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Current advancements in both technology and science allow us to manipulate our sensory modalities in new and unexpected ways. In the present study, we explore the potential of expanding what we perceive through our natural senses by utilizing a visual-to-auditory sensory substitution device (SSD), the EyeMusic, an algorithm that converts images to sound. The EyeMusic was initially developed to allow blind individuals to create a spatial representation of information arriving from a video feed at a slow sampling rate. In this study, we aimed to use the EyeMusic for the blind areas of sighted individuals. We use it in this initial proof-of-concept study to test the ability of sighted subjects to combine visual information with surrounding auditory sonification representing visual information. Participants in this study were tasked with recognizing and adequately placing the stimuli, using sound to represent the areas outside the standard human visual field. As such, the participants were asked to report shapes’ identities as well as their spatial orientation (front/right/back/left), requiring combined visual (90° frontal) and auditory input (the remaining 270°) for the successful performance of the task (content in both vision and audition was presented in a sweeping clockwise motion around the participant). We found that participants were successful at a highly above chance level after a brief 1-h-long session of online training and one on-site training session of an average of 20 min. They could even draw a 2D representation of this image in some cases. Participants could also generalize, recognizing new shapes they were not explicitly trained on. Our findings provide an initial proof of concept indicating that sensory augmentation devices and techniques can potentially be used in combination with natural sensory information in order to expand the natural fields of sensory perception.

We examined the cognitive, language, and instructional predictors of early word-reading ability in a sample of children with Williams syndrome longitudinally. At Time 1, sixty-nine 6–7-year-olds (mean age = 6.53 years) completed standardized measures of phonological awareness, visual-spatial perception, vocabulary, and overall intellectual ability. Word-reading instruction type was classified as (systematic) Phonics (n = 35) or Other (n = 34). At Time 2, approximately 3 years later (mean age = 9.47 years), children completed a standardized assessment of single-word reading ability. Reading ability at Time 2 varied considerably, from inability to read any words to word-reading ability slightly above the level expected for age. The results of a multiple regression indicated that Time 1 word-reading instruction type, phonological awareness, and visual-spatial perception (as assessed by a matching letter-like forms measure) each explained significant unique variance in word reading at Time 2. A systematic phonics approach was associated with significantly better performance than other reading-instruction approaches. Exploratory analyses suggested that the relations between these factors were complex. Considered together, these findings strongly suggest that, in line with the Cumulative Risk and Resilience Model of reading disability, word-reading (dis)ability in Williams syndrome is probabilistic in nature, resulting from the interaction of multiple individual and environmental risk and protective factors. The results also have educational implications: early word-reading instruction for children with Williams syndrome should combine systematic phonics and phonological awareness training while also incorporating letter discrimination instruction highlighting the visual-spatial differences between similar-appearing letters.

The development of screening instruments will help the primary care team to determine when further comprehensive cognitive assessment is necessary. A retrospective analysis based on medical records. Patients referred to a comprehensive geriatric assessment unit. Cognitive screening and assessment included visual-spatial components: the Mini Mental State Examination, the Clock Drawing Test, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment Test, and the Neurotrax (Mindstreams) computerized cognitive assessment battery. The average age of the 190 eligible patients was 81.09±5.42 years. Comparing the individual tests with that of the visual-spatial index of Neurotrax, we found the Trail Making B test to be most sensitive (72.4%) and the Cube Test to have the highest specificity (72.8%). A combination of tests resulted in higher sensitivity and lower specificity. The use of a combination of visual-spatial tests for screening in neurocognitive disorders should be evaluated in further prospective studies.

Background: Training and experience vary widely among surgeons performing laparoscopic surgery (LS). Visual perceptual demands are greater for LS than for traditional surgery, necessitating greater understanding of surgeon variables in skill acquisition and performance. Methods: During an LS skills course incorporating didactic and simulator-based instruction, 94 surgeons completed an experience/demographic questionnaire, a test of course-specific knowledge acquisition, 10 trials of three dexterity drills, 15 suturing trials using course-specific methods, and 3 standardized tests of visual perception. Results: Age, years posttraining, and visual perception correlated significantly with time required to complete drills and suturing trials (Pearson correlations ranged from r = 0.21, P <0.05, to r = 0.51, P <0.001) even after statistically controlling for variations in knowledge acquisition, which correlated ( r = 0.30, P <0.01) with suturing speed. Conclusions: Surgeon variables play a significant role in speed of acquisition and performance of LS skills. Further studies need to elucidate their role in quality of LS performance.

Background: Proficiency in visual spatial perception (VSP) is a hypothetical component of surgical competence. Methods: Four tests of VSP, taken from the Cognitive Laterality Battery (CLB), were administered to 301 surgeons and surgical residents. Mean scores on each test were compared by Student t tests to those of the normative sample (n = 251) on which the test was originally standardized. Results: Mean scores on two of the tests (Orientation, Touching Blocks) were significantly greater ( P <0.01) for the study sample than for the normative sample, while mean scores on the other two subtests (Form Completion, Localization) were not. Conclusions: Surgeons tend to outperform the general population on tests of high-level VSP abilities (ie, envisioning depth and mentally manipulating two-dimensional representations of three-dimensional structures) identified previously as correlates of surgical skill acquisition. VSP proficiency is a valid component of surgical competence that should perhaps be included in career selection discussions with medical students and in assessment of the competence of surgeons.

The eminent British neurologist, Gordon Holmes, published a number of reports in the early twentieth century on patients with what he called “visual disorientation.” Holmes' visual disorientation is thus one of the first descriptions of partial blindness, namely blindness for locations. Ziyah Mehta was particularly interested in visual spatial perception and, more specifically, in the perception of slant or orientation. Investigating line orientation in the group of head‐injured ex‐servicemen in Oxford, Mehta found that both hemispheres in the brain contribute to the perception of angles, although the right hemisphere is much better at it. Long before people started thinking about computer recognition, clinicians had observed that some patients have problems with the perception of edges and basic shapes. One infamous cause of shape perception impairment is carbon monoxide poisoning. The complete loss of color perception is called achromatopsia. Most congenital color perception problems are caused by defects of the cones in the eye.

Previous studies have shown interference between illusory size and perceived duration. The present study replicated this space-time interference in three classic visual-spatial illusions, the Ebbinghaus, the Müller-Lyer, and the Ponzo illusion. The results showed bidirectional interference between illusory size and duration for all three illusions. That is, subjectively larger stimuli were judged to be presented longer, and stimuli that were presented longer were judged to be larger. Thus, cross-dimensional interference between illusory size and duration appears to be a robust phenomenon and to generalize across a wide range of visual size illusions. This space-time interference most likely arises at the memory level and supports the theoretical notion of a common representational metric for space and time.

Background/Aims: The aims of this study were to validate the newly developed version of the Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination (ACE-III) against standardised neuropsychological tests and its predecessor (ACE-R) in early dementia. Methods: A total of 61 patients with dementia (frontotemporal dementia, FTD, n = 33, and Alzheimer's disease, AD, n = 28) and 25 controls were included in the study. Results: ACE-III cognitive domains correlated significantly with standardised neuropsychological tests used in the assessment of attention, language, verbal memory and visuospatial function. The ACE-III also compared very favourably with its predecessor, the ACE-R, with similar levels of sensitivity and specificity. Conclusion: The results of this study provide objective validation of the ACE-III as a screening tool for cognitive deficits in FTD and AD.

Origami, drawing and colouring are artistic activities that can be beneficial for cognitive abilities or emotional well-being. However, there is a lack of studies that would investigate and compare these activities and their effects within the spatial abilities’ domain. The aim of this study was to investigate if and how participating in three artistic activities—colouring, drawing or origami—can enhance spatial abilities. A total of 73 young adults participated in one of the three activities organized as a 7-session training, distributed every third day. Measures of spatial abilities (Spatial Reconstruction Task [SRT]), Mental Rotation Task [MRT]), Santa Barbara Solids Task [SBST]), and Corsi Block Tapping Task [Corsi]) were administered before (pretest) and after (posttest) the training, as well as at the 6-month follow-up). The Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI) was administered at the posttest. The results showed no significant interaction between the training group and the measurement time point for the spatial ability tasks. Nevertheless, effect sizes at posttest favor origami and drawing in enhancing more complex spatial abilities (MRT for origami and drawing; SBST for origami; Corsi for drawing), and colouring in strengthening spatial perception (SRT). Some effects have remained for a longer period of time. Origami led to a greater pressure and tension, and colouring to higher interest and enjoyment. These results suggest that artistic activities can potentially contribute to the strengthening of spatial abilities, but it is advised to presented them in a way that reduces frustration and increase participant’s enjoyment.

Mounting studies suggest that working memory (WM) plays a crucial role in language prediction, but how varying types of WM loads influence language prediction remains unclear. This study investigated whether verbal and visual WM loads differentially impact language predictions during speech comprehension. Using a dual-task paradigm combined with eye-tracking in a visual world setting, we asked 48 participants to complete a sentence comprehension task under concurrent WM load conditions. Participants were divided into two groups, one of which performed a visual dots memory task and the other completed a visual words memory task, with memory load being applied in half of the trials. Results revealed anticipatory gaze towards target objects, suggesting the prediction of upcoming linguistic information. Notably, early fixations during the tonal cue window indicated tonal prediction in spoken sentence processing. Furthermore, WM load significantly disrupted participants’ language prediction effects, highlighting the involvement of working memory resources in this process. Importantly, the verbal memory task imposed a more severe disruption to language prediction than the visual memory task, suggesting differential roles of WM subtypes in linguistic prediction. This offers novel insights into how verbal WM and visual-spatial WM differentially influence predictive language processing.