Speech perception typically takes place within the auditory cortex as evidenced by data collected using quantitative electroencephalography (qEEG). The purpose of this study was to determine if motor responses influence speech perception. We examined P300 event-related potentials during oddball stimulus recognition tasks that either required or did not require a motor response. Based on a review of the literature, it was hypothesized that similar areas of the brain would be activated in both the motor response task and the same task without a motor response immediately following the button-push condition. Two syllables, /ba/ and /ga/, were presented to 20 native English speakers (10 females and 10 males) between the ages of 19 and 30 years. An oddball paradigm consisting of standard and deviant stimuli was presented in three trials: passive listening, mental counting, and button-push. Participants were randomly assigned an order to the trials for passive listening and mental count; however, the button-push response was completed second each time. Data from event-related potentials were recorded for each participant using qEEG and combined across participants to create grand averaged waveforms. Cortical regions of activation were identified and compared across conditions. Results showed that different cortical areas were activated when the mental counting and passive listening conditions were done before and after the motor response condition. Requiring a more complicated response than is typically used to discriminate phonemes, such as with the button push response, may alter speech perception based on the cortical regions activated as measured through source localization. Further research on latencies and amplitudes of the even-related potential (ERP) waveforms is needed to determine how speech perception changes.

Thesis (M Sport Sc (Sport Science))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010 / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a difference in mean VMRT between top-level men and women participating in selected ball sports compared to either a normative sample or to a non-athlete sample. VMRT was measured using a new 40-light protocol on the Sport Vision Trainer (SVT). The SVT is a board consisting 80 circular lights controlled by a computer program. The SVT is designed to test visual-motor response time in participants. Data from top-level ball sport players were collected for both men (rugby and cricket) and women (netball and hockey). No significant differences in VMRT were found between the rugby players (n=24) and either the normal sample (n=81) or the non-athlete men (n=24). No significant difference in VMRT were found between the cricket players (n=10) and the non-athlete men. However, the cricket players were found to have significantly slower VMRT than the normal sample of men (n=81). No significant differences in VMRT were found between the netball players (n=19), the hockey players (n=14) and either the normal sample of women (n=84) or the non-athlete women (n=26). The conclusions drawn from this study support the position that VMRT may not be a key performance indicator in top-level ball sport performance and that the expert advantage may be located in other variables, such as anticipation and visual search. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doel van die studie was om the ondesoek of daar verkille was in die gemiddelde visuele-motoriese reaksie tyd (VMRT) tussen top-vlak bal sport atlete en òf „n normale steekproef òf „n steekproef van nie-atlete. VMRT was gemeet met „ nuwe 40-lig protokol op die Sport Vision Trainer. Inligting van die top-vlak bal sport atlete was ingesamel vir beide mans (rugby en krieket) en dames (netabl en hokkkie) Geen statisties beduidende verskille was gevind vir VMRT tussen die rugby spelers (n=24) en beide van die normale (n=81) of nie-atleet mans steekproef (n=24). Geen statisties beduidende verskille was gevind tussen die krieket spelers (n=10) en die nie-atleet mans nie. Alhoewel die krieket spelers het „n statistie beduidende stadiger VMRT as die normale steekproef mans gehad (n=81). Geen beduidende verskille in VMRT was gevind tussen die netbal spelers (n=19), die hokkie spelers (n=14) en beide van die normale steekproef dames (n=84) of die nie-atletiese dames nie (n=26). Die gevolgtrekking wat gemaak kan word uit die studie ondersteun die standpunt dat VMRT nie „n sleutel prestasie voorspeller in top-vlak bal sportsport prestasie is nie en dat die topvlak speler voordeel deur ander visuele veranderlikes soos antispiasie en “visual search” ondersoek kan word.

Title: The physical load on the body as a factor influencing perceptual cognitive functions. Objective: The aim of this study is to determine the relationship between the size of the physical load and the visual-motor response time and the accuracy of the decision-making by junior soccer players. Methods: The fourty two respondents (in an average age of 19 ± 1.2 years) participated in the study. It was the single factor quasiexperimental, multilevel and intragroup in which we tried to reveal the causal relationship between the visual-motor response time and the accuracy of the decision-making depending on the size of the previous physical load. We proposed a diagnostic instrument containing the video of the offensive game situations which would allow simultaneous evaluation of the visual-motor response time (using Dartfish software program) and the accuracy of the decision-making (through experts assessment). Results and discussion: The diagnostic instrument contains sixteen video clips of the offensive game situations according to the highest degree of conformity of the panelists. I used polychoric correlation matrix to express dependencies between each game situation within each group comprising four video clips of the offensive game situations. The results of the matrix (range -0.437 to 0.306)...

Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) is an incurable inherited retinal degeneration affecting approximately 1 in 4,000 individuals globally. The aim of this dissertation was to identify drugs that can help patients suffering from the disease. To accomplish this goal, the zebrafish was utilized as a model for RP to perform <i>in vivo</i> drug screening. The zebrafish RP model expresses a human rhodopsin transgene which contains a premature stop codon at position 344 (<i>Tg</i>(<i>rho:Hsa.RH1_Q344X</i>)). This zebrafish model exhibits significant rod photoreceptor degeneration beginning at 7 days post fertilization (dpf). To assess the visual consequence of this rod degeneration the zebrafish behavior visual motor response (VMR) was assayed under scotopic conditions. The Q344X RP model larvae displayed a deficit in this VMR in response to a scotopic light offset. This deficit in behavior was utilized to perform a drug screen to identify compounds that could ameliorate the deficient Q344X VMR. The ENZO SCREEN-WELL® REDOX library was chosen to be screened since oxidative stress may increase RP progression in a non-specific manner. From this library, a β-blocker, carvedilol, was identified as a compound that improved the Q344X VMR behavior. This drug was also able to increase rod number in the Q344X retina. Carvedilol was shown to be capable of working directly on rods by demonstrating that the drug can signal through the adrenergic pathway in the rod-like human Y79 cell line. Since carvedilol is an FDA-approved drug, this screening paradigm was utilized to screen the Selleckchem FDA-approved library to identify more drugs that can potentially be repurposed to treat RP like carvedilol. Additionally, this scotopic VMR assay was used to demonstrate that it can identify behavioral deficits in the P23H RP model zebrafish<i> (Tg</i>(<i>rho:Hsa.RH1_P23H</i>)). This dissertation work provides a potential FDA-approved drug for RP treatment and sets the foundation for future drug screening to identify more drugs to treat different forms of RP.

Title: The physical load on the body as a factor influencing perceptual cognitive functions. Objective: The aim of this study is to determine the relationship between the size of the physical load and the visual-motor response time and the accuracy of the decision-making by junior soccer players. Methods: The fourty two respondents (in an average age of 19 ± 1.2 years) participated in the study. It was the single factor quasiexperimental, multilevel and intragroup in which we tried to reveal the causal relationship between the visual-motor response time and the accuracy of the decision-making depending on the size of the previous physical load. We proposed a diagnostic instrument containing the video of the offensive game situations which would allow simultaneous evaluation of the visual-motor response time (using Dartfish software program) and the accuracy of the decision-making (through experts assessment). Results and discussion: The diagnostic instrument contains sixteen video clips of the offensive game situations according to the highest degree of conformity of the panelists. I used polychoric correlation matrix to express dependencies between each game situation within each group comprising four video clips of the offensive game situations. The results of the matrix (range -0.437 to 0.306)...