Perception

In the management of hypertension, blood pressure (BP) monitoring and medication use are key strategies, but they are dependent on patients' motivation to practice self-care. To gauge patients' approaches to monitoring their blood pressure, as well as explore their attitudes toward, and actions relating to, high blood pressure readings, as the key components of their self-management of hypertension. This qualitative study, comprising individual telephone interviews, involved patients attending community pharmacies in Sydney (Australia). Patients' perspectives were elicited using a purpose-designed, semi-structured interview guide. The verbal responses were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and thematically analysed. Three key themes arose: (1) approaches to monitoring blood pressure, (2) attitudes to variability in BP, (3) responses to high BP readings. Many patients self-regulated the frequency of monitoring based on perceived need and/or opportunity. Most were indi...

Abstract: In the context of the crisis of industrial modernity, adaptive capacity to new climatic and social-economic risks depends on the study of the perceptions and understan- ding that the involved actors have of those risks. Through interviews with family farmers from Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, this paper describes how they perceive and respond to social-economic and climatic risks. Results confirm that social and perceptive barriers limit the understanding of climatic risks, which are experienced gradually and in the long term. Accordingly, farmers are not farseeing (“clarividente”) actors, and are thus unable to accurately foresee future climatic scenarios. On the other hand, beef producers from the South American Pampas do perceive family, economic and institutional risks threatening their productive activities and their livelihoods in a more direct, short-term manner, and do act to face them. This study confirms that the passage from risky situations to an effective  p...

This study investigated the degree of agreement between adolescents' and parents' perceptions of the adolescent-parent relationship, and the links between these perceptions and adolescents' school achievement and personal autonomy. Questionnaires were completed by 353 adolescents attending an all-male, inner city, Catholic high school, and by their parents. The questionnaires assessed the parents' and adolescents' percepti,As of the closeness and amount of communication in their relationship, parents' knowledge of their son's activities, and the distribution of decision making in the family. Outcome measures were individuation, or parents' and sons' connectedness or separateness in their relationship; deviance, or the degree to which the sons had gotten into trouble at school; and sons' scholastic achievement. Results concerning individuation indicated that the more the sons perceived their relationship to their parents as constructive, the mo...

The aim of this research is to understand the experience of the football sector on the use of artificial turf (satisfaction, safety, sporting feature, or the advantages and disadvantages). The study was conducted on a random selection of 627 male participants (404 amateur/semi-professional footballers, 101 coaches and 122 referees) that regularly train/compete on artificial turf in Spanish football leagues. The

This quantitative survey described the occurring scenario among higher educational institutions having amalgamation as one of the strategies in rationalizing the Philippine higher education. The study dealt with the perceptions, issues, and perceived challenges of 90 administrators and 260 instructors/professors concerning amalgamation in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) among the selected state universities and colleges in Region IV-A (CALABARZON) during the Academic Year 2017-2018. A researcher-constructed questionnaire served to gather the data. Weighted mean and t-test for independent means were employed to determine the differences on the perceptions of the respondents at 0.05 level of significance. Results indicated that the administrator-respondents were more aware of the idea of amalgamation than the instructor/professor-respondents. The respondents agreed in most of the items about amalgamation of HEI along access and equity, efficiency and effectiveness, relevance and responsiveness, utilization of resources, and quality and excellence. As to the issues on amalgamation, the administrators comparably perceived serious issues on amalgamation practices that needed urgent action such as delivery of projected student number, plans to meet financial and strategic goals, blueprint for the merged entity, governance and organization structure during the pre-merger phase, governance and organization structure during the transitional phase, quality assurance, and employees' rights. A significant difference was found between the perception of the administrator-and instructor/professor-respondents towards the issues on amalgamation practices in terms of access and equity, efficiency and effectiveness, utilization of resources, quality and excellence, and blueprint of the merged entity.

Autistics often exhibit enhanced perceptual abilities when engaged in visual search, visual discrimination, and embedded figure detection. In similar fashion, while performing a range of perceptual or cognitive tasks, autistics display stronger physiological engagement of the visual system than do non-autistics. To account for these findings, the Enhanced Perceptual Functioning Model proposes that enhanced autistic performance in basic perceptual tasks results from stronger engagement of sensory processing mechanisms, a situation that may facilitate an atypically prominent role for perceptual mechanisms in supporting cognition. Using quantitative meta-analysis of published functional imaging studies from which Activation Likelihood Estimation maps were computed, we asked whether autism is associated with enhanced task-related activity for a broad range of visual tasks. To determine whether atypical engagement of visual processing is a general or domain-specific phenomenon, we examined three different visual processing domains: faces, objects, and words. Overall, we observed more activity in autistics compared to non-autistics in temporal, occipital, and parietal regions. In contrast, autistics exhibited less activity in frontal cortex. The spatial distribution of the observed differential between-group patterns varied across processing domains. Autism may be characterized by enhanced functional resource allocation in regions associated with visual processing and expertise. Atypical adult organizational patterns may reflect underlying differences in developmental neural plasticity that can result in aspects of the autistic phenotype, including enhanced visual skills, atypical face processing, and hyperlexia. Hum Brain Mapp, 2011 © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

After once being central to geographical explanations, cognitive-behavioural research is now viewed as a backwater inhabited by a small, if productive, minority. This paper reflects on this dramatic reappraisal and comments on options for the future. It has three main parts. The first surveys the reasons for the declining image of cognitive-behaviouralism as an approach to geographical problems. The second part draws attention to links between the production of knowledge and trends in the wider environments in which geographers work. The final section appraises the options now open for cognitive studies by geographers. It argues that the sustained mood of reappraisal within human geography makes conditions favourable for a renewed, but measured affirmation of the value of cognitive-behaviouralism.

Background: Code-switching is known to be a widespread phenomenon among bilinguals and in ESP classes; it refers to any alternate use of two codes or languages within the same conversation or even the same utterance. There have been contradictory views regarding the effect of code switching on second language acquisition, negative views and positive views. Objective: The present study is an attempt to investigate the students‟ attitudes towards code-switching in ESP contexts in Iran. It also reports the relationship between code switching and learners‟ learning success in an ESP context. To achieve this end, a total of fifty university students majoring in computer science were selected as respondents for this study. Respondents were required to complete a survey questionnaire by indicating their attitudes towards using code switching in the ESP contexts and the effect of code switching on the students‟ learning success. Results: The data from the questionnaire were tabulated, and f...

Previous investigations into career and subject selection have provided insights into the range of influences on such choices. However, few studies have been carried out focussing on the process and context over time in which students make decisions about school subjects, post-school courses and careers. The current research initiated by the Tertiary Entrance Procedures Authority (TEPA) addresses similar issues from

Perceptions of tobacco are a relatively unexplored issue in disadvantaged populations in India and France. The objectives of this study included the following: obtain qualitative information on representations of tobacco use and cessation within two vulnerable populations; identify cultural factors that influence tobacco use and cessation; and acquire information for the development of effective tobacco cessation strategies. A total of 21 focus groups were conducted in India and France. All study participants were disadvantaged adults 18 years old or older. Sixty women resided in South Delhi in India and 163 adults with disabilities resided in the south of France. They were all current tobacco users. Data were collected by focus group and analysed with thematic coding. In both samples, the most relevant reasons of tobacco use were daily life circumstances, which were also a major barrier to quitting. None of the participants reported that quitting difficulties could be due to depend...

The Meaning Maintenance Model asserts that following a meaning threat, people will affirm any meaning,frameworks,that are available. Three experiments tested 1) whether people affirm alternative meaning,frameworks,after reading absurdist literature; 2) the role of expectations in determining whether absurdities are threatening; 3) whether people have a heightened need for meaning following exposure to absurdist art. In Study 1, participants who

A listening experiment was conducted to examine whether untrained listeners can discriminate up to 12dB of compression limiting above chance levels. Forty-nine participants completed an ABX listening experiment and a musical engagement questionnaire. The experimental results demonstrate that untrained listeners cannot discriminate up to 12dB of compression limiting above chance levels. The effects of musical engagement indicate that participants more likely to use music to alter their emotional state or relieve boredom performed significantly worse than those less likely to use music for these purposes. It is concluded that, in general, hyper-compression may not be significantly audible to untrained listeners and previous inconclusive results on preference tests are related to this finding.

The superior capability of cognitive experts largely depends on quick automatic processes. To reveal their neural bases, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to study brain activity of professional and amateur players in a board game named shogi. We found two activations specific to professionals: one in the precuneus of the parietal lobe during perception of board patterns, and the other in the caudate nucleus of the basal ganglia during quick generation of the best next move. Activities at these two sites covaried in relevant tasks. These results suggest that the precuneus-caudate circuit implements the automatic, yet complicated, processes of board-pattern perception and next-move generation in board game experts.

Motor Imagery provides a special context for representation of movements. This feature has been investigated in typical developing children in several studies, but there is little information in the field of motor imagery in children with autism. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate this component in children with autism spectrum disorder aged 8 to 12 years compared to typical developing peers.
40 ASD children and 40 TD children who were age and IQ matched, purposefully and available selected and participated in the research voluntarily. To investigate motor imagery, the hand rotation paradigm in 3D software was used. The task involves two blocks of 12 hand-pattern which rotates randomly three times at six angles. The reaction time and error numbers were recorded as the performance scores of each subject. In order to analyze the data, two analysis of variance tests were used to evaluate and compare the reaction times and the U-man Whitney test used for the number of errors separately for back and palm view of hand.
The findings confirmed that children with autism are able to use this feature same TD, although this operation is less accurate and longer. So that in the reaction time and the number of error variables, the ASD group performed worse than TD peers.
Although the disorder may effect on cognitive function underlying motor behaviors in these children, nevertheless the capacity required to learn and develop motor skills in these children is developed, usable, and exploitable.

The Independence through Community Access and Navigation (I-CAN) intervention was developed to increase community participation in adults with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) through identification of interest-based recreation activities and supported participation. Ten individuals consented to participate in a 10-week pilot intervention. Eight individuals participated in the intervention, during which time they worked with a recreational therapist to identify interest-based recreation activities, develop participation goals and coparticipate with the recreational therapist. At the end of the intervention, seven participants were involved in a semistructured interview to understand their perceptions of the intervention, including its outcomes and effectiveness. Therapists' notes and transcripts from the semistructured interviews were used to understand clients' perception of the intervention. Thematic analyses of seven exit interviews suggested the primary perceived outcomes of the intervention included: increased community involvement; development of planning skills; and the development of coping skills. These were facilitated by the therapeutic relationship between the client and therapist. This project provides preliminary support for the I-CAN as a participant-centered method for individuals with SSD to develop skills in the community. Implications for practice and future research are presented.

Following the ideology proposed by the Motion Bank Community – i.e. using an interdisciplinary methodological approach that puts in dialogue theory, practice, science and new digital technologies – this text suggests the reading of the choreographic counterpoint throughout the
analysis of the concept of “focus”.In this article, I mean by  choreographic counterpoint the synchronous movement between dancers during a live performance. Through the interviews
made to some performers-researchers-choreographers and collaborators with The Forsythe Company – Dana Caspersen, Nicole Peils, Fabrice Mazliah and Tillman O’Donnell –, I analyze the
body knowledge using the principles of enactive approach at perception proposed by the philosopher Alva Noë.

Öz Bu makalede, bir sağduyu filozofu olanThomas Reid'in kendi çağında yaşamış olan ampirist filozof olan David Hume ve Descartes ile başlayıp Malebranche, Lock ve Berkeley ile devam eden idealist felsefeye karşı cevap verme niteliğinde ortaya koyduğu algı teorisinde görme duyusunun yeri ve fonksiyonları ele alınacaktır. Thomas Reid, derli toplu bir şekilde algı konusunu "An Inquiry into the Human Mind" isimli eserinde ele almıştır. Biz de makalemizde Reid'in bu eserini ana kaynak olarak ele alacak ve Reid'in algı ile ilgili görüşlerinin yanı sıra temelde görme duyusunu ele alış tarzını aktarmaya çalışacağız. Sağduyu Felsefesinin kurucusu olan Thomas Reid, maddi dünyanın olmadığını savunan filozoflara algı teorisi ile cevap vermektedir. Temel tecrübî bir bilgi kaynağı olan algı, başka bir bilgi kaynağına bağlı olmaksızın bilgi ve gerekçelendirilmiş inanç üretir. Algı, bizi kuşatan dünyayı, belli aralıklarda çevreden gelen uyaranların duyu organlarımıza yaptığı etkiler yolu ile tanıma ve kavrama demektir. Algı süreci; algılayan özne, algılanan nesne, duyusal deneyim ve nesne ile özne arasındaki ilişki olmak üzere, dört unsurdan oluşmaktadır. Tatma, koklama, işitme ve dokunma duyumlarının da algılamada etkili olmasına karşın görme, Tanrı bilgisinden bahseden en mükemmel bilgi türüdür. Kendisinde fiziksel anlamda herhangi bir değişiklik olmayan nesnenin ona olan bakış açısına, mesafeye, bulunduğu ortamın şartlarına ve zamana göre göze farklı şekilde görünmesi görünüş ve gerçeklik arasındaki farkı ortaya koymaktadır. Görünüş aslında gerçekliğe zihnimizi yönlendiren bir işaret görevine sahiptir. Zihnin hızlı bir şekilde işaretten işaret edilen nesneye geçmesi kendinde kökleşmiş dikkatsizliğin sonucudur. Farklı mesafelerden ve yönlerden baktığımız bir nesnenin gözümüze farklı görünümler sunmasına rağmen, aynı nesne olduğuna dair kanaatimiz tamdır. Bunu oluşturan ise deneyimlerimizdir. Gözün gördüğü nesne ile ilgili kavrayışında, önceden sahip olduğu bilgilerin yeri önemlidir. Hakkında hiçbir bilgiye sahip olmadığımız bir nesneyi görsek dahi bir algıya sahip olamayız. Duyular, nesne hakkında gerçekte nasıl olduğu bilgisini değil nasıl göründüğü bilgisini vermektedir. Duyular dış dünya ve dış dünyadaki nesneler hakkında tam bir bilgi kaynağı olmasa da dış dünyanın sunduğu görünüşlerin dolaysız bilgisinin kaynağıdırlar. Görünür şekli zihne sunmak konusunda görevli hiçbir duyum olmadığını ifade eden Reid, bunun bizim bilincinde olmadığımız halde maddi izlenim tarafından göze önerildiğini ifade etmektedir. Doğanın görünür şekli nesnenin somut şeklinin ve durumunun bir işareti olarak tasarladığı ve bunu kullanmayı bize içgüdüsel olarak öğrettiği söylenebilir. Reid, gözlerin üç boyutlu görme, paralel hareket etme, nesnenin görüntüsünü retinada ters oluşan resme rağmen düz

Antropologi oom-ringissä. Aistihavainto kenttätyössä – Pöysä, Jyrki, Helmi Järviluoma & Sinikka Vakimo (toim./eds.) 2010: Vaeltavat metodit. Joensuu: Finnish Folklore Society.

[On Perception in Participant Observation in Wandering methods].

Artikkelissa Antropologi oom-ringissä esitän metodologisia huomioita aistihavainnosta osallistuvassa havainnoinnissa pohjoismaisen tingaineiston havainnonfenomenologisen kuvauksen avulla. Esitän poleemista kritiikkiä realistisen etnografisen representaation konventioille pysyen kuitenkin uskollisena sille sekä osallistuvan havainnoinnin menetelmälle, jossa tietoa kerätään fyysisesti läsnäollen ja ihmisruumiin kaikkia aisteja käyttäen ja johon etnografinen kuvaus pohjimmiltaan perustuu. Esitän kriittisiä huomioita geertziläisiä tekstin ja lukemisen metaforia kohtaan aineistona tai kulttuurina, tai ainakin sen kaikkein etäännyttävimpiin ja kartesiolaisimpiin tulkintoihin. Luonnostelen muissakin artikkeleissani hyödyntämääni etnografista lukutapaa, jossa huomioitaisiin aiempaa eksplisiittisemmin ja analyyttisemmin kentän kanssa jaetut aistikokemukset ja pohdin tällaisen tutkimuksen asettamia eettisiä ehtoja etäännyttämisen tavoille. Teoreettisina johtopäätöksinä esitän, että tingyhteisö järjestyy keskeisesti juuri kuvaamiani aistikokemuksia jakamalla eikä niinkään vaikkapa hierarkioihin ja normeihin tukeutuen. Etnografisen kuvauksen tasolla tämä artikkeli tuo yhden uuden aspektin, joka muista enemmän puheeseen ja organisoitumiseen keskittyvistä tingartikkeleistani puuttuu, nimittäin ensimmäisessä artikkelissa kuvattujen puhepiirien toistuvat pitkälti ei-verbaaliset rituaaliset vaiheet, joilla on suhteellisesta lyhyydestään huolimatta tärkeä yhteisöä ylläpitävä merkitys. Rakenteen kannalta on merkittävää muun muassa artikkelissa kuvaamani liminaali tutkijan positio kentän ja tutkijayhteisön välissä. Kuvauksen omakohtainen ote, jollaista toisinaan kutsutaan autoetnografiseksi, mahdollisti tingyhteisön tarkastelemisen muita artikkeleita sisemmältä kehältä. Positioni ja menetelmäni mahdollisti hyvin intiimien aineistojen tavoittamisen niin saunan lauteilta kuin kasvokkain ja rinnakkain tingyhteisöä koossapitävissä puhepiireissä. Jaetut ruumiilliset arjen ylittävät aistikokemukset, jotka yhteisössä koettiin usein yliluonnollisina, ja yksityisemmältä tuntuvat häpeän tunteet tuntuivat loitontavan minua tutkijayhteisöstä, mutta lopulta ne osoittautuivat metodologisesti hyödyllisiksi.