Avaliar a dispersão de luz intraocular em participantes com olhos saudáveis, moradores da Grande São Paulo e de San Miguel de Tucuman, Argentina, e pacientes que realizariam cirurgia refrativa (LASIK), utilizando o metodo psicofísico da Comparacão da Compensação presente no aparelho C-Quant (Oculus Optikgerate, Alemanha). Método: Foi utilizado o aparelho C-Quant, desenvolvido por Franssen, Coppens e van den Berg. (IOVS, 47:768,2006), disponivel comercialmente, para avaliar de maneira objetiva a dispersão de luz intraocular atraves de metodo psicofisico. Foram testados 261 voluntarios, de ambos os sexos, com idades variando entre 10 e 78 anos, divididos em tres grupos experimentais: grupo 1: n= 209, idade: 33,74 } 15,87 anos, moradores da Grande Sao Paulo; grupo 2: n=29, idade: 39,72}13,28 anos, moradores de San Miguel de Tucuman, Argentina; grupo 3: n=23, idade: 30,52}4,94 anos, moradores da Grande Sao Paulo e pacientes de cirurgia refrativa (LASIK). Cada voluntario realizou 6 testes, 3 em cada olho (olhos alternados), e os valores obtidos do parametro de dispersao foram comparados entre si e com as normas do equipamento. Os voluntarios do grupo 3 realizaram tres sessoes de testagem, antes da cirurgia, apos 60 dias da cirurgia e apos 120 dias da cirurgia. Resultados: Observou-se que, apesar da variacao entre respostas do mesmo participante e de diferentes participantes da mesma idade, nao houve significancia estatistica (ANOVA medidas pareadas, grupo 1: t=1,501, Wilcoxon, grupo 2: Z=-2,422, p-level 0,015) entre os dados, e em todos os grupos experimentais houve alta correlacao (grupo 1: Pearson: R=0,7101, grupo 2: Spearman = 0,942, grupo 3: Spearman = 0,958) entre olho direito e esquerdo. Comparando-se com as normas do aparelho atualizadas, nao foi encontrada diferenca estatistica para os tres grupos experimentais. No grupo 3, os resultados de dispersao pre-operatorio foram ligeiramente maiores que os obtidos com 60 e 120 dias de pos-operatorio, porem nao houve diferenca estatistica entre tais dados. Discussão: Os valores de dispersao de luz intraocular foram compativeis com as normas atualizadas do aparelho, o que se deve, principalmente, a grande variacao dos dados coletados, levando a um desvio padrao grande, que impossibilita qualquer diferenca estatistica. Observamos que entre os mais jovens (entre 10 e 20 anos), tais variacoes de valores de dispersao tambem ocorrem, levantando duvidas sobre a constancia da dispersao de luz nessa faixa etaria, fato predito na literatura. Observamos tambem uma diminuicao nos valores de dispersao no pos-operatorio a niveis normais, indicando recuperacao dos meios opticos apos a cirurgia. Nao foram observadas diferencas significativas entre a populacao brasileira e a argentina, nem entre participantes de olhos de cores diferentes, o que vai contra a literatura, que prediz valores maiores de dispersao para olhos claros / Purpose: Evaluate retinal straylight in healthy eyes of people living in Sao Paulo and San Miguel de Tucuman, Argentina, and in patients of refractive surgery (LASIK), using the psychophysical method Compensation Comparison as presented in the Oculus C-Quant (Oculus Optikgerate, Germany). Methods: Oculus C-Quant was used to access the retinal straylight, as developed by Franssen, Coppens and van den Berg (IOVS, 47:768,2006), using a psychophysical method to quantify retinal straylight. For this study 261 subjects were tested, both sexes, ages between 10 and 78 years old, arranged in three experimental groups: group 1, n=209, age: 33,74 } 15,87 years, all living in Sao Paulo; group 2: n=29, age: 39,72}13,28 years, living in San Miguel de Tucuman, Argentina; group 3: n=23, age: 30,52}4,94 years, living in Sao Paulo and all refractive surgery (LASIK) patients. Each subject performed the test 6 times, 3 times each eye (alternating eyes), and the straylight values were compared between measures on the same subject and with the updated standard norms of the C-Quant. Group 3 subjects were tested three times, one previously the refractive surgery, one 60 days after surgery and the last one 120 days after surgery. Results: As a result, there were no statistic differences between measures on the same subject and when comparing different subjects same age (Paired Measures ANOVA, group 1, t=1,501, Wilcoxon, group 2: Z=-2,422, p-level 0,015), and there were high correlation between right and left eyes for all three groups (group 1: Pearson: R=0,7101, group 2: Spearman = 0,942, group 3: Spearman = 0,958). The standard norms of the C-Quant were also compared with the straylight values for the subjects in all three groups, and also there was no statistical significance between them. At group 3, the pre-op results were slightly higher than the post-op (both 60 and 120 days), but no statistical difference was found. Discussion: The straylight values obtained were similar to those on the updated standard norms of the test, due mainly to data scatter and therefore high standard deviation values. Among the younger subjects (ages between 10 and 20 years) the straylight values also vary and didnt remain constant as predicted by literature. At group 3, straylight values on postop (60 and 120 days) were similar those from updated norms, indicating a recovery of the eye media after surgery. No statistical differences were found between Brazilian and Argentinean subjects, neither between dark and light eyes subjects, although the literature predicts higher straylight values for light eyes

Conceitos e fenômenos subjetivos, como a dor, sempre foram difíceis de serem medidos com precisão. A metodologia psicofísica, especialmente os procedimentos de estimativa de magnitude desenvolvidos por S.S. Stevens (1950), tem contribuído para o desenvolvimento de técnicas, para a criação de instrumentos, para escalonar fenômenos subjetivos. O objetivo do trabalho foi de construir uma escala psicofísica de medida da dor, utilizando julgamentos subjetivos de dor provocada por diferentes eventos. O trabalho foi realizado com 40 sujeitos adultos (30 mulheres e 10 homens) com idades entre 20 e 79 anos, para o grupo experimental e com 24 sujeitos do grupo controle com características de sexo, faixa etárias, estado conjugal e escolaridades semelhantes às do grupo experimental. Todos os sujeitos do grupo experimental eram doentes com dor crônica que se encontrava em tratamento, no ambulatório de dor da Clínica Neurológica do Instituto Central do Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo. Investigou-se a concordância dos julgamentos obtidos entre o grupo experimental (com dor) e o controle (sem dor), procurando-se averiguar se existe ou não concordâncias entre os grupos, no que diz respeito à forma de avaliação da dor. Os dados coletados foram obtidos mediante entrevistas individuais, em que os sujeitos faziam julgamentos da magnitude de cada evento doloroso apresentado. Para obter uma escala objetiva de dor, utilizou-se de três listas com três conjuntos distintos de eventos dolorosos: dores do cotidiano (dor de cabeça, dor nas costas, etc.), dores por doenças físicas (lombalgia, câncer, etc.), dores por eventos dolorosos de vida ou eventos psicossociais (morte de filho, diagnóstico grave, perda de emprego, etc.). A partir dessas estimativas da sensação da dor, procurou-se encontrar a magnitude física da dor estimada, aplicando-se a função de Stevens (S=kIn). Os resultados permitiram observar que existe coerência entre os sujeitos desta população, nos julgamentos da magnitude do fenômeno doloroso, sendo possível se construir uma escala geral de dor a partir desses julgamentos. O conjunto de dores no qual houve maior correlação foi o de dores do cotidiano. Trata-se de situações que a maioria das pessoas conhece e já experienciou, encontrando, portanto, maior facilidade para dimensionar e estimar a magnitude. Por serem as dores do cotidiano, situações já vivenciadas, acredita-se que estas formam o conjunto de dores mais confiáveis para serem utilizadas numa escala geral de dor. / Concepts and subjective phenomena such as pain have always been difficult to measure accurately. The psychophysical methodology, mainly the magnitude estimation method developed by S.S. Stevens (1950), provides techniques for the development of precise scaling instruments for subjective phenomena. The present study intends to build a tool for the measure of pain using the psychophysical method of subjective magnitude estimation. Forty subjects (30 women and 10 men) with ages between 20 and 79 years were selected for the experimental group and twenty-four subjects with similar characteristics (sex, age, education and marital status) for the control group. Subjects from the experimental group were under treatment in the Pain Clinic of the University of São Paulo (Clínica Neurológica do Instituto Central do Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo). The differences between the judgements made by the experimental group (with pain) and the judgements made by the control group (without pain) were studied in order to investigate if those groups had different ways of estimating the pain aroused by different painful situations. Data was collected individually by means of written forms. Three different forms were used for each subject containing three different sets of painful situations grouped as follows: pain due to common situations (headache, back pain, a.s.o.); pain due to severe illness (back pain, cancer, a.s.o); pain aroused by emotional or psychosocial situations (death of the son/daughter, diagnostic of severe illness, lost of the job, a.s.o.). From these judgement, the physical magnitude of the pain was calculated using the reverse of the psychophysical function of S. S. Stevens (S=kIn). The results demonstrated that there is agreement between the magnitude judgements of pain by both groups, making it possible to construct a pain-measuring tool by this means. Highest correlation was obtained for pain due to common situations (r=0,896), probably because most of the subjects had experienced these situations before and could give an accurate estimation of the aroused pain. It is concluded, that a pain-measuring tool should use these kind of painful situations as references for the pain felt by the patients.

Esta dissertação é o resultado de uma pesquisa na área de psicofísica para obtenção de uma modelagem da percepção visual de saliências em formas bidimensionais. Para que este objetivo fosse atingido, foi desenvolvido um experimento psicofísico executado através de um programa computacional, que apresenta aos indivíduos imagens de formas (ou contornos) bidimensionais com diversas características e saliências. O experimento é realizado em duas etapas, ambas com 16 indivíduos, e assim divididas devido as características das formas utilizadas. A primeira etapa é constituída de 30 imagens que apresentam formas mais prováveis de serem encontradas diariamente, além de apresentarem uma maior simetria e alongamento do que as 25 imagens que compõem a segunda etapa. Os resultados do experimento, ou seja, a freqüência de escolha das regiões das imagens pelos indivíduos, foram organizados através de histogramas polares para cada uma das 55 imagens, sendo este gerados por computador através de um programa por nós desenvolvido. As conclusões obtidas, quando efetuou-se uma comparação das regiões escolhidas pelos indivíduos com os conceitos sobre percepção de formas (basicamente a regra da \"boafigura\" dosprincípios de Gestalt), foram que as regiões escolhidas com mais freqüência não são necessariamente as \"boas regiões\". A fim de obtermos modelos da percepção de saliências de formas bidimensionais, ou seja, modelos que determinem as regiões escolhidas pelos indivíduos durante a realização do experimento psicofísico, foram desenvolvidos dois métodos de modelagem, sendo um relacionado com campos vetoriais e o outro com a entropia da curvatura das imagens apresentadas como estímulos aos indivíduos. Os resultados dos dois modelos foram comparados com os resultados práticos obtidos através do experimento psicofísico, a fim de obtermos uma análise da validade dos modelos. Através desta comparação foi possível concluir que, apesar dos modelos apresentarem uma representação quantitativa de algumas das etapas do processo percepção de saliências, outros valores de suas variáveis devem ser testados para que o processo de modelagem torne-se mais próximo do ideal. / This dissertation is the result of the a research in the area of psychophysics in order to obtain a modeling of the visual perception of saliences in form bidimensionais. In order to reach the target, an psychophysical experiment was developed which was done through the use of a computer programme. This programme presents to individuals images of bidimensional shapes (or outlines) with a variety of characterisitcs and saliences. The experiment is done in two phases, both of which with 16 individuals, and afterwards it is divided into the characteristics of the shapes which were used. The first phase consists of 30 images that present the most probable shapes which can be found easily every day. It also presents a bigger symmetry and elongation when compared to the 25 images which are part of the second phase. This second phase presents the shapes which are not so probable to be found everyday. The result of the experiment, that is the frequency of the choice of the regions of the images by the individuals, were organized through the use of polar histograms for each one of the 55 images. The histograms were generated by a computer which uses a programme developed by us. The conclusion obtained, when a comparison of the regions chooses by the individuals with the concepts about perception of forms (basically the rule of the \"good shape\" of the Gestalt principles), were that the regions choosen more frequently were not the \"good regions\". In order to obtain models of the perception of the saliences of the bidimensional shapes, which are the models that determine the regions chosen by the individuals during the psychophysical experiment, two methods of modeling were developed. One of them is related to vectorial fields and the other to the entropy of the curvature of the images presented as stimulus to the individuals. The results of the two models were compared to the practical results obtained through the psychophysical experiment in order to obtain an analisys of the validity of the models. Through this comparison was possible to conclude that \' although the models present a quantitative representation of some steps of the process of perception of saliencies, other values of its variables should be tested in order to mabe the process of modeling closer to the ideal one.

Objetivo: Avaliar a Função de Sensibilidade ao Contraste de Luminância Espacial e Temporal, estudar o desenvolvimento destas funções, a contribuição das vias de processamento paralelo para as funções de Sensibilidade ao Contraste e seu respectivo desenvolvimento e, por fim, determinar valores normativos destas funções visando uma aplicabilidade clínica.Método A avaliação psicofísica de sensibilidade ao contraste de luminância espacial e temporal foi realizada em 112 sujeitos divididos em três grupos:GrupoI ( idade média =9,14±2,7 anos),Grupo II ( idade média=23,7 ± 3,4 anos) e Grupo III ( idade média=41,8± 5,5 anos) com o programa PSYCHO for Windows Versão 2.36 (Cambridge Research Systems, CRS-Ltd, UK) acoplado a um microcomputador PC XTC -600. . Os estímulos foram apresentados em um monitor Sony Triniton de 19 polegadas GFD420 (Sony Corporation, USA) com resolução espacial de 800X600 e resolução temporal de 69 Hz Os estímulos eram comandados pela placa gráfica VSG 2/4 (Cambridge Research Systems, CRS-Ltd, UK).Resultados A avaliação psicofísica para a sensibilidade ao contraste espacial e temporal mostraram que esta função já está desenvolvida e em pleno funcionamento em crianças (6 anos) ocorrendo um declínio para as frequências espaciais de 2,0cpg;8,3cpg e 14,5cpg para os grupos II e III.Para a frequência temporal de 2,5Hz o declínio ocorre nos Grupos II e III e para a frequência temporal de 5,0 Hz nas idades mais avançadas(GIII). Para o estudo da contribuição das vias de processamento paralelo (magnocelular e parvocelular) podemos notar uma maior sensibilidade ao contraste para decremento de luz do que para incremento de luz, porém não foi possível determinar a real contribuição dessas vias para a função de sensibilidade ao contraste. Conclusão Avaliamos com sucesso a Sensibilidade ao Contraste Espacial e Temporal para todas as faixas etárias e, assim, conseguimos ter acesso ao desenvolvimento desta função, entre as idades de 6 e 57 anos. Valores normativos para as tais funções foram estabelecidos por metodologia nãoparamétrica.. O estudo da contribuição das vias magnocelular e parvocelular não pode ser conclusivo, porém os achados mostraram uma maior sensibilidade para o decremente de luz o que corrobora com a literatura / Purpose: To analyze the spatial and temporal luminance contrast sensitivity function, to study the development of these functions, the contribution of the parallel processing pathways and to determine the normative values of these functions to order a clinical applicability normative. Methods the psychophysical evaluation of the spatial and temporal luminance contrast sensitivity was performed in 112 subjects divided into three groups: Group I (mean age =9.14±2.7 years), Group II (mean age=23.7 ± 3.4 years) and Group III (mean age=41.8± 5.5 years) with the PSYCHO for Windows Version 2.36 (Cambridge Research Systems, CRS-Ltd, UK) connect to the microcomputer PC XTC -600. The stimuli was showed in a monitor Sony Triniton de 19 inches GFD420 (Sony Corporation, USA) with spatial resolution of the 800X600 and temporal resolution of the 69 Hz. The stimuli was made by the graphics card VSG 2/4 (Cambridge Research Systems, CRS-Ltd, UK).Results The psychophysics evaluation to spatial and temporal contrast sensitivity showed that this function is already developed and full operation in children (6 years old) with a decline to spatial frequencies of 2.0cpg;8.3cpg and 14.5 cpg to the groups II and III. For the temporal frequency of 2.5Hz the decline occur to the groups II and III .and to the temporal frequency of 5.0 Hz the decline occur to the advantage ages(GIII). For the study of the parallel processing pathways (magnocellular e parvocellular) we can see bigger contrast sensitivity to decrement than to increment of light. It was not possible determine the real contribution of these pathways to the contrast sensitivity function. Conclusion We evaluated in a successful way the spatial and temporal contrast sensitivity to all age range and so we could access the development of this function between the ages from 6 to 57 years old. Normatives values to this function were established for non parametric methodology. The study of the contribution of the parvocellular and magnocellular pathways is not conclusive, but the results showed a bigger sensibility to decrement than to increment of light that was similar to the literature

abstract: Proprioception is the sense of body position, movement, force, and effort. Loss of proprioception can affect planning and control of limb and body movements, negatively impacting activities of daily living and quality of life. Assessments employing planar robots have shown that proprioceptive sensitivity is directionally dependent within the horizontal plane however, few studies have looked at proprioceptive sensitivity in 3d space. In addition, the extent to which proprioceptive sensitivity is modifiable by factors such as exogenous neuromodulation is unclear. To investigate proprioceptive sensitivity in 3d we developed a novel experimental paradigm employing a 7-DoF robot arm, which enables reliable testing of arm proprioception along arbitrary paths in 3d space, including vertical motion which has previously been neglected. A participant’s right arm was coupled to a trough held by the robot that stabilized the wrist and forearm, allowing for changes in configuration only at the elbow and shoulder. Sensitivity to imposed displacements of the endpoint of the arm were evaluated using a “same/different” task, where participant’s hands were moved 1-4 cm from a previously visited reference position. A measure of sensitivity (d’) was compared across 6 movement directions and between 2 postures. For all directions, sensitivity increased monotonically as the distance from the reference location increased. Sensitivity was also shown to be anisotropic (directionally dependent) which has implications for our understanding of the planning and control of reaching movements in 3d space. The effect of neuromodulation on proprioceptive sensitivity was assessed using transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), which has been shown to have beneficial effects on human cognitive and sensorimotor performance in other contexts. In this pilot study the effects of two frequencies (30hz and 300hz) and three electrode configurations were examined. No effect of electrode configuration was found, however sensitivity with 30hz stimulation was significantly lower than with 300hz stimulation (which was similar to sensitivity without stimulation). Although TENS was shown to modulate proprioceptive sensitivity, additional experiments are required to determine if TENS can produce enhancement rather than depression of sensitivity which would have positive implications for rehabilitation of proprioceptive deficits arising from stroke and other disorders. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Neuroscience 2018

A opacificação do cristalino presente ao nascimento ou nos primeiros meses de vida é denominada de Catarata Congênita (CC). As primeiras semanas de vida são importantes no desenvolvimento visual, já que há diferença significativa no desempenho visual de crianças que passaram pela cirurgia até seis semanas de vida (com melhor desempenho visual) em relação às crianças que realizaram a cirurgia após seis semanas de vida. Crianças que tiveram privação visual durante a primeira infância por catarata bilateral apresentam redução da visão espacial. O objetivo deste trabalho foi verificar o impacto na Função de Sensibilidade ao Contraste (FSC) em crianças de tratamento cirúrgico de Catarata Congênita, durante a fase de desenvolvimento visual. Foram avaliados três grupos: 11 crianças do grupo controle (média idade =6,83; DP=1,38), 9 crianças do grupo CC (média idade =6,87; DP=2,03) e 15 indivíduos adultos (média idade =27,63; DP=4,16). Foi utilizado o software Metropsis para avaliação da sensibilidade ao contraste de luminância de grade senoidal nas frequências espaciais de 0,2 cpg; 0,5 cpg; 1,0 cpg; 2,0 cpg; 4,2 cpg e 8,9 cpg e luminância média de 34,4 cd/m². Houve redução em toda a curva de sensibilidade ao contraste (SC) do grupo CC quando comparado ao grupo controle e não houve relação entre o tempo de privação e a redução da SC / The opacification of the lens present at birth is called Congenital Cataract (CC). The first weeks of life are important in visual development since there is not any significant difference in visual performance of children who had surgery within six weeks of life (with better visual performance) compared with children who underwent surgery after this period. Children who have visual deprivation during infancy due to bilateral cataracts have reduced spatial vision. The aim of this study was to assess the impact on Contrast Sensitivity Function (CSF) in children with Congenital Cataract surgery during the visual development age range. We evaluated three groups: 11 control children (mean age = 6.83, SD = 1.38), 9 children in the CC group (mean age = 6.87, SD = 2.03) and 15 adults (mean age = 27.63, SD = 4.16). Metropsis software was used to evaluate sensitivity to luminance contrast of the sinusoidal grating spatial frequencies of 0.2 cpd, 0.5 cpd, 1.0 cpd, 2.0 cpd, 4.2 cpd and 8.9 cpd with an average luminance of 34.4 cd / m². There was a reduction in the contrast sensitivity function (CSF) of the CC group compared to the control group and there was no correlation between the duration of deprivation and the impairment in the SC

In the current study 24 younger adults and 24 older adults haptically discriminated natural 3-D shapes (bell peppers, Capsicum annuum) using unimanual (one hand used to explore two objects) and bimanual (both hands used, but each hand explored separate objects) successive exploration. Haptic exploration using just one hand requires somatosensory processing in only one cerebral hemisphere (the hemisphere contralateral to the hand being used), while bimanual haptic exploration requires somatosensory processing in both hemispheres. Previous studies related to curvature/shape perception have found either an advantage for unimanual exploration over bimanual exploration or no difference between the two conditions. In contrast to the results of previous studies that found an advantage for unimanual exploration, the current study found that unimanual and bimanual haptic exploration produced equivalent shape discrimination performance. The current results also document a significant effect of age on haptic shape discrimination: older adults exhibited moderately reduced shape discrimination performance compared to younger adults, regardless of the mode of exploration (unimanual or bimanual).

Using a Bayesian framework, we place bounds on just what features are worth computing if inferences about the world properties are to be made from image data. Previously others have proposed that useful features reflect "non-accidental'' or "suspicious'' configurations (such as parallel or colinear lines). We make these notions more precise and show them to be context sensitive.

Moving objects may stimulate many retinal photoreceptors within the integration time of the receptors without motion blur being experienced. Anderson and vanEssen (1987) suggested that the neuronal representation of retinal images is shifted on its way to the cortex, in an opposite direction to the motion. Thus, the cortical representation of objects would be stationary. I have measured thresholds for two vernier stimuli, moving simultaneously into opposite directions over identical positions. Motion blur for these stimuli is not stronger than with a single moving stimulus, and thresholds can be below a photoreceptor diameter. This result cannot be easily reconciled with the hypothesis of Tshifter circuitsU.

Understanding how the human visual system recognizes objects is one of the key challenges in neuroscience. Inspired by a large body of physiological evidence (Felleman and Van Essen, 1991; Hubel and Wiesel, 1962; Livingstone and Hubel, 1988; Tso et al., 2001; Zeki, 1993), a general class of recognition models has emerged which is based on a hierarchical organization of visual processing, with succeeding stages being sensitive to image features of increasing complexity (Hummel and Biederman, 1992; Riesenhuber and Poggio, 1999; Selfridge, 1959). However, these models appear to be incompatible with some well-known psychophysical results. Prominent among these are experiments investigating recognition impairments caused by vertical inversion of images, especially those of faces. It has been reported that faces that differ "featurally" are much easier to distinguish when inverted than those that differ "configurally" (Freire et al., 2000; Le Grand et al., 2001; Mondloch et al., 2002) ??finding that is difficult to reconcile with the aforementioned models. Here we show that after controlling for subjects' expectations, there is no difference between "featurally" and "configurally" transformed faces in terms of inversion effect. This result reinforces the plausibility of simple hierarchical models of object representation and recognition in cortex.