a sudden change between stable patterns of illusionary motion (multistable transition) during a stroboscopic paradigm. We found a global deceleration of the EEG frequency prior to a transition and an occipital-accentuated acceleration after a transition, as obtained by low-resolution electromagnetic tomography analysis (LORETA) analysis. A decrease in BOLD response was found in the prefrontal cortex before, and an increase after the transitions was observed in the right anterior insula, the MT/V5 regions and the SMA. The thalamus and left superior temporal gyrus showed a pattern of decrease before and increase after transitions. No such temporal course was found in the control condition. The multimodal approach of data acquisition allows us to argue that the top-down control of illusionary visual perception depends on selective attention, and that a diminution of vigilance reduces selective attention. These are necessary conditions to allow for the occurrence of a perception discontinuity in absence of a physical change of the stimulus.

Adolescent↗

Perception, learning and identification studied with reversible suppression of cortical visual areas in monkeys.

We use cold to reversibly suppress cortical areas involved in visual perception, learning and retrieval and we found a localization of functions essential for performance of delayed match-to-sample (DMS) in anterior ventral temporal cortex, we call ventral TE (TEv). We also found a visual input for this area that is separate from the one going to the heart of inferotemporal cortex and suppressing this input also impairs performance of DMS. Suppressing the dorsal half of TE (TEd) disrupts retrieval of some, but not all complex images, and different images are disrupted in different animals. This variability within and between animals is extreme, with perfect performance on some complex images and below chance on others. We suggested that TEd represents some, but not all elements of the images. In attempting to discover what those elements might be, we found that TEd suppression disrupts the perception of small figures, but not the larger figures that they compose. We also found that it impaired the discrimination and matching of colors, without impairing the ability to detect and differentiate hues. We proposed that TEd represents the details and colors of things, but not global figures. Also, complex objects do not have a representation in one area, rather its representation involves the entire visual system, including TE with different elements of the image represented in different parts.

Animals↗

Evaluation of a combined two- and three-dimensional compression method using human visual characteristics to yield high-quality 10:1 compression of cranial computed tomography scans.

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: The compression of cranial computed tomography scans was improved by using independent intra- and interframe compression techniques. METHODS: For intraframe compression, an image was decomposed into four subimages, one subimage was chosen as a reference subimage, and three of the subimages were predicted from the reference subimage. The prediction error was encoded with a classified vector quantizer (CVQ) based on human visual perception characteristics. Interframe redundancy is exploited by a displacement estimated interslice (DEI) algorithm that encodes the differences between reference subimages from adjacent slices. This combined DEI/CVQ method was subjectively evaluated by 13 radiologists under a blinded protocol, and was compared to the CVQ method alone, the DEI method alone, the original images, and to a standard intraframe discrete cosine transform (DCT) compression method. RESULTS: Only the combined DEI/CVQ method at 10:1 compression was not scored significantly different from the original images. At 15:1 compression, the DEI/CVQ method was scored significantly better than the 10:1 DCT and any other 15:1 compression methods. CONCLUSIONS: Compressed image quality is enhanced by exploiting inter- and intraframe redundancy, and by modeling some characteristics of human visual perception. The DEI/CVQ method is well-suited for progressive transmission, and thus, holds potential in teleradiology as well as picture archiving and communications systems.

Analysis of Variance↗

Influence of otolithic stimulation by horizontal linear acceleration on optokinetic nystagmus and visual motion perception.

Several studies in the past have demonstrated the existence of an Otolith-Ocular Reflex (OOR) in man, although much less sensitive than canal ocular reflex. The present paper 1 confirms these previous results. Nystagmic eye movements (L-nystagmus) appear in the seated subject during horizontal acceleration along the interaural axis in the dark for an acceleration level (1 m/s2) about ten times the perception threshold with a sensitivity of about 0.035 rad/m. When sinusoidal linear acceleration is combined with optokinetic stimulation, the recorded nystagmus slow phase velocity exhibits strong periodic modulation related to subject motion. This marked effect of linear acceleration on the optokinetic nystagmus (OKN) appears at a level (0.1 m/s2) close to the acceleration perception threshold and has a 4-fold higher sensitivity than L-nystagmus. Modulation of OKN can reach a peak-to-peak amplitude as great as 20 degrees/s for a given optokinetic field size it increases with the velocity of the optokinetic stimulus, i.e. with the slow phase eye velocity. In parallel with changes in OKN slow phase velocity, linear acceleration induces a motion related decrease in the perceived velocity of the visual scene and modifications in self-motion perception. The results are interpreted in terms of a mathematical model of visual-vestibular interaction. They show that sensory interaction processes can magnify the contribution given to the control of eye movements by the otolithic system and provide a way of exploring its function at low levels of acceleration.

Acceleration↗

The value of preoperative tests in the selection of blind patients for a permanent microelectronic implant.

PURPOSE: To determine the best candidates (ie, those requiring lowest current levels delivered to the retina to elicit visual perceptions) for long-term implantation of a microelectronic retinal implant through a series of preoperative visual, psychophysical, and electrophysiological tests. METHODS: This study protocol was granted an investigational device exemption by the Food and Drug Administration and was approved by the institutional review board at the University of Southern California. After informed consent was obtained, all subjects underwent the following preoperative tests: dark-adapted bright flash and 30-Hz flicker electroretinograms, electrical evoked responses (EERs) using a Burian-Allen corneal electrode to stimulate the globe, and psychophysical tests to evaluate the light and electrically elicited visual perceptions. Intraocular stimulation (IOS) of the retina was performed by an array of electrodes positioned on the internal limiting lamina. RESULTS: Lower vision correlated with less sensitive psychophysical responses (P<.0001). Lower vision and less sensitive psychophysical tests correlated with higher EER values for stimulus pulse widths of 2 ms (P<.0008) and 4 ms (P<.0002). Lower IOS currents correlated with more sensitive psychophysical responses (P<.02) and lower EER values at 4 ms (P<.04). CONCLUSIONS: Preoperative testing, especially psychophysical and electrophysiological tests to assess light and electrically driven visual responses, can help in evaluating patients for suitability for receiving a permanent microelectronic retinal implant. Further study is warranted.

Blindness↗

Attentional modulation in perception of visual motion events.

Identical visual targets moving across each other with equal and constant speed can be perceived either to bounce off or to stream through each other. This bistable motion perception has been studied mostly in the context of motion integration. Since the perception of most ambiguous motion is affected by attention, there is the possibility of attentional modulation occurring in this case as well. We investigated whether distraction of attention from the moving targets would alter the relative frequency of each percept. During the observation of the streaming/bouncing motion event in the peripheral visual field, visual attention was disrupted by an abrupt presentation of a visual distractor at various timings and locations (experiment 1; exogenous distraction of attention) or by the demand of an additional discrimination task (experiments 2 and 3; endogenous distraction of attention). Both types of distractions of attention increased the frequency of the bouncing percept and decreased that of the streaming percept. These results suggest that attention may facilitate the perception of object motion as continuing in the same direction as in the past.

Attention↗

Attention activates winner-take-all competition among visual filters.

Shifting attention away from a visual stimulus reduces, but does not abolish, visual discrimination performance. This residual vision with 'poor' attention can be compared to normal vision with 'full' attention to reveal how attention alters visual perception. We report large differences between residual and normal visual thresholds for discriminating the orientation or spatial frequency of simple patterns, and smaller differences for discriminating contrast. A computational model, in which attention activates a winner-take-all competition among overlapping visual filters, quantitatively accounts for all observations. Our model predicts that the effects of attention on visual cortical neurons include increased contrast gain as well as sharper tuning to orientation and spatial frequency.

Attention↗

[Neuropsychological effects of various cerebral tumors].

We have studied in this work, from the neuropsychological point of view, sixteen patients (9 with tumor in the frontal lobe, 3 with temporal and temporo-parietal tumor and 4 with parietal, occipital and parieto-occipital tumor). The results show an intellectual damage when the work to carry out involves time, visualmotricity and perceptive-visual integration. We have likewise observed the appearance of many disorders of the spatial orientation, the perceptive visual integration, the graphomotricity and the reading process.

Brain Neoplasms↗

Types and tokens in visual letter perception.

Five experiments demonstrate that in briefly presented displays, subjects have difficulty distinguishing repeated instances of a letter or digit (multiple tokens of the same type). When subjects were asked to estimate the numerosity of a display, reports were lower for displays containing repeated letters, for example, DDDD, than for displays containing distinct letters, for example, NRVT. This homogeneity effect depends on the common visual form of adjacent letters. A distinct homogeneity effect, one that depends on the repetition of abstract letter identities, was also found: When subjects were asked to report the number of As and Es in a display, performance was poorer on displays containing two instances of a target letter, one appearing in uppercase and the other in lowercase, than on displays containing one of each target letter. This effect must be due to the repetition of identities, because visual form is not repeated in these mixed-case displays. Further experiments showed that this effect was not influenced by the context surrounding the target letters, and that it can be tied to limitations in attentional processing. The results are interpreted in terms of a model in which parallel encoding processes are capable of automatically analyzing information from several regions of the visual field simultaneously, but fail to accurately encode location information. The resulting representation is thus insufficient to distinguish one token from another because two tokens of a given type differ only in location. However, with serial attentional processing multiple tokens can be kept distinct, pointing to yet another limit on the ability to process visual information in parallel.

Attention↗

Optimizing visual motion perception during eye movements.

We usually perceive a stationary, stable world and we are able to correctly estimate the direction of heading from optic flow despite coherent visual motion induced by eye movements. This astonishing example of perceptual invariance results from a comparison of visual information with internal reference signals predicting the visual consequences of an eye movement. Here we demonstrate that the reference signal predicting the consequences of smooth-pursuit eye movements is continuously calibrated on the basis of direction-selective interactions between the pursuit motor command and the rotational flow induced by the eye movement, thereby minimizing imperfections of the reference signal and guaranteeing an ecologically optimal interpretation of visual motion.

Chi-Square Distribution↗

Perception of biological motion from limited-lifetime stimuli.

The visual perception of human movement from sparse point-light walkers is often believed to rely on local motion analysis. We investigated the role of local motion in the perception of human walking, viewed from the side, in different tasks. The motion signal was manipulated by varying point lifetime. We found the task of coherence discrimination, commonly used in biological motion studies, to be inappropriate for testing the role of motion. A task requiring temporal information showed a strong performance drop when fewer points were used or when the image sequence was sampled and displayed at a reduced frame rate. Irrespective of the frame rate, performance did not vary with point lifetime. We concluded that local motion is not required for the perception of tested biological movements, suggesting that the analysis of biological motion does not benefit from examining local motion. The reliance of perception on the number of displayed points and frames supports the idea that biological motion is perceived from a sequence of spatiotemporally sampled forms.

Child↗

Seeing to hear better: evidence for early audio-visual interactions in speech identification.

Lip reading is the ability to partially understand speech by looking at the speaker's lips. It improves the intelligibility of speech in noise when audio-visual perception is compared with audio-only perception. A recent set of experiments showed that seeing the speaker's lips also enhances sensitivity to acoustic information, decreasing the auditory detection threshold of speech embedded in noise [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 109 (2001) 2272; J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 108 (2000) 1197]. However, detection is different from comprehension, and it remains to be seen whether improved sensitivity also results in an intelligibility gain in audio-visual speech perception. In this work, we use an original paradigm to show that seeing the speaker's lips enables the listener to hear better and hence to understand better. The audio-visual stimuli used here could not be differentiated by lip reading per se since they contained exactly the same lip gesture matched with different compatible speech sounds. Nevertheless, the noise-masked stimuli were more intelligible in the audio-visual condition than in the audio-only condition due to the contribution of visual information to the extraction of acoustic cues. Replacing the lip gesture by a non-speech visual input with exactly the same time course, providing the same temporal cues for extraction, removed the intelligibility benefit. This early contribution to audio-visual speech identification is discussed in relationships with recent neurophysiological data on audio-visual perception.

Cues↗

Esthetic principles in prosthetic dentistry.

Dento-facial esthetics represents today the fourth clinical dimension in our activity. Together with morphological, functional and biomechanical factors, aesthetics contribute to a successful clinical result in prosthodontics. Dento-facial esthetics takes over the visual perception principles adapting them to dental requirements. Continuously assimilating esthetics information, being a good observer and training visual perception is important for the final complete result in prosthetic dentistry.

Adult↗