Gestural interaction and reading skills: a case study of people with Down syndrome

People with Down syndrome present cognitive difficulties that affect their reading skills. In this study, we present results about using gestural interaction with the Kinect sensor to improve the reading skills of students with Down syndrome. We found improvements in the visual association, visual comprehension, sequential memory, and visual integration after this stimulation in the experimental group compared to the control group. We also found that the number of errors and delay time in the interaction decreased between sessions in the experimental group.

Performance of early literacy students in cognitive-linguistic skills during the pandemic

Introduction: The Covid-19 pandemic made discrepancies between the different educational realities more evident for schoolchildren in the beginning of literacy. Objective: to characterize the performance of cognitive-linguistic skills of students in early literacy phases during the pandemic. Methods: Twenty-two elementary school students participated in this study, distributed in GI 1st year students and 2nd year GII students, submitted to the application of the Cognitive-Linguistic Skills Assessment Protocol for students in the initial stage of literacy. Results: Students from GI and GII showed average performance for writing the name and writing the alphabet in sequence. The GI presented a refusal response for the subtests of word dictation, pseudoword dictation and picture dictation, word repetition and visual sequential memory of shapes and poor performance for alphabet recognition in random order and average performance for alphabet recognition in sequence. GII showed lower performance for the subtests of word dictation, pseudoword dictation, picture dictation and superior performance for alphabet recognition in random order, alphabet in sequence and visual sequential memory of shapes. Discussion: The appropriation of the letter-sound relationship mechanism raises questions, since it evidenced the difficulty of all students in cognitive-linguistic skills necessary for the full development of reading and writing in an alphabetic writing system such as Brazilian Portuguese . Conclusion: Students in the 1st and 2nd years showed lower performance in cognitive-linguistic skills important for learning reading and writing.

Spatio-Temporal Sequential Memory Model With Mini-Column Neural Network

Memory is an intricate process involving various faculties of the brain and is a central component in human cognition. However, the exact mechanism that brings about memory in our brain remains elusive and the performance of the existing memory models is not satisfactory. To overcome these problems, this paper puts forward a brain-inspired spatio-temporal sequential memory model based on spiking neural networks (SNNs). Inspired by the structure of the neocortex, the proposed model is structured by many mini-columns composed of biological spiking neurons. Each mini-column represents one memory item, and the firing of different spiking neurons in the mini-column depends on the context of the previous inputs. The Spike-Timing-Dependant Plasticity (STDP) is used to update the connections between excitatory neurons and formulates association between two memory items. In addition, the inhibitory neurons are employed to prevent incorrect prediction, which contributes to improving the retrieval accuracy. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed model can effectively store a huge number of data and accurately retrieve them when sufficient context is provided. This work not only provides a new memory model but also suggests how memory could be formulated with excitatory/inhibitory neurons, spike-based encoding, and mini-column structure.

Association between the auditory profile and speech-language-hearing diagnosis in children and adolescents

ABSTRACT Purpose: to verify the association between the auditory assessment result and the speech-language-hearing diagnosis in children and adolescents. Methods: an observational, cross-sectional study based on the analysis of medical records of children and adolescents that received care at a speech-language-hearing assessment outpatient center between 2010 and 2014. Data on sociodemographic characteristics, speech-language-hearing diagnosis, auditory examination results, and Auditory Processing Simplified Assessment results were collected. Descriptive and association analyses were conducted with either the chi-squared or Fisher’s exact test, considering the 5% statistical significance level. Results: the sample comprised 122 participants, most of them males (67.2%), mean age 8.78 years. A statistically significant association was verified between the audiometry result and the diagnostic hypothesis of change in written language (p = 0.011); between the results of both the sequential memory test for nonverbal sounds and sound localization and the diagnostic hypotheses of change in the cognitive aspects of language (p = 0.019 and p = 0.033, respectively) and of speech (p = 0.003 and p = 0.020, respectively); and between the result of the sequential memory test for verbal sounds and the diagnostic hypothesis of change in speech (p = 0.005). Conclusion: given the associations found, it is proposed that children and adolescents with changes in speech undergo the Auditory Processing Simplified Assessment to verify the possibility of changed aspects, favoring directed therapeutic interventions.

Simplified assessment of central auditory processing in individuals presented with trisomy 21

ABSTRACT Purpose: to analyze the performance of individuals with trisomy 21 (T21) in the simplified assessment of central auditory processing, identify the impaired skills, and compare it with the results of the hearing self-perception questionnaire administered to the parents. Methods: a descriptive, observational, quantitative study conducted at the Speech-Language-Hearing Teaching Clinic of a public university. The sample comprised 16 individuals with T21, aged 8 to 33 years. Simplified assessment tests of central auditory processing were conducted, namely, sounds localization and sequential memory for verbal and nonverbal sounds, diotically. Then, the Scale of Auditory Behaviors (SAB) was administered to the subjects’ parents/guardians. The descriptive statistical analysis with the chi-square test considered p<0.05. Results: in the simplified assessment, 81.3% had abnormal results in the memory tests for verbal sounds; 75%, in the memory tests for nonverbal sounds; and 37.5%, in the sound localization test. In the Scale of Auditory Behaviors, 62.5% of the answers indicated changes in the central auditory processing, demonstrating that the scale can be useful to identify such changes. However, there was no significant association between the questionnaire and the behavioral test results. Conclusion: the results point to impaired sequential memory skills for verbal and nonverbal sounds in most individuals assessed. The simplified assessment results indicate the need for assessments of central auditory processing. Hence, the simplified assessment is highly important to detect possible changes in the central auditory processing that might interfere with the communication and overall learning of individuals presented with trisomy 21.

Metode Pusat dan Circular Hough Transformation untuk Mendeteksi Lingkaran pada Sebuah Citra

Tulisan ini membahas tentang penerapan metode pusat dan Circular Hough Transformation(CHT) untuk mendeteksi semua lingkaran yang terkandung dalam citra baik lingkaran tunggal maupun lingkaran yang tumpang tindih. Metode pusat dan CHT memainkan peran penting dalam mendeteksi lingkaran yang terkandung dalam citra melalui array akumulator dua dimensi A(a, b) yang memiliki memori berurutan dengan titik pusat dari lingkaran yang tumpang tindih sehingga dapat dihitung untuk setiap titik pada kurva menggunakan nilai parameter jari-jari yang dipilih untuk mendapatkan nilai triplet (a, b, r) pada Circular Hough Transformation (CHT). Metode pusat merupakan alternatif lain untuk mendetekasi lingkaran dalam sebuah citra, melalui pre-processing seperti, input citra, deteksi objek, ambang batas tepi, skala abu-abu. Kemudian digunakan metode pusat untuk CHT. Akhirnya adalah mengimplementasikan metode pusat dan Cricular Hough Transformation menggunakan Matlab R2020b. Dengan sisitem yang dibangun dapat dideteksi seluruh lingkaran yang terdapat pada citra dengan akurasi 100% dengan memberikan intensitas cahaya 0.93 dan ambang batas 0.33 dan polarisasi objek gelap dan terang serta rentang jari-jaroi antara 16px dan 110px. Tentunya ini tidak berlaku untuk citra yang memuat lingkaran dengan jari-jari yang lebih dari 110px atau kurang dari 16px. Kata kunci: Metode Pusat, Lingkaran, Jari-Jari, Citra, CHT Abstract This paper discusses the application of the center method and Circular Hough Transformation (CHT) to detect all circles contained in an image, both single circles and overlapping circles. The center and CHT methods play an important role in detecting the circle contained in the image via a two-dimensional accumulator array A (a, b) which has sequential memory with the center points of the overlapping circles so that it can be calculated for each point on the curve using parameter values. the radius selected to obtain the triplet values (a, b, r) of the Circular Hough Transformation (CHT). The center method is another alternative for detecting circles in an image, through pre-processing such as image input, object detection, edge threshold, grayscale. Then the central method for CHT was used. Finally is to implement the central method and the Cricular Hough Transformation using the Matlab R2020b. With the built system it can be detected all the circles in the image with 100% accuracy by providing a light intensity of 0.93 and a threshold of 0.33 and polarization of dark and light objects and a radius range between 16px and 110px. Of course this does not apply to images that contain circles with radii greater than 110px or less than 16px. Keywords: Center Method, Circle, Radii, Image, CHT.

Spatio-temporal Memory for Navigation in a Mushroom Body Model

Insects, despite relatively small brains, can perform complex navigation tasks such as memorising a visual route. The exact format of visual memory encoded by neural systems during route learning and following is still unclear. Here we propose that interconnections between Kenyon cells in the Mushroom Body (MB) could encode spatio-temporal memory of visual motion experienced when moving along a route. In our implementation, visual motion is sensed using an event-based camera mounted on a robot, and learned by a biologically constrained spiking neural network model, based on simplified MB architecture and using modified leaky integrate-and-fire neurons. In contrast to previous image-matching models where all memories are stored in parallel, the continuous visual flow is inherently sequential. Our results show that the model can distinguish learned from unlearned route segments, with some tolerance to internal and external noise, including small displacements. The neural response can also explain observed behaviour taken to support sequential memory in ant experiments. However, obtaining comparable robustness to insect navigation might require the addition of biomimetic pre-processing of the input stream, and determination of the appropriate motor strategy to exploit the memory output.

Contextual Prediction Errors Reorganize Episodic Memories in Time

Episodic memories are contextual experiences ordered in time. This is underpinned by associative binding between events within the same contexts. The role of prediction errors in strengthening declarative memory is well established but has not been investigated in the time dimension of complex episodic memories. Here we used 3-day movie viewing paradigm to test the hypothesis that contextual prediction errors leads to temporal organization of sequential memory processing. Our main findings uncover that prediction errors lead to changes in temporal organization of events, secondly, new unexpected sequences show as high accuracy as control sequences viewed repeatedly, and these effects are specifically due to prediction errors, and not novel associations. A drift-diffusion modelling further revealed a lower decision threshold for the newer, unexpected sequences compared to older sequences reflected by their faster recall leads to reorganization of episodes in time. Moreover, we found individual decision threshold could significantly predict their relative speed of sequence memory recall. Taking together our results suggest a temporally distinct role for prediction errors in ordering sequences of events in episodic memory.