Submitted by ANA CLARA DE SOUZA PAIVA null (acspaiva@rc.unesp.br) on 2017-03-24T14:09:32Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese Final para Impressão Divisa.pdf: 2998595 bytes, checksum: 0e6aeaf0257f6918935850088fb5c68d (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Luiz Galeffi (luizgaleffi@gmail.com) on 2017-03-24T17:53:11Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 paiva_acs_dr_rcla.pdf: 2998595 bytes, checksum: 0e6aeaf0257f6918935850088fb5c68d (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-03-24T17:53:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 paiva_acs_dr_rcla.pdf: 2998595 bytes, checksum: 0e6aeaf0257f6918935850088fb5c68d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-03-10 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Diferentes experiências rítmicas podem influenciar funções psicoacústicas durante a reprodução de estruturas rítmicas. A periodicidade do pulso é um elemento básico, presente no ritmo musical, unido ao agrupamento de eventos sucessivos e que é essencial à compreensão e interpretação de estruturas de sequências sonoras. O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar os efeitos da experiência musical no campo da dança e da música no padrão perceptivo-motor de reprodução de estruturas rítmicas monotônicas e musicais organizadas em tarefas com crescente complexidade. Foram selecionados previamente 60 adultos jovens para compor três grupos: 1) grupo com experiência com ritmo constituído por músicos (MU; n = 20); 2) grupo com experiência com ritmo constituído de dançarinos (DA; n = 20); e 3) grupo sem experiência profissional com música e dança (SE; n = 20). Os três grupos realizaram dois testes psicoacústicos rítmicos: o primeiro, um teste de percepção e reprodução de estruturas rítmicas monotônicas que consistia em ouvir a um estímulo rítmico e reproduzi-lo imediatamente, e o segundo, um teste de percepção e reprodução de estruturas rítmicas musicais, em que a sequência rítmica apresentada é reproduzida simultaneamente à escuta. As variáveis analisadas incluíram frequência de acertos (FA) para ambos os testes, regularidade temporal (RT) do tempo de início da resposta (s), duração (s) dos pulsos e pausas de cada estrutura rítmica para o teste monotônico. E no teste musical a variável sincronismo (SINC) foi verificada pela diferença relativa (%) entre a estrutura temporal do teste e a estrutura temporal da resposta. Os valores SINC foram subdivididos em desvio temporal do pulso e desvio temporal da pausa (componentes psicoacústicos rítmicos). Os resultados encontrados foram divididos em: Etapa 1 - Efeitos da experiência musical e da natureza de testes rítmicos monotônicos e musicais na percepção rítmica, Etapa 2 - Efeitos da memória na regularidade temporal da resposta rítmica, e Etapa 3 - Padrão perceptivo-motor de sincronização rítmica. Os resultados encontrados na Etapa 1 mostraram diferenças entre os grupos com e sem experiência musical. O grupo de MU teve FA acima de 90% nos dois testes. A reprodução do teste musical refletiu o desempenho superior pelos grupos SE e MU comparados ao desempenho no teste monotônico. Em ambos os testes encontramos efeito de complexidade da tarefa apenas para estruturas terminais da sequência, porém com particularidades na variabilidade para cada grupo. Em relação à regularidade temporal do teste monotônico apenas pausas foram variáveis associadas com diferenças entre grupos e complexidade da tarefa. O SINC mostrou que variabilidade da pausa é o parâmetro indicativo de diferenças entre grupo, confirmando o desempenho superior dos grupos com experiência com música. Concluímos que a experiência musical dos participantes teve efeito sobre o padrão perceptivo-motor durante o processamento da informação psicoacústica de estruturas rítmicas com testes monotônicos e musicais, particularmente em parâmetros de variabilidade. A complexidade dos padrões rítmicos parece ter impacto de dificuldade apenas em estruturas terminais em ambos os testes. / Different rhythmic experiences can influence psychoacoustic functions during the reproduction of rhythmic structures. The frequency of the pulse is a basic element in the musical rhythm and the grouping of successive events are essential to the understanding and interpretation of sound sequences. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of musical experience in the field of dance and music on perceptive-motor pattern of monotonic rhythm and musical rhythm with structures organized into tasks with increasing complexity. Sixty young adults were selected to comprise three groups: 1) group with experience with rhythm consisting of musicians (MU; n = 20); 2) group with experience with rhythm consisting of dancers (DA; n = 20); and 3) group without experience with music or dance (SE; n = 20). The three groups performed two tests: the first test of perception and reproduction of monotonic rhythmic structures that were responded immediately after their presentation; the second test required perception and synchronization of tapping to musical rhythmic structures. The variables we examined included frequency of correct performance (FA) in both tests, temporal regularity (RT) of initiation of the response, duration of pulses and pauses of each rhythmic structure for monotonic test. In the musical test timing (SINC) was verified using the relative difference (%) between the temporal structure of the test and the temporal structure of the response. The values SINC were subdivided into temporal deviation of pulse and pause (psychoacoustic rhythmic components). The results were divided in: 1- Effects of musical experience and nature of monotonic rhythm and musical rhythm tests on rhythm perception, 2 - Memory effects on temporal rhythmic regularity, and 3 - Perceptual-motor pattern of rhythm synchronization. The results showed differences between the groups with and without musical experience. The MU group showed a 90% FA in both tests. Performance in the music test reflected superior performance by groups with musical experience compared to performance in the monotonic test. In both tests effect of task complexity was found only in the terminal sequence structures, but with distinctive variability for each group. In relation to temporal regularity of the monotone test, pauses were the variables associated with deterioration of performance in relation to complexity of the task. The SINC has shown that variability of pause is the parameter that detected differences between groups, confirming the superior performance of groups with experience with music. We conclude that experience with music had an effect on the perceptual-motor pattern during the processing of structures with monotonic and musical psychoacoustic rhythms, particularly of parameters of variability. The complexity of rhythmic patterns seems to appear in terminal structures in both tests.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--McMaster University, 2005. / Supervisor: Timothy D. Lee. Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rutgers University, 2009. / "Graduate Program in Computer Science." Includes bibliographical references (p. 123-130).

The early years of a child's growth and development are crucial for health, wellbeing and success in later life. Adequate stimulation during the pre-school years is a critical factor that can be associated with higher levels of achievement and better adjustment in school (Arnold, Barlett., Gowani, & Merali, 2006). Some children, for example those growing in contexts of adversity, are in particular need of pre-school assistance. This research evaluates a one-year implementation of the Psychomotor Education Programme (PMEP) at the Dalton Trust Education Centre, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. PMEP is an educational programme that stimulates the child‟s psychomotor functions and supports the development of the whole child through play in the pre-school years. An evaluation of the programme was required to establish if the PMEP had achieved the envisaged objectives of improving preparedness of children for their entrance into the formal school system. This summative evaluation used focus group discussions to collect data on whether the outcomes had been achieved from the perspective of the trained and experienced family facilitators who had participated in the PMEP. The participants were asked about the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the PMEP. The areas identified as being attributable to the PMEP include social-emotional competence, self-awareness, emotional regulation and autonomy. The participants reported that PMEP had enabled the children to achieve the learning outcomes described by the Revised National Curriculum Statement (South African Department of Education, 2005). However, further research is needed to overcome the difficulty of maintaining the achieved outcomes in a new environment, such as the formal school context, where methods of teaching and resources may differ substantially from those provided by the PMEP. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2010.

Ten experiments examined the interactions between vision and audition in stimulusdriven spatial attention orienting and inhibition of return (IOR). IOR is the demonstration that subjects are slower to respond to stimuli that are presented at a previously stimulated location. In each experiment, subjects made go/no-go responses to peripheral targets but not to central targets. On every trial, a target was preceded by a sensory event, called a "cue," either in the same modality (intramodal conditions) or in a different modality (crossmodal conditions). The cue did not predict the location of the target stimulus in any experiment. In some experiments, the cue and target modalities were fixed and different. Under these conditions, response times to a visual target were shorter when it appeared at the same location as an auditory cue than when it appeared on the opposite side of fixation, particularly at short (100 ms) cue-target stimulus onset asynchronies (Experiments 1A and IB). Similarly, response times to an auditory target were shorter when it appeared at the same location as a visual cue than when it appeared at a location on the opposite side of fixation (Experiments 2A and 2B). These crossmodal effects indicate that stimulus-driven spatial attention orienting might arise from a single supramodal brain mechanism. IOR was not observed in either crossmodal experiment indicating that it might arise from modality specific mechanisms. However, for many subjects, IOR did occur between auditory cues and visual targets (Experiments 3A and 3B) and between visual cues and auditory targets (Experiment 4A and 4B) when the target could appear in the same modality as the cue on half of the trials. Finally, the crossmodal effects of stimulus-driven spatial attention orienting on auditory and visual event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were examined in the final two experiments. Auditory cues modulated the ERPs to visual targets and visual cues modulated the ERPs to auditory targets, demonstrating that the mechanisms for spatial attention orienting cannot be completely modality specific. However, these crossmodal ERP effects were very different from each other indicating that the mechanisms for spatial attention orienting cannot be completely shared.

Bimanual movement is integral to daily function. As such, it is important to understand factors that influence bimanual performance. Playing the piano was employed to examine bimanual movement. Additionally, the weather prediction task was administered as a measure of non-declarative learning. Sex influenced motor performance. Males tended to perform asymmetrical movements with less skill than females. Age affected motor performance. Older adults were less proficient, but improved similarly with practice as young adults. Further, older adults exhibited differential deterioration of bimanual movement. Feedback and music training affected motor performance. Females performed bimanual movement less proficiently with auditory feedback. Individuals with music training performed bimanual movements relative to unimanual movements better with feedback. Music training moderated age-related differential deterioration of bimanual movements. Older adults performed significantly worse than young adults on the weather prediction task. In addition, the weather prediction task correlated with motor measures in a sample including older adults. / xii, 159 leaves : ill. ; 29 cm

The purpose of this thesis was to investigate manual asymmetries in the reach-to-grasp movement based on two hypotheses: 1) manual asymmetries are resultant from asymmetries in the dorsal vision-for-action system; and 2) manual asymmetries are contingent on task difficulty. Participants grasped glasses of water under different visual-feedback conditions. Demand was manipulated by varying the level of the water contained in the glass. Hand asymmetries of the reach-to-grasp movement were studied through kinematic analyses. Visual feedback availability and task demand affected all kinematic measures. Manual asymmetries were found in peak velocity, movement time, and variability of maximum grip aperture. Consistent with reach-to-point literature, reach-to-grasp actions were faster and more accurate when performed with the right hand and when guided by the dorsal vision-for-action system. The results of the thesis provide support for a theory of left-hemisphere specialization for the visual control of actions. / xiv, 121 leaves : ill. ; 29 cm

The purpose of this investigation was to compare associative and dissociative psychological strategies of attentional focus for their effects on self - report ratings of perceived exertion (RPE), and heart rate during endurance exercise. Trained cyclists (n = 7) performed three 60 minute experimental rides on a bicycle ergometer which consisted of an association ride (attention focused on heart rate feedback), a dissociation ride (attention focused on responding to a cue word on a videotape), and a control condition ride in which focus of attention was not purposely manipulated. Results indicated that the deliberate application of a cognitive strategy designed to encourage an individual to associate or dissociate did not differentially effect either actual efficiency (heart rate) or perception of exercise intensity (RPE scores). Overall, it was concluded that there was a trend for the dissociation condition to result in higher RPE scores than the association condition or control condition. / School of Physical Education

The purpose of this study was to add to the body of psychometric evidence underlying the Dean-Woodcock Sensory Motor Battery (DWSMB) and the theory of sensory motor functioning. Secondly, this study added to the body of literature concerning the role of both cortical and subcortical areas of the brain in motor functioning.The DWSMB is a new battery designed to meet the emerging trends in neuropsychology. It combines the qualitative functionality of the sensory and motor tests used by clinical neurologists with the quantitative, performance-driven sensory motor tests found in traditional neuropsychological assessment batteries. The DWSMB consists of eight tests of sensory functions, seven tests of cortical motor functions, and three tests of subcortical motor functions.A population sample of 441 participants were administered the DWSMB, 340 of which had no reported neurological or psychiatric history. These data were analyzed using an exploratory factor analysis to determine the number of constructs underlying the DWSMB. The study found three factors: a Complex Sensory Motor Factor, a Simple Sensory Factor, and a Subcortical Motor Factor. The three constructs found in this study provided empirical support for the underlying theory of the DWSMB, which will allow neuropsychologists to make inferences about the resulting scores. / Department of Educational Psychology

The experiments in this thesis investigated the neuropharmacology of memory in the caudate nucleus, using the conditioned emotional response (CER) with visual and olfactory conditioned stimuli (CS). / In experiment 1, post-training, intrastriatal microinjections of both amphetamine and LY 171555, but not SKF 38393: (1) into the posteroventral area improved memory of a visual, but not an olfactory, CER; (2) into the ventrolateral area improved memory of an olfactory, but not a visual, CER. In experiment 2, sulpiride, but not SCH 23390, blocked the memory improving effect of amphetamine. These findings are consistant with the hypothesis that dopamine D2 receptor stimulation mediates the memory enhancement effect of amphetamine in the neostriatum. / In three experiments on a visual CER, pre-training intrastriatal micro-injections of scopolamine impaired acquisition; post-training micro-injections improved consolidation; and pre-testing micro-injections impaired retrieval. These findings are consistant with the hypothesis that striatal muscarinic receptor stimulation mediates some aspects of acquisition and retrieval of sensory-motor memory, and that blockade of these receptors following training has an effect on memory consolidation similar to that of D2-receptor stimulation. / In experiment 6, destruction of the dopaminergic nigrostriatal neurons abolished the memory improving effect of intrastriatal post-training micro-injections of scopolamine and AFDX-384, a specific muscarinic M2 antagonist. These results suggest that the post-training memory improvement produced by muscarinic blockade may be mediated by an M2 receptor, known to be located on dopaminergic nigro-striatal terminals.