As an extension of previous studies (Urbanczyk, Angel, & Kennelly, 1988) examining the effects of unimanual finger tapping on lateralized cognitive tasks, lateral body orienting was added to an established dual task paradigm to generate differential hemispheric activation and shifts of attention. One hundred twenty university students retained sequences of digits or spatial locations for 20 seconds either alone or during finger tapping. By turning both head and eyes left or right, the hemisphere congruent with the sequences (LH for digits, RH for locations) or incongruent (vice versa) was activated. Activation had little effect on retention means but greatly affected resource composition supporting task performance. Congruent orientation produced significantly higher positive correlations between digit and location tasks than incongruent orientation. Females showed higher sequence retention correlations than males across both orienting groups. For females, congruent activation enhanced tapping rates and retention-tapping correlations. For males, activation affected neither of these. Discussed in light of neuroanatomical research, these results suggest that congruent attentional orienting may integrate regions of the less activated hemisphere into networks of the more activated hemisphere. This unification may occur more readily across the female corpus callosum, producing a greater dependence upon a general attentional resource than for males, who appear to depend more upon hemispheric resources.

This study compares results of sighting, control, suppression and wink tests of visual dominance with a dissociation test administered to 240 high-achieving (ninetieth percentile and above academically) and low-achieving (twenty-fifth percentile and below academically) students at grades four, eight, and twelve. The study examines differences between visual dissociation and other visual-dominance tests. In so doing, the study tests the proportion of consistent dominance revealed by each test among underachievers with a high incidence of dominance variations, examines possible influences on choice of dominant eye, and compares distributions of dominance functions in high- and low-achieving populations.

The present study compared lateralization of cortical activation patterns in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) of adults who stutter (AWS) and typical speakers (TS) as measured with functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) in habitual and fluency-enhanced speaking conditions. Participants were AWS (n = 11) and gender- and age-matched TS (n = 11) who completed speaking tasks in three condition blocks: (1) habitual speech using no speaking strategy (2) prolonged speech after receiving short-term training in fluency-shaping strategy-use (3) syllable-timed speech after being trained to speak in rhythm with a metronome at 92 beats per minute. The three primary dependent variables were mean change in HbO (oxygenation) relative to resting baseline in the right and left PFC hemispheres and a Laterality Index (L-R)/(L+R) calculated from these values. Two primary hypotheses were tested: (1) AWS will present with greater right-hemisphere PFC oxygenation relative to TS in a habitual or everyday speaking task (2) AWS will present with reduced right-hemisphere PFC activation (leftward shift in laterality more similar to TS) during fluency-enhanced speech strategy tasks relative to a habitual speech task. Real-time stuttered speech measures using fNIRS indicated greater effortfulness of speech production in AWS when speaking fluently and disfluently as measured by greater bilateral change in PFC HbO relative to TS. AWS laterality did not differ from TS during everyday conversation and did not significantly change when using fluency-enhancing strategies, which was counter to the hypotheses. The TS group presented with significantly greater leftward PFC HbO in the metronome condition compared to AWS. Prolonged speech and metronome-timed speech seem to be associated with different activation patterns in the PFC for AWS and for TS. Results suggest an alternative explanation for compensatory activation in AWS during speech production, such that AWS present with greater overall activation in both PFC hemispheres relative to TS which results in greater right-sided laterality than TS. Future long-term studies on adults receiving prolonged speech treatment and examination of similar measures in young children who stutter may reveal more about the compensatory versus causal nature of stuttering.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

Title: Accuracy in throwing on the vertical target depending on combination of crossed and identical hand - eye laterality in selected population of FTVS students. Objectives: The aim of this study is determination of any disparity in success rate and darts distribution among selected strongly right-handed and left- handed population of male and female students of FTVS in throwing on the vertically positioned target. Methods: The main research method was used descriptive association method. A total of 60 individuals were enrolled in the study. We used Musalek's test battery (2013) containing questionnaire part, preferential tasks and proficiency tests to define particular sidedness of individual probands. Further a specific task of the throw at the target was employed. For data analysis we used descriptive statistics methods, chi-squared test goodness of fit, analysis of variance, tetrachoric correlation and level of substantive significance expressed by Cohen's d. Results: The results indicated that left-handed individuals did not show a significantly better accuracy in throwing at the vertically positioned target compared with right-handed individuals. It seems that gender is an important factor that affects the level of accuracy in the throws on target because male showed significantly better...

No description available.

Title: Motor performance of pupils with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Objectives: The aim of the work was to determine the level of fine and gross motor skills of upper extremities of the pupils with diagnosis ADHD at schools specialized on these pupils and compare it with the fine and gross motor skills of upper extremities of children without this diagnosis at common elementary school. Further work objective was to determine the level of gross motor skills of lower limbs and laterality of paired organs (hand - foot) within above mentioned groups of pupils. Methods: To determine the level of fine and gross motor skills of upper extremities, gross motor skills of lower limbs, laterality of the upper and lower extremities of the pupils with and without ADHD aged 9-11 years we used these types of tests: "Spiral", "Dotting test", "Beads" (the level of fine motor skills of the upper extremities); "Pack", "Small plate tapping", "Big plate tapping" (the level of gross motor skills of upper extremities); "Tapping the leg" (the level of gross motor skills of the lower limbs); "Typing out the Rhythm" (the laterality of the lower limbs); "Bell" and "Matches" (the laterality of the upper extremities). Results: The fine motor level of dominant hand was in the case of ADHD diagnosed pupils...

In accordance with an experimental setup this thesis investigates to what extent the participants' attitudes and aesthetic preferences are influenced by the lateral direction of light in moving image sequences. It is also investigated whether the participants' handedness correlates with their advertising evaluation. The purpose of the study is to generate new knowledge of potential biases in moving images that could be applied by image producers to create more compelling commercials. Our work is based on a transdisciplinary theoretical approach and the results are analyzed based on biopsychological, sociocultural and perceptual explanatory models. Three self-designed commercials with a left oriented illumination position were used as stimulus, the stimulus were also inverted horizontally. The participants were asked to assess their attitudes toward the commercials with either left or right oriented lighting. Two surveys were conducted: one with a within-subjects design and one with a between-subjects design, a total of 172 people participated. No significant difference between left and right oriented illumination position occurred in any of the groups for neither feelings toward ad, Aad , Ab , or PI. The results suggests that a bias does not occur in dynamic images, unlike the left oriented bias that has been reliably shown in previous studies that relate to still images. Nor could any correlation be established between reported attitudes and handedness.

Com a redução progressiva dos custos de sequenciamento completo do genoma humano, os estudos populacionais tornam-se viáveis. A interpretação dos dados e integração com informações clínicas, entretanto, apresentam-se como desafios crescentes. O conhecimento sobre a variabilidade genética e sua interação com fenótipos complexos podem ser ampliados com estudos de grande porte em populações miscigenadas, em particular de sociedades com heterogeneidades sociais, culturais e históricas, ainda pouco representadas globalmente na área da genômica. Este trabalho apresenta um conjunto de estudos colaborativos que se basearam em uma amostra de natureza representativa de idosos da cidade de São Paulo (amostra SABE, aproximadamente 1400 indivíduos) e em de octogenários cognitivamente saudáveis (amostra 80+, aproximadamente 130 indivíduos). Além de questionários e testes, DNA dos participantes foi obtido e exomas sequenciados para cerca de 600 indivíduos. Esta base permitiu a construção de grupos controles para diversos estudos de associação de variantes causais ou de suscetibilidade a doenças raras como distrofia muscular de cinturas, tumores do sistema endócrino e síndrome de Noonan, entre outras, além de integrar, como referência populacional local, o sistema de análise de variantes do serviço de diagnóstico molecular do Centro de Pesquisas sobre o Genoma Humano e Células-tronco da Universidade de São Paulo. Por ser uma amostra de idosos, além de permitir a construção de uma base eficiente para controles comparativos de doenças raras ou de início precoce, tornou-se possível a execução de projetos sobre envelhecimento cerebral através do recrutamento cerca de 580 indivíduos para ressonância magnética. Estudos com marcadores de demências, como polimorfismos do gene APOE (associado à doença de Alzheimer) indicaram que a população brasileira apresenta riscos diferenciais em relação a populações de outros países, provavelmente devido à estrutura populacional única do ponto de vista de ancestralidade genética e composição socio-econômica. Por fim, os estudos com ressonância magnética e genômica permitiram a investigação do fenótipo de lateralidade cerebral, que engloba dominâncias manual e de linguagem, que está presente de forma variável em seres humanos e está envolvida com distúrbios neuropsiquiátricos como dislexia e esquizofrenia. Foi possível detectar associação entre variantes do gene FOXP2, implicado no neurodesenvolvimento da linguagem, e endofenótipos assimétricos de tratos de substância branca envolvidos na produção da fala. O presente trabalho abre caminho para diversos novos projetos dada a escala de dados sociodemográficas, clínicos, funcionais e genômicos / Due to the progressive reduction of genome sequencing costs, population studies become feasible. Interpretation of subsequent data and integration with clinical information, however, impose a growing challenge. The knowledge about genetic variability and its interaction with complex phenotypes could be expanded with large scale admixed population studies, particularly in those samples that live in socially, culturally and historically heterogeneous communities, so far globally underrepresented in the genomics field. This thesis presents a collection of collaborative studies that were based on a population-representative sample of elderly from the city of São Paulo (SABE sample, approximately 1400 subjects) and a cognitively healthy octogenarians sample (80+ group, approximately 130 subjects). Comprehensive questionnaires and functional tests were obtained, along with DNA from all subjects and exome sequences from about 600 of them. This database allowed the assembly of control groups to several association studies with causal and susceptibility variants to rare disorders such as limb-girdle muscular dystrophy, endocrine system tumors and Noonan syndrome, among others, and, in addition, composed as a local population reference the analyses\' protocols in the molecular diagnosis service of the Human Genome and Stem-cell Research Center at the University of São Paulo. As this is an elderly sample, it was possible not only to build an efficient control group to compare with patients affected by rare or early onset disorders, but to promote projects on brain aging through recruitment of about 580 subjects to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Studies with markers of dementia, such as APOE gene polymorphisms (involved in Alzheimer\'s disease), suggested that the Brazilian population might present different risks compared to other countries, probably due to its unique population structure from the genetic ancestry standpoint and socioeconomic composition. As a final project, MRI and genomics studies were performed to investigate the phenotype of brain laterality, which comprises handedness and language dominance and it is variable among humans, with involvement with neuropsychiatric disorders such as dyslexia and schizophrenia. It was possible to detect an association between variants of FOXP2 gene, which is involved in neurodevelopmental processes of language, and asymmetry endophenotypes of white matter tracts that form the speech production circuitry. This effort opens several pathways to develop new projects due to the scale of sociodemographic, clinical, functional and genomic data

OBJETIVO: Investigar e comparar a aprendizagem de uma habilidade motora de alta demanda de planejamento em sujeitos pós-Acidente Vascular Encefálico (AVE) em função do lado da lesão. MÉTODO: Participaram do estudo 22 indivíduos pós-AVE para compor o grupo experimental (GE), sendo 10 LD e 12 LE, e 14 sujeitos saudáveis para o grupo controle (GC). Os critérios de inclusão foram: 40 a 75 anos de idade, lesão em circulação anterior, crônicos, único evento vascular, destros e Mini Exame de Estado Mental (MEEM) com pontuação acima de 23. A tarefa consistiu em realizar a inserção de uma barra em um orifício, o mais rapidamente possível. O estudo foi composto de duas fases, sendo de aquisição (AQ) com 50 tentativas e de testes de retenção em curto (RET1), longo prazo (RET2) e transferência (TR) com 10 tentativas cada. Foram realizadas análises intra (GC, GE, LD e LE) e intergrupos por meio da ANOVA two-way (grupos X blocos) com medidas repetidas no segundo fator, seguida do post hoc de Tukey. O nível de significância adotado foi de 0,05. RESULTADOS: Houve déficit na aprendizagem do GE nas comparações do nível de desempenho entre o último bloco da AQ com os testes de RET2 e TR, que se apresentou dependente do lado da lesão. Quando comparado com o GC e com LD, o LE apresentou deterioração na RET2. CONCLUSÃO: Há diferença entre o GE e GC no que se refere à aprendizagem de uma habilidade motora com alta demanda de planejamento, mensurada por meio do teste de RET em longo prazo, sendo esta diferença dependente do lado da lesão. O grupo com LE apresentou os maiores déficits na aprendizagem / OBJECTIVE: To investigate and compare the motor learning of a motor skill with high planning demand in post-stroke subjects according to the hemisphere side damage. METHOD: The study comprised twenty-two post-stroke individuals in the experimental group (EG), 10 right hemisphere damaged (RHD) and 12 left hemisphere damaged (LHD), and 14 health subjects in the control group (CG). The inclusion criteria were: age between 40 and 75 years old, anterior circulation damage, chronic stage, single stroke, right-handed and Mini Mental State Exam (MMSE) with score over 23 points. The task consisted of inserting a bar into a hole, as fast as possible. The study consisted of two phases, acquisition (ACQ) with 50 trials and retention tests in short-term (RET1), long-term (RET2) and transfer (TR), with 10 trials each. Analyses within group (CG, EG, RHD and LHD) and between groups were performed by ANOVA two-way (groups x blocks) with repeated measures in the second factor followed by post-hoc of Tukey test. The significant level adopted was 0,05. RESULTS: There was a decrease in the EG learning when the level of performance on the last ACQ block was compared with RET 2 and TR tests, dependent on the hemisphere damage side. CONCLUSION: There are differences on motor learning of a motor skill with high planning demand between EG and CG, especially measured at the RET2. LHD subjects showed significant deterioration in motor learning at the RET2