Visual illusions: An interesting tool to investigate developmental dyslexia and autism spectrum disorder

A visual illusion refers to a percept that is different in some aspect from the physical stimulus. Illusions are a powerful non-invasive tool for understanding the neurobiology of vision, telling us, indirectly, how the brain processes visual stimuli. There are some neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by visual deficits. Surprisingly, just a few studies investigated illusory perception in clinical populations. Our aim is to review the literature supporting a possible role for visual illusions in helping us understand the visual deficits in developmental dyslexia and autism spectrum disorder. Future studies could develop new tools – based on visual illusions – to identify an early risk for neurodevelopmental disorders

Dyslexic participants show intact spontaneous categorization processes

We examine the performance of dyslexic participants on an unsupervised categorization task against that of matched non-dyslexic control participants. Unsupervised categorization is a cognitive process critical for conceptual development. Existing research in dyslexia has emphasized perceptual tasks and supervised categorization tasks (for which intact attentional processes are paramount), but there have been no studies on unsupervised categorization. Our investigation was based on Pothos and Chater's (Cognit. Sci., 2002; 26: 303–343) model of unsupervised categorization and the corresponding methodology for analysing results. Across all performance indices and various data-processing options, we could identify no difference between dyslexic and non-dyslexic participants

Psychic Unity

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Performance of the QWIP Focal Plane Arrays for NASA's Landsat Data Continuity Mission

The focal plane assembly for the Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) instrument on NASA's Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) consists of three 512 x 640 GaAs Quantum Well Infrared Photodetector (QWIP) arrays. The three arrays are precisely mounted and aligned on a silicon carrier substrate to provide a continuous viewing swath of 1850 pixels in two spectral bands defined by filters placed in close proximity to the detector surfaces. The QWIP arrays are hybridized to Indigo ISC9803 readout integrated circuits (ROICs). QWIP arrays were evaluated from four laboratories; QmagiQ, (Nashua, NH), Army Research Laboratory, (Adelphi, MD}, NASA/ Goddard Space Flight Center, (Greenbelt, MD) and Thales, (Palaiseau, France). All were found to be suitable. The final discriminating parameter was the spectral uniformity of individual pixels relative to each other. The performance of the QWIP arrays and the fully assembled, NASA flight-qualified, focal plane assembly will be reviewed. An overview of the focal plane assembly including the construction and test requirements of the focal plane will also be described

From non-ergodic eigenvectors to local resolvent statistics and back:A random matrix perspective

We study the statistics of the local resolvent and non-ergodic properties of eigenvectors for a generalised Rosenzweig-Porter N × N random matrix model, undergoing two transitions separated by a delocalised non-ergodic phase. Interpreting the model as the combination of onsite random energies {ai} and a structurally disordered hopping, we found that each eigenstate is delocalised over N2-γ sites close in energy |aj - ai| ≤ N1-γ in agreement with Kravtsov et al. (New J. Phys., 17 (2015) 122002). Our other main result, obtained combining a recurrence relation for the resolvent matrix with insights from Dyson's Brownian motion, is to show that the properties of the non-ergodic delocalised phase can be probed studying the statistics of the local resolvent in a non-standard scaling limit.</p

Postcards from sustainable cities of the future

While we are experiencing the Covid-19 pandemic in the world, we ask ourselves about many aspects of our lives and above all we ask ourselves if some behaviors and habits will remain the same as in the past or will undergo transformations. In this panorama we try to imagine future scenarios for our cities, for a different use of public spaces, more inclusive, which responds to the needs and desires of different urban populations: children, elderly, animals, non-human agents, etc

Entanglement in one-dimensional systems with interfaces and defects

The study of entanglement measures is of interest in various fields of physics. Entanglement entropy and negativity are computable using field theoretical techniques, providing a meeting point between many-body and high energy physics. This work studies such measures in extended one-dimensional systems with defects or junctions. The focus is on critical systems, where CFT techniques can be used, and defects which do not break criticality. Universal results are obtained using Boundary CFT, in particular for the free boson theory. Its lattice version, the quantum harmonic chain is also studied, and used for numerical simulations. Junctions of more than two system at a vertex are studied using the techniques of QFT on star graphs

Treatment of developmental dyslexia: A review

Remarkably few research articles on the treatment of developmental dyslexia were published during the last 25 years. Some treatment research arose from the temporal processing theory, some from the phonological deficit hypothesis and some more from the balance model of learning to read and dyslexia. Within the framework of that model, this article reviews the aetiology of dyslexia sub-types, the neuropsychological rationale for treatment, the treatment techniques and the outcomes of treatment research. The possible mechanisms underlying the effects of treatment are discussed. © 2005 Informa UK Ltd All rights reserved

Atypical Balance between Occipital and Fronto-Parietal Activation for Visual Shape Extraction in Dyslexia

Reading requires the extraction of letter shapes from a complex background of text, and an impairment in visual shape extraction would cause difficulty in reading. To investigate the neural mechanisms of visual shape extraction in dyslexia, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine brain activation while adults with or without dyslexia responded to the change of an arrow’s direction in a complex, relative to a simple, visual background. In comparison to adults with typical reading ability, adults with dyslexia exhibited opposite patterns of atypical activation: decreased activation in occipital visual areas associated with visual perception, and increased activation in frontal and parietal regions associated with visual attention. These findings indicate that dyslexia involves atypical brain organization for fundamental processes of visual shape extraction even when reading is not involved. Overengagement in higher-order association cortices, required to compensate for underengagment in lower-order visual cortices, may result in competition for top-down attentional resources helpful for fluent reading.Ellison Medical FoundationMartin Richmond Memorial FundNational Institutes of Health (U.S.). (Grant UL1RR025758)National Institutes of Health (U.S.). (Grant F32EY014750-01)MIT Class of 1976 (Funds for Dyslexia Research