Search results for " working memory"

rTMS evidence of different delay and decision processes in a fronto-parietal neuronal network activated during spatial working memory.

2003

The existence of a specific and widely distributed network for spatial working memory (WM) in humans, involving the posterior parietal cortex and the prefrontal cortex, is supported by a number of neuroimaging studies. We used a repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) approach to investigate the temporal dynamics and the reciprocal interactions of the different areas of the parieto-frontal network in normal subjects performing a spatial WM task, with the aim to compare neural activity of the different areas in the delay and decision phases of the task. Trains of rTMS at 25 Hz were delivered over the posterior parietal cortex (PPC), the premotor cortex (SFG) and the dorsolateral …

Physical activity, aerobic fitness, and brain white matter : Their role for executive functions in adolescence

2020

Highlights • Aerobic fitness level, but not physical activity, is related to white matter properties in the brain. • The relation between physical activity and working memory is moderated by fractional anisotropy (FA) of the corpus callosum. • The FA of the corpus callosum and superior corona radiata moderates the relation between aerobic fitness and working memory.

Roving Robots Gain from an Orientation Algorithm of Fruit Flies and Predict a Fly Decision-Making Algorithm

2014

Simple organisms like bacteria are directly influenced by momentary changes in concentration or strength of sensory signals. In noisy sensory gradients frequent zigzagging reduces the performance of the cell or organism. Drosophila melanogaster flies significantly deviate from a direct response to sensory input when orienting in gradients. A dynamical model has been derived which reproduces fly behaviour. Here we report on an emergent property of the model. Implemented in a robot, the algorithm is sustaining decisions between visual targets. The behaviour was consequently found in wild-type flies, which stay with a once-chosen visual target for considerable longer times than mutant flies wi…

Percezione aptica e schema corporeo in soggetti con obesità grave

Apprendere una seconda lingua da analfabeti tra ricerca e didattica. Una esperienza con i minori stranieri non accompagnati a Palermo

This contribution presents data and experiences acquired within the frame of the “Inclusion Project Linguistic School of Italian Language for Foreigners” of the University of Palermo. The program, created five years ago, has designed and managed educational courses for adults and unaccompanied minors (msna) of low and very low schooling level, most of them between 16 and 18 years old, and developed a series of social initiatives related to the insertion of these minors in Sicilian Society. These youths are part of a large number of unaccompanied adolescents who, in recent years, have come ashore to the port of Palermo along with thousands of refugees and asylum seekers. A significant number…

Robotic and virtual World Programming labs to Stimulate Reasoning and visual-spatial Abilities

2013

Abstract The individuals’ cognitive skills, academic performance and their relationship with programming of robots or virtual learning environment is a topic of particular interest in the area of human-robot interaction. This paper presents a pilot study performed on a group of 36 lower secondary school students involved in a 32-hours laboratory based on the combination of LEGO Mindstorm NXT and Microsoft Kodu Game Lab (KGL) and aimed at programming first a robot and further a more complete virtual world based on a narrative-designed scenario. The findings of the research will be discussed in the light of the effectiveness of using robotics and virtual world programming as a meaningful and …

Naming speed and Effortful and Automatic Inhibition in Children with Arithmetic Learning Disabilities

2009

Abstract We report a two-year longitudinal study aimed at investigating the rate of access to numerical and non-numerical information in long-term memory and the functioning of automatic and effortful cognitive inhibition processes in children with arithmetical learning disabilities (ALDs). Twelve children with ALDs, of age 9.3 years, and twelve gender–age-matched controls were involved in the study. Rate of access was measured through digit- and letter-naming tasks, automatic cognitive inhibition was measured using a negative priming paradigm, and effortful cognitive inhibition was measured rating intrusion errors in a working memory task. Children with ALDs suffered from a deficit in the …

Naming speed, automatic inhibition and effortful inhibition in a working memory task in children with arithmetic learning difficulties.

2008

We report a study aimed at investigating rate of access to numerical and non-numerical information in long-term memory and functioning of automatic and effortful cognitive inhibition processes in children with Arithmetical Learning Disabilities (ALD). A group of children with ALD, of age 10,3 years, and a group of gender-age-matched controls were involved in the study. Rate of access was measured through digit- and letter- naming tasks, automatic cognitive inhibition was measured using a negative priming paradigm, and effortful cognitive inhibition was measured rating intrusion errors in the well known Daneman and Carpenter’s (1980) working memory task. No evidence for dysfunction of the au…

Training of Attention in Children With Low Arithmetical Achievement

2014

This study focuses on the role of attentional processes in arithmetical skills and examines if training of basic attentive skills may improve also working memory abilities reducing arithmetic difficulties. In order to study the efficacy of attentional treatment in arithmetic achievement and in enhancing working memory abilities a test-treatment-retest quasi experimental design was adopted. The research involved 14 children, attending fourth and fifth grades, with Arithmetical Learning Disabilities (ALD) assigned to experimental and control conditions. The numerical comprehension and calculation processes were assessed using the ABCA battery (Lucangeli, Tressoldi, & Fiore, 1998). Attenti…

Exploring working memory in children with low arithmetical achievement

2005

Abstract This research aimed at exploring the working memory functions in children with low arithmetical achievement and normal reading, compared to age matched controls (mean age 9 years). All the children completed a series of working memory tasks, involving the central executive functions (using both linguistic and numerical material), the phonological loop (using words, pseudo-words and digits) and the visual sketchpad (using both static visual-spatial patterns and visual-spatial sequences). Results indicated that poor arithmeticians performed worse than age-matched controls in all the visual sketchpad tasks and in all the central executive tasks, whether they used linguistic or numeric…