Telling stories: The relationship between story retelling and picture arrangement in children

Berättande är en komplex handling som kräver flera språkliga och andra kognitiva förmågor, såsom minne och uppmärksamhet. Ny forskning har visat att det finns ett samband mellan muntlig återberättarförmåga och bildsekvensering hos barn med neuropsykiatriska svårigheter. Föreliggande studie undersöker om detta samband även finns hos ett bekvämlighetsurval av barn från den generella populationen. 77 barn mellan 3:11 och 9:0 år genomförde testning med Bussagan och en bildsekvenseringsuppgift ur WISC III. Signifikanta samband fanns mellan bildsekvensering och Bussagans tre parametrar satslängd, bisats och information. Korrelationen var positiv och medelhög för bildsekvensering och information samt för bildsekvensering och satslängd, och något lägre för bildsekvensering och bisats. Resultatet visar alltså att det finns ett samband mellan muntligt återberättande och bildsekvensering. Detta kan i förlängningen innebära att bildsekvensering får ökat utrymme i logopedisk diagnostik och behandling gällande berättarförmåga.Storytelling is a complex action that requires many linguistic and other cognitive abilities, like memory and attention. Resent research has shown a correlation between oral story retelling and picture arrangement among children with neurodevelopmental disorders. The present study analyzes if this correlation exists among a convenience sample of children from the general population. 77 children between 3:11 and 9:0 years old accomplished Bus Story Test and a picture arrangement task from WISC III. Significant correlations was found between picture arrangement and Bus Story Test’s subscores sentence length, subordinate clauses and information. The correlation was positive and middle high for picture arrangement and information and between picture arrangement and sentence length, but slightly lower between picture arrangement and subordinate clause. The results show a relationship between oral story retelling and picture arrangement. This may result in a broader usage of picture arrangement in the field of speech and language pathology concerning both evaluation and treatment of storytelling

Intensified visual clutter induces increased sympathetic signalling, poorer postural control, and faster torsional eye movements during visual rotation.

Many dizzy patients express a hypersensitivity to visual motion and clutter. This study aims to investigate how exposure to rotating visual clutter affects ocular torsion, vertical skewing, body-sway, the autonomic pupillary response, and the subjective feeling of discomfort to the stimulation. Sixteen healthy subjects were exposed to 20 seconds rotational visual stimulation (72 deg/s; 50 deg visual field). Visual stimuli were comprised of black lines on a white background, presented at low and high intensity levels of visual clutter, holding 19 lines and 38 lines respectively. Ocular torsion and vertical skewing were recorded using the Chronos Eye Tracker, which also measured pupil size as a reflection of the autonomic response. Postural control was evaluated by measuring body-sway area on the Wii Balance Board. Values were compared to data retrieved 20 seconds before and after the optokinetic stimulation, as subjects viewed the stationary visual scene. The high intensity stimulus resulted in significantly higher torsional velocities. Subjects who were exposed to low intensity first exhibited higher velocities for both intensities. Both pupil size and body sway increased for the higher intensity to both the moving and stationary visual scene, and were positively correlated to torsional velocity. In conclusion, exposure to visual clutter was reflected in the eye movement response, changes in postural control, and the autonomic response. This response may hold clinical utility when assessing patients suffering from visual motion hypersensitivity, while also providing some context as to why some healthy people feel discomfort in visually cluttered surroundings