Body Movement and Verbal Encoding in the Congenitally Blind

1974 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 279-293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Blass ◽  
Norbert Freedman ◽  
Irving Steingart
Keyword(s):  
Motor Activity ◽  
Verbal Fluency ◽  
Body Movement ◽  
Hand Movements ◽  
Complex Sentences ◽  
Sensory Experiences ◽  
Congenitally Blind ◽  
Continuous Body ◽  
Blind Individuals

The purpose of the study was to examine the prevalence of object- and body-focused hand movements of the congenitally blind individuals engaged in an encoding task and to determine the relation of these movements to verbal performance. Ten Ss participated in a 5-min. videotaped monologue. The video portion was coded for hand movements using Freedman's categories of analysis. The audio portion was scored for grammatical complexity according to a system developed by Steingart and Freedman. It was found that: (1) Blind Ss engaged only in body-focused movements; object-focused movements were almost completely absent. (2) Blind Ss displayed significantly greater amounts of body-focused (primarily finger-to-hand) movements than a group of sighted Ss observed in a previous study. (3) There was a correlation of .51 between finger-to-hand movements and verbal fluency and a correlation of –.53 between body-touching and verbal fluency. (4) Ss with a prevalence of finger-to-hand movements showed significantly greater language skill at encoding complex sentences which portray descriptions of patterned, interrelationships among experiences, while Ss with a predominance of continuous body touching gave a less skillful language product in this regard. The findings indicate the central role of motor activity in ongoing thought construction. They also indicate that for the blind, finger-to-hand motions contribute to the evocation of sensory experiences as a necessary pre-condition for linguistic representation.

scholarly journals Increased BOLD Variability in the Parietal Cortex and Enhanced Parieto-Occipital Connectivity during Tactile Perception in Congenitally Blind Individuals

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Leo ◽  
Giulio Bernardi ◽  
Giacomo Handjaras ◽  
Daniela Bonino ◽  
Emiliano Ricciardi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Parietal Cortex ◽  
Information Integration ◽  
Occipital Cortex ◽  
Processing Efficiency ◽  
Neural Integration ◽  
Multimodal Information ◽  
Congenitally Blind ◽  
Cortical Regions ◽  
Blind Individuals

Previous studies in early blind individuals posited a possible role of parieto-occipital connections in conveying nonvisual information to the visual occipital cortex. As a consequence of blindness, parietal areas would thus become able to integrate a greater amount of multimodal information than in sighted individuals. To verify this hypothesis, we compared fMRI-measured BOLD signal temporal variability, an index of efficiency in functional information integration, in congenitally blind and sighted individuals during tactile spatial discrimination and motion perception tasks. In both tasks, the BOLD variability analysis revealed many cortical regions with a significantly greater variability in the blind as compared to sighted individuals, with an overlapping cluster located in the left inferior parietal/anterior intraparietal cortex. A functional connectivity analysis using this region as seed showed stronger correlations in both tasks with occipital areas in the blind as compared to sighted individuals. As BOLD variability reflects neural integration and processing efficiency, these cross-modal plastic changes in the parietal cortex, even if described in a limited sample, reinforce the hypothesis that this region may play an important role in processing nonvisual information in blind subjects and act as a hub in the cortico-cortical pathway from somatosensory cortex to the reorganized occipital areas.

scholarly journals “Visual” Cortices of Congenitally Blind Adults Respond to Executive Demands Authors

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rita E. Loiotile ◽  
Marina Bedny
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Executive Control ◽  
Alternative Hypothesis ◽  
Human Cortex ◽  
Cortex Area ◽  
Congenitally Blind ◽  
Visual Cortices ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Blind Individuals

AbstractHow functionally flexible is human cortex? In congenitally blind individuals, “visual” cortices are active during auditory and tactile tasks. The cognitive role of these responses and the underlying mechanisms remain uncertain. A dominant view is that, in blindness, “visual” cortices process information from low-level auditory and somatosensory systems. An alternative hypothesis is that higher-cognitive fronto-parietal systems take over “visual” cortices. We report that, in congenitally blind individuals, right-lateralized “visual” cortex responds to executiveload in a go/no-go task. These right-lateralized occipital cortices of blind, but not sighted, individuals mirrored the executive-function pattern observed in fronto-parietal systems. In blindness, the same “visual” cortex area, at rest, also increases its synchronization with prefrontal executive control regions and decreases its synchronization with auditory and sensorimotor cortices. These results support the hypothesis of top-down fronto-parietal takeover of “visual” cortices, and suggest that human cortex is highly flexible at birth.

Effects of Visual Accessibility and Hand Restraint on Fluency of Gesticulator and Effectiveness of Message

1978 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 925-926 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen P. Lickiss ◽  
A. Rodney Wellens
Keyword(s):  
Verbal Fluency ◽  
Hand Movements ◽  
Human Communication ◽  
Hand Gestures ◽  
Visual Presence ◽  
Speech Disfluency ◽  
Verbal Output

The role of hand gestures in human communication was examined in an experiment that manipulated communicator-receiver visual accessibility and freedom of the communicator's hand movements. While gesturing occurred primarily during periods of speech rather than silence, the visual availability of 10 speakers' hand gestures did not significantly enhance receivers' ability to decode and act upon task-related messages. Hand restraint did not significantly affect speakers' verbal fluency or total verbal output. The mere visual presence of an interactant had a greater impact on speech disfluency than did hand restraint.

The role of language ability in verbal fluency of individuals with multiple sclerosis

2021 ◽  
Vol 50 ◽  
pp. 102846
Author(s):  
Amy L. Lebkuecher ◽  
Nancy D. Chiaravalloti ◽  
Lauren B. Strober
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Sclerosis ◽  
Verbal Fluency ◽  
Language Ability

Respiratory response to partial paralysis in anesthetized dogs

1984 ◽  
Vol 56 (6) ◽  
pp. 1583-1588 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Oliven ◽  
E. C. Deal ◽  
S. G. Kelsen ◽  
N. S. Cherniack
Keyword(s):  
Motor Activity ◽  
Respiratory Muscle ◽  
Respiratory Muscles ◽  
Peak Activity ◽  
Inspiratory Time ◽  
Muscle Paralysis ◽  
Anesthetized Dogs ◽  
Spontaneously Breathing ◽  
Partial Paralysis

The ability to maintain alveolar ventilation is compromised by respiratory muscle weakness. To examine the independent role of reflexly mediated neural mechanisms to decreases in the strength of contraction of respiratory muscles, we studied the effects of partial paralysis on the level and pattern of phrenic motor activity in 22 anesthetized spontaneously breathing dogs. Graded weakness induced with succinylcholine decreased tidal volume and prolonged both inspiratory and expiratory time causing hypoventilation and hypercapnia. Phrenic peak activity as well as the rate of rise of the integrated phrenic neurogram increased. However, when studied under isocapnic conditions, increases in the severity of paralysis, as assessed from the ratio of peak diaphragm electromyogram to peak phrenic activity, produced progressive increases in inspiratory time and phrenic peak activity but did not affect its rate of rise. After vagotomy, partial paralysis induced in 11 dogs with succinylcholine also prolonged the inspiratory burst of phrenic activity, indicating that vagal reflexes were not solely responsible for the alterations in respiratory timing. Muscle paresis was also induced with gallamine or dantrolene, causing similar responses of phrenic activity and respiratory timing. Thus, at constant levels of arterial CO2 in anesthetized dogs, respiratory muscle partial paralysis results in a decrease in breathing rate without changing the rate of rise of respiratory motor activity. This is not dependent solely on vagally mediated reflexes and occurs regardless of the pharmacological agent used. These observations in the anesthetized state are qualitatively different from the response to respiratory muscle paralysis or weakness observed in awake subjects.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

The role of visual experience for spatial numerical associations

2012 ◽  
Vol 25 (0) ◽  
pp. 222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Proulx ◽  
Achille Pasqualotto ◽  
Shuichiro Taya
Keyword(s):  
Visual Experience ◽  
Opposite Effect ◽  
Random Number Generation ◽  
Number Line ◽  
Mental Number Line ◽  
Generation Task ◽  
Congenitally Blind ◽  
Left And Right ◽  
The Right

The topographic representation of space interacts with the mental representation of number. Evidence for such number–space relations have been reported in both synaesthetic and non-synaesthetic participants. Thus far most studies have only examined related effects in sighted participants. For example, the mental number line increases in magnitude from left to right in sighted individuals (Loetscher et al., 2008, Curr. Biol.). What is unclear is whether this association arises from innate mechanisms or requires visual experience early in life to develop in this way. Here we investigated the role of visual experience for the left to right spatial numerical association using a random number generation task in congenitally blind, late blind, and blindfolded sighted participants. Participants orally generated numbers randomly whilst turning their head to the left and right. Sighted participants generated smaller numbers when they turned their head to the left than to the right, consistent with past results. In contrast, congenitally blind participants generated smaller numbers when they turned their head to the right than to the left, exhibiting the opposite effect. The results of the late blind participants showed an intermediate profile between that of the sighted and congenitally blind participants. Visual experience early in life is therefore necessary for the development of the spatial numerical association of the mental number line.

SURVEY ON THE OPINION AND SIGNIFICANCE OF SPORTS ACTIVITIES AMONG STUDENTS TRAINING IN THE "NURSES" AND "MIDWIVES"

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (Suppl.1) ◽  
pp. 640-646
Author(s):  
A. Bozhkova ◽  
K. Gerasimov
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Physical Activity ◽  
Motor Activity ◽  
Self Assessment ◽  
Knowledge And Skills ◽  
Medical University ◽  
Nurses And Midwives ◽  
Sports Activities

The aim of the research is, through a survey among students studying in the specialties "Nurse" and "Midwife", to study their opinion and attitude to the current models for conducting classes in the discipline "Sports", and in particular to their motor activity. The study involved students from the Medical University - Sofia (Faculty of Public Health and Branch "Prof. Dr. Ivan Mitev" - Vratsa). The tasks we set ourselves are: 1. To conduct a survey on the opinion and attitude of students to the discipline "Sport" and self-assessment of their physical activity; 2. To process and analyze the data from the survey; 3. To draw conclusions and formulate recommendations. To achieve the goal and tasks, a questionnaire with 18 questions was developed, and the obtained results will give us valuable information about motor culture, knowledge and skills about the role of sports during the training of the studied students and then in their future realization as specialists.

scholarly journals Occipital Cortex of Blind Individuals Is Functionally Coupled with Executive Control Areas of Frontal Cortex

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (8) ◽  
pp. 1633-1647 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Deen ◽  
Rebecca Saxe ◽  
Marina Bedny
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Occipital Cortex ◽  
Memory Systems ◽  
Functional Responses ◽  
Congenitally Blind ◽  
Blind Individuals

In congenital blindness, the occipital cortex responds to a range of nonvisual inputs, including tactile, auditory, and linguistic stimuli. Are these changes in functional responses to stimuli accompanied by altered interactions with nonvisual functional networks? To answer this question, we introduce a data-driven method that searches across cortex for functional connectivity differences across groups. Replicating prior work, we find increased fronto-occipital functional connectivity in congenitally blind relative to blindfolded sighted participants. We demonstrate that this heightened connectivity extends over most of occipital cortex but is specific to a subset of regions in the inferior, dorsal, and medial frontal lobe. To assess the functional profile of these frontal areas, we used an n-back working memory task and a sentence comprehension task. We find that, among prefrontal areas with overconnectivity to occipital cortex, one left inferior frontal region responds to language over music. By contrast, the majority of these regions responded to working memory load but not language. These results suggest that in blindness occipital cortex interacts more with working memory systems and raise new questions about the function and mechanism of occipital plasticity.

scholarly journals Spatial navigation by congenitally blind individuals

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor R. Schinazi ◽  
Tyler Thrash ◽  
Daniel-Robert Chebat
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Navigation ◽  
Congenitally Blind ◽  
Blind Individuals
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document