The Shift from Local to Global Visual Processing in 6-Year-Old Children Is Associated with Grey Matter Loss

International audienceBackground: A real-world visual scene consists of local elements (e.g. trees) that are arranged coherently into a global configuration (e.g. a forest). Children show psychological evolution from a preference for local visual information to an adult-like preference for global visual information, with the transition in visual preference occurring around 6 years of age. The brain regions involved in this shift in visual preference have not been described. Methods and Results: We used voxel-based morphometry (VBM) to study children during this developmental window to investigate changes in gray matter that underlie the shift from a bias for local to global visual information. Six-year-old children were assigned to groups according to their judgment on a global/local task. The first group included children who still presented with local visual processing biases, and the second group included children who showed global visual processing biases. VBM results indicated that compared to children with local visual processing biases, children with global visual processing biases had a loss of gray matter in the right occipital and parietal visuospatial areas. Conclusions: These anatomical findings are in agreement with previous findings in children with neurodevelopmental disorders and represent the first structural identification of brain regions that allow healthy children to develop a global perception of the visual world

Children struggle beyond preschool-age in a continuous version of the ambiguous figures task

Children until the age of five are only able to reverse an ambiguous figure when they are informed about the second interpretation. In two experiments, we examined whether children’s difficulties would extend to a continuous version of the ambiguous figures task. Children (Experiment 1: 66 3- to 5-year olds; Experiment 2: 54 4- to 9-year olds) and adult controls saw line drawings of animals gradually morph—through well-known ambiguous figures—into other animals. Results show a relatively late developing ability to recognize the target animal, with difficulties extending beyond preschool-age. This delay can neither be explained with improvements in theory of mind, inhibitory control, nor individual differences in eye movements. Even the best achieving children only started to approach adult level performance at the age of 9, suggesting a fundamentally different processing style in children and adults

Effects of culture and the urban environment on the development of the Ebbinghaus illusion

We investigated the development of visual context effects in the Ebbinghaus illusion across UK people and the Himba of Namibia who are remote from Western cultural influence. Traditional Himba showed no illusion up until 9-10 years, whereas UK children show a robust illusion from 7- to 8-years of age. Greater illusion in UK than traditional Himba children was stable from 9-10 years to adulthood. We also examined the Ebbinghaus illusion in Namibian children growing up in the nearest urban conurbation to the traditional Himba villages, finding a sustained influence of the urban environment across childhood and adulthood. We conclude that cross-cultural differences in perceptual biases to process visual context emerge in early childhood and are influenced by the urban environment

Psychoanalysis the key to your sucess,

Mode of access: Internet

Character portrayed by handwriting /

Mode of access: Internet.MAIN; BF901.D85 1926: University of California, Berkeley, Library copy has tipped in letter to J.C. Rowell and signed by author

A versatile “click” chemistry precursor of functional polystyrene nanoparticles

4 páginas, 2 figuras.The synthesis of a versatile “click” chemistry precursor of functional polystyrene nanoparticles is reported. The resulting nanoparticles thereof offer inherent characteristics of ultrasmall polymeric nanoparticles (size ≈4 nm) plus interesting functionalization possibilities, opening the door to new hybrid, soft nano-objects, bridging the gap between synthetic and natural polymers.L. O. acknowledges Cidetec-Foundation for providing partial financial support and access to its facilities during her Undergraduate Thesis Project.Peer reviewe