Desempenho de idosos com presbiacusia em tarefas de controle inibitório Performance of elderly individuals with presbycusis in tasks involving inhibitory control

OBJETIVO: Avaliar o desempenho de idosos em tarefa não verbal ligada a funções executivas, a fim de verificar a hipótese de que idosos usuários de próteses auditivas obteriam escores mais altos do que idosos não usuários de próteses na tarefa proposta. MÉTODOS: A tarefa Simon, administrada individualmente em um laptop com o software e-prime, foi utilizada para mensurar aspectos ligados a funções executivas por meio de uma condição controle e duas condições de teste. Na condição controle, os estímulos - quadrados coloridos - eram apresentados no centro da tela. As condições de teste subdividiam-se em condições laterais congruentes - estímulos posicionados no mesmo lado da tela em que a tecla do computador a ser selecionada para a resposta - e laterais incongruentes - em que os estímulos aparecem no lado da tela oposto ao da tecla a ser selecionada. A diferença de tempo de reação entre as condições congruente e incongruente é chamada de efeito Simon. Os idosos foram agrupados em três grupos: um grupo controle de indivíduos com audição normal; indivíduos com presbiacusia, usuários de próteses auditivas; e indivíduos com presbiacusia não usuários de próteses auditivas. RESULTADOS: A análise estatística apontou diferença entre o grupo sem perda auditiva (controle) e o grupo de não usuários de prótese auditiva somente no tempo de reação (TR) na condição controle. Nas demais comparações não foram encontradas diferenças. CONCLUSÃO: A hipótese levantada não foi corroborada, o que aponta a necessidade de utilização de novos métodos exploratórios de observação dos fenômenos estudados.<br>PURPOSE: To evaluate the performance of elderly individuals in a non-verbal task related to executive functions, in order to verify the hypothesis that elderly hearing aid users would obtain higher scores in the proposed task than elderly non-hearing aid users. METHODS: The Simon task, administered individually on a laptop computer using the e-prime software, was used to measure aspects related to executive functions through a control condition and two test conditions. In the control condition, the stimuli - colored squares - were presented in the center of the screen. Test conditions were subdivided into congruent lateral condition - stimuli presented on the same side of the screen as the laptop key to be selected as the correct response - and lateral incongruent condition - in which the stimuli appear on the opposite side of the screen relative to the response key. The difference in reaction time between congruent and incongruent conditions is called Simon effect. The elderly were divided into three groups: a control group of normal hearing individuals; individuals with presbycusis who use hearing aids; and individuals with presbycusis who do not use hearing aids. RESULTS: Statistical analysis showed difference between the control group and the group of non-hearing aid users only with regards to the reaction time (RT) in the control condition. In the other comparisons, no differences were found. CONCLUSION: The hypothesis was not corroborated, which indicates the need to use new exploratory methods for observing the studied phenomena

Restoring fire-prone Inland Pacific landscapes: seven core principles

© 2015 The Author(s) Context: More than a century of forest and fire management of Inland Pacific landscapes has transformed their successional and disturbance dynamics. Regional connectivity of many terrestrial and aquatic habitats is fragmented, flows of some ecological and physical processes have been altered in space and time, and the frequency, size and intensity of many disturbances that configure these habitats have been altered. Current efforts to address these impacts yield a small footprint in comparison to wildfires and insect outbreaks. Moreover, many current projects emphasize thinning and fuels reduction within individual forest stands, while overlooking large-scale habitat connectivity and disturbance flow issues. Methods: We provide a framework for landscape restoration, offering seven principles. We discuss their implication for management, and illustrate their application with examples. Results: Historical forests were spatially heterogeneous at multiple scales. Heterogeneity was the result of variability and interactions among native ecological patterns and processes, including successional and disturbance processes regulated by climatic and topographic drivers. Native flora and fauna were adapted to these conditions, which conferred a measure of resilience to variability in climate and recurrent contagious disturbances. Conclusions: To restore key characteristics of this resilience to current landscapes, planning and management are needed at ecoregion, local landscape, successional patch, and tree neighborhood scales. Restoration that works effectively across ownerships and allocations will require active thinking about landscapes as socio-ecological systems that provide services to people within the finite capacities of ecosystems. We focus attention on landscape-level prescriptions as foundational to restoration planning and execution