1,721,139 research outputs found
Body image and body schema. The shared representation of body image and the role of the dynamic body schema in perspective and imitation.
No full textIl sistema di allenamento analogico/simbolico nello sport della pallavolo: Una valutazione delle componenti mnesitico/attentive
No full textIntroduzione
I benefici che l’attività motoria opera sia nell’età adulta che durante l’infanzia sono molteplici. Tra questi, si annoverano i miglioramenti delle abilità percettive, attentive e mnestiche. Lo scopo del presente lavoro è verificare se le capacità mnestiche ed attentive possano essere incrementate dalla messa in opera di un’offerta formativa specifica.
Metodo
Due gruppi di bambini, di età compresa tra i sei e i dieci anni sono stati avviati al gioco della pallavolo. Un gruppo è stato allenato con un metodo che carica di significati i movimenti corporei dell’allenatore e dei compagni al fine di associare tali movimenti allo svolgimento di future indicazioni da eseguire (Pittera, Pedata e Ligas, 2008). L’altro gruppo ha svolto esercizi propedeutici alla pallavolo attraverso la focalizzazione sull’apprendimento dei gesti tecnici.
Risultati
La differenza tra i dati raccolti all’inizio e alla fine del periodo di allenamento preso in esame evidenziarono un miglioramento della capacità di ricordare azioni motorie; nessun miglioramento apparve però per quanto ha riguardato il numero di posizioni spaziali o il numero di componenti verbali da ricordare. Sorprendentemente, poi, nessun miglioramento emerse nelle misure di attenzione sostenuta.
Conclusioni
I risultati suggeriscono come, focalizzando l’attenzione dei discenti sugli aspetti motori dell’esercizio, e facendo in modo che questi aumentino di significato al fine della successiva realizzazione di nuovi compiti, si possa aumentare una capacità basilare di ogni apprendimento sportivo, ovvero la capacità di ricordare nuove azioni.Background
The benefits that physical activity operates express themselve both in aldulhood and in childhood. Among these, perceptual, attentional and mnemonic improvements are the most frequently reported. The purpose of the present study is to verify whether both the ability to memorize new item and to pay substained attention can increase via specific training.
Method
Two group of children- aged between six and ten years- were launched to the game of volleyball. One group was trained with a method that focuses the attention on the body movements coach and teammates exectuted aimed by the goal to associate the movements to instructions to be executed afterwards (Pittera, Tread and Ligas, 2008). The other group was trained via exercises that focused on developing technical volleyball abilities.
Results
The difference between the data collected at the beginning and at the end of the training period highligheted an improvement of the ability to remember meaningless motor actions; no improvement emerged, however, in the number of spatial positions or the number of verbal item to remember. Moreover, no improvement emerged in the measures of sustained attention.
Conclusions
The results suggest that, by bringing the attention of the learners on the motor aspects of the exercises, and making sure that the latter acquired an agumented meaning, e.g., by becoming indices for subsequent new tasks- for example- the number of actions that one can memorize increase
Agire su oggetti inusuali: quando funzionalità e struttura si confrontano
Full text linkUtilizzando una serie di oggetti inusuali, creati partendo dalle loro rispettive versioni tipiche, si . tentato di chiarire il modo in cui le informazioni visive codificate dalla via anatomo-funzionale, che elabora le caratteristiche stabili degli oggetti - ovvero quelle legate alla loro funzione e all'esperienza fatta con essi - sono confrontate con le informazioni codificate dalla via che coadiuva l'afferramento degli oggetti controllando il movimento sulla base dell'analisi delle caratteristiche strutturali dell'oggetto. A 28 partecipanti tra i 21 e 27 anni (19 femmine) sono stati presentati gli oggetti (sia nella loro versione tipica che in quella inusuale) e richiesto di svolgere un giudizio sulla loro finalit. di utilizzo. I risultati hanno evidenziato che la richiesta del compito, basata sull'attivazione dell'analisi funzionale degli oggetti (via ventro-dorsale), ha accresciuto la salienza della parte funzionale degli oggetti stessi tanto da ridurre il ruolo dell'elaborazione dell'informazione inerenti alle modalit. d'afferramento dell'oggetto stesso (via dorso-dorsale) spesso evidenziata in letteratura e definita come effetto "affordance".A set of unusual objects, a structurally modified version of typical objects, was used to clarify how information coded by the ventro-dorsal stream, processing stable object features (linked to function and experience-related), is integrated with information coded by the dorso-dorsal stream, devoted to grasping and action control, based on object structural properties. We presented both the typical and unusual object versions to 28 participants, between 21 and 27 years-old (19 females) asking them to categorize objects'use-related function. Results showed an increased salience of the functional part of both the kind of objects due, to the task demand and based on activation of ventro-dorsal object functional analysis, while the dorso-dorsal processing about how to grasp the object, leading to the so-called affordance effect, was reduced
Does the body talk to the body? The relationship between different body representations while observing others’ body parts
Full text linkThe way human bodies are represented is central in everyday activities. The cognitive system must combine internal, visceral, and somatosensory, signals to external, visually driven information generated from the spatial placement of others’ bodies and the own body in the space. However, how different body representations covertly interact among them when observing human body parts is still unclear. Therefore, we investigated the implicit processing of body parts by manipulating either the body part stimuli’ posture (conditions a and b) or the participants’ response body posture (conditions c, d, and e) in healthy participants (N = 70) using a spatial compatibility task called Sidedness task. The task requires participants to judge the colour of a circle superimposed on a task-irrelevant body part picture. Responses are facilitated when the spatial side of the responding hand corresponds to the spatial code generated by the hand stimulus's position with respect to a body of reference. Results showed that the observation of the task-irrelevant body parts oriented participants’ attention and facilitated responses that were spatial compatible with the spatial position such body parts have within a configural representation of the body structure (i.e., Body Structural Representation) in all the five experimental conditions. Notably, the body part stimuli were mentally attached to the body according to the most comfortable and less awkward postures, following the anatomo-physiological constraints. Moreover, the pattern of the results was not influenced by manipulating the participants’ response postures, suggesting that the automatic and implicit coding of the body part stimuli does not rely on proprioceptive information about one's body (i.e., Body Schema). We propose that the human body's morphometry knowledge is enriched by biomechanical and anatomo-physiological information about the real body movement possibilities. Moreover, we discuss the importance of the automatic orienting of attention based on the sidedness within the context of imitational learning
Do Object Affordances Modulate the Sense of Embodiment in Virtual Human--Tool Interaction? Reflection for the Interactive Artificial Environment
Full text linkObject manipulation is essential to build the surrounding reality, and affordances—the action possibilities offered by the environment—have a crucial role in human-tool interaction. Due to the exponential growth of the metaverse, a research question arises: Does the theoretical model behind the human-tool interaction also work in artificial reality? The present study aimed to investigate the difference in the sense of embodiment in human-tool interaction between usual and unusual objects in an immersive 360-degree video. The environment is a recording of a human arm that interacts with various tools while leaning on a table. Forty-four participants took part in the study, and they were randomized into two groups, usual or unusual objects, and in two within-participants conditions, reach to move or reach to use. Results showed no significant difference in the embodiment between usual and unusual objects, demonstrating that the ventral and dorsal streams may perfectly integrate information in the artificial environment as in the real world. Participants felt present in the virtual environment, as demonstrated by the factor location of embodiment, so they believed they could interact with any tools, independently of their affordances. The study contributes to understanding the mechanisms behind human-tool interaction in the artificial environment
Body representation in people with apraxia post Stroke– an observational study
No full textObjective: To investigate how two types of body representation (body schema and body image) were affected in people with and without apraxia following a supratentorial stroke. Design: Observational cross-sectional study Setting: Level 1 Specialist Neurological Rehabilitation Unit Participants: 30 participants post-stroke diagnosed with (n = 10) and without apraxia (n = 20) according to a modified version of the short Ideomotor Apraxia Test. Interventions: Not applicable Main Outcome Measures: Body schema assessed using the hand laterality recognition test and body part knowledge test; Implicit body image assessed using the sidedness test. Results: Left-sided lesions were more common in the apraxic group. Compared to people without apraxia post-stroke, those with apraxia showed significantly reduced accuracy and longer reaction times on the hand laterality test and fewer correct responses on the body part knowledge test. There was no between-groups difference in the sidedness test. Conclusions: People with apraxia showed deficits in online body representations (body schema) that are used to plan and execute actions. Future research studies could target body schema deficits as an adjunct in the rehabilitation of apraxia
Multisensory Perception, Verbal, Visuo-spatial and Motor Working Memory Modulation After a Single Open- or Closed-Skill Exercise Session in Children
No full textPhysical activity presents clear benefits for children’s cognition. This study examined the effect of a single session of open- and closed-skill exercise on multisensory perception, i.e. the ability to appropriately merge inputs from different sensory modalities, and on working memory (verbal, visuo-spatial and motor working memory) in 51 children (aged 6–8 years). Using a semi-randomised pre-post design, participants completed a range of cognitive tasks immediately before and after an exercise session or a classroom sedentary activity. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the three groups (open-skill, n = 16; closed-skill, n = 16; classroom activity, n = 19). Exercise, but not usual classroom activity, improved children’s multisensory perception, with no difference between exercise types. Results also revealed that a single open-skill session produced verbal working memory (digit span) benefits; a closed-skill exercise session benefitted motor working memory. While the relatively small number of participants should be acknowledged as a limitation, these findings contribute to the emerging evidence for selective cognitive benefits of exercise and show, for the first time in children, that multisensory processing sensitivity is improved by exercise
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