Las cualidades de los objetos influyen en el tiempo de reacción de las personas con Enfermedad de Parkinson / The qualities of objects influence the reaction time in people with Parkinson´s disease

La Enfermedad de Parkinson (EP) constituye un trastorno motor que presenta síntomas motores y no motores, incluyendo rigidez, bradiquinesia, alteración de reflejos posturales, temblor de reposo, trastornos del sueño, de la deglución y de la expresión oral, facial y corporal, con una presentación y severidad variable. En la EP el movimiento en sí está preservado y lo que resulta afectada es la modulación del mismo. Sin embargo, esta enfermedad presenta una característica particular que es la kinesia paradojal, una cualidad del sistema motor por la cual las personas pueden moverse de forma inesperada, considerando las limitaciones atribuidas a la enfermedad. Si bien esta característica paradojal es una propiedad del sistema motor perse, aparece de forma más notoria en los trastornos del movimiento que en el comportamiento motor sano y se asocia a los estímulos ambientales. Se presenta un estudio controlado de generalización limitada en el cual se utilizó una aplicación informática con el propósito de evaluar el efecto de las affordances (un recurso ambiental que provee al individuo una oportunidad de comportarse) sobre el tiempo de reacción en un grupo de personas con EP y un grupo control. Los resultados mostraron que los sujetos con EP presentaron un mayor tiempo de reacción que los controles, pero también mostraron aprendizaje a lo largo de la tarea y una mayor sensibilidad al efecto sensorial de compatibilidad. Los resultados obtenidos permiten formular hipótesis sobre los efectos paradójicos que el ambiente puede ejercer al combinarse con las potencialidades de personas con EP.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a movement disorder with motor and non-motor symptoms, including rigidity, bradykinesia, postural instability, resting tremor, sleep disorders, difficulty swallowing, vegetative symptoms, speech problems and body and facial expression disturbances. Symptoms and disease severity are variable across the patients. Besides, the motion is preserved but the problems of modulation hinder its expression. However, the disease has a particular characteristic called paradoxical kinesia, a quality of the motor system by which people is able to unexpectedly move, contrarily to what is commonly expected for people suffering the inabilities of the disease. Although this paradoxical property is a property of the motor system per se, it is more apparent in movement disorders than in healthy motor behavior and is associated with the environmental stimuli. Several scientific reports have proposed that instead of having movement and perception systems separately, they are integrated in a called action-perception system. Besides, researchers have shown that the environmental scenarios have action properties in relation to this actor action-perception system. For example, a ball in the air has the property of catchability in relation to the perception of the individual, which, in turn, is related to his/her movement. This is called affordance, an environmental resource which provides the individual an opportunity to behave. An affordance represents a relationship between the individual action-perception system with the environmental qualities or learning contexts. We develop a controlled study with limited generalization using a computational tool to evaluate the effect of affordances on reaction time in a group of people with PD and a control group. In each trial an arrow indicating a given direction (right or left) was superposed to a previously displayed image of a rying pan with a handle directed to the right or the left side of the screen. Participants were told to press a key of the side of the keyboard that matches with the arrow direction. It was supposed that the direction of the handle would play the role of an affordance to the perception of the individual; therefore participants could find a conflict between directions of the arrow and the handle. Trial conditions could be two: (a) Compatibility: the directions of the arrow and the handle matched and (b) Incompatibility: those directions did not match. Learning was defined by the decrease of reaction time along the trials. We used a Generalized Linear Model (GLM) to explore the relationship between variables and Generalized Linear Mixed Model with repeated measures (MGLM) to model the incidence of successive trials on reaction time. The complete sample included 1050 trials from 4 PD patients and 4 control subjects. Our results showed that (a) reaction times increased with the presence of PD and age of subjects, (b) there was a high incidence of repetition of trials on reaction times of PD and control subjects, and (c) the compatibility between the stimulus and the image affected reaction time on PD patients exclusively. These results indicate that PD patients were able to learn along trials and this learning was favored by an appropriated sensorial arrangement of the stimuli or compatibility effect. Our results let us hypothesize about the paradoxical effects that the environment can exert on people with PD by its combination with their potentialities. Compatibility trials in our study represent appropriate arrangement of stimuli that have been proven to be necessary for the occurrence of paradoxical kinesia. Given that possibility, we can generate learning contexts to help people with PD to develop these behavioral phenomena in order to improve their movement, their relation with their environment and also their quality of life.

Nível Socioeconômico e affordances do ambiente domiciliar: implicações para o desempenho motor infantil / Socioeconomic level and home environment affordances: implications for infant motor performance

Este estudo objetivou analisar o impacto do nível socioeconômico (NSE) sobre o desempenho motor mediado pelas affordances do ambiente domiciliar de crianças com idade média de 42 meses. Foram sujeitos 86 crianças (39 meninas e 47 meninos) matriculadas em 24 Centros Municipais de Educação Infantil. Como instrumentos de medida foram utilizados a Classificação da Associação Brasileira de Empresas de Pesquisa (ABEP), a Affordances for Home Environment Motor Development (AHEMD-SR) e a Bateria de Avaliação do Movimento para Crianças (MABC-2). Na análise dos dados foram utilizados o teste de Kolmogorov-Smirnov, "U" de Mann-Whitney e Análise de equações estruturais (p<0,05). Os resultados evidenciaram que as crianças de classe média alta possuem mais affordances em comparação às crianças de classe média baixa, no entanto, não houve diferença significativa no desempenho motor entre os grupos. O nível socioeconômico mais elevado não implica positivamente sobre o desempenho motor, entretanto, quando mediado pelas affordances domiciliares (materiais de motricidade fina e estimulação do espaço interno) demonstra um efeito positivo embora fraco no desempenho motor das crianças. Concluiu-se que o alto nível socioeconômico familiar não é suficiente para estruturar um ambiente domiciliar que oportunize o aperfeiçoamento do desempenho motor infantil, além do que as affordances presentes nos ambientes domiciliares parecem não estimular adequadamente o desempenho motor das crianças.

This study aimed to analyze the impact of the socio economic level on motor performance mediated by the home environment affordances among kids with the age of 42 months. Subjects were 86 kids (39 girls and 47 boys) enrolled in 24 Childhood Education Center of the city of Maringá-PR. The instruments used were the Classification of the Brazilian Association of Research Companies/ABEP, the Affordances for Home Environment Motor Development (AHEMD-SR) and the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2/MABC-2. For data analysis, Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Mann-Whitney and Structural Equation Analysis were conducted (p<0,05). The results showed that children from upper middle class have more affordances compared to children from lower middle class; however, there was no significant difference in motor performance between the groups. The higher socioeconomic status does not have a direct impact on the motor performance, however, when mediated by household affordances (fine motor materials and internal space stimulation) it shows a positive, although weak effect on kids' motor performance. It was concluded that high family socioeconomic status is not enough to support a home environment that provides the enhancement of infant motor performance; in addition, the affordances in the domestic environment does not seem to stimulate adequately the kids' motor performance.

Affordances em ambientes domésticos e desenvolvimento motor de pré­escolares / Affordances in the home environment and motor development in preschool children / Affordances en ámbitos domésticos e desarrollo motor de pré escolares

O objetivo deste estudo foi verificar a correlação entre as oportunidades de estimulação motora no ambiente doméstico e o nível de desenvolvimento motor (DM) em 12 pré-­escolares de 36 a 42 meses de idade. Utilizou-­se o questionário Affordances in the Home Enviroment for Motor Development – AHEMD – 18­42 meses e a bateria de Teste de Desenvolvimento Motor Grosso ­ 2ª Edição (TDMG­2). Os resultados demonstram uma deficiência significativa na promoção de oportunidades para o DM das crianças no ambiente doméstico, sem, contudo influenciar negativamente o desenvolvimento motor das mesmas. Infere­se que o ritmo maturacional destas crianças e principalmente a ação de outros microssistemas podem estar suprindo as deficiências detectadas no ambiente doméstico.

The aim of this research was to verify the correlation between the opportunities of motor stimulation in the home environment and the level of motor development (MD) in 12 preschool children with 36 to 42 months old. The questionnaire Affordances in the home Environment For Motor Development­ AHEMD ­18­42 Months and the test of gross motor development 2° Edition (TGMD­2) were used. The results showed one significant deficiency in the promotion of opportunities for the MD of children in the home environment, without negatively influencing their motor development. It also demonstrates that these children’s maturational rhythm, and mainly the action of other Microsystems, can be supplying detected deficiencies in the home environment.

El propósito de esta investigación fue de comprobar la correlación entre las oportunidades de estimulación motora en el ámbito doméstico y el nível de desarrollo motor (DM) en 12 pre escolares de 36 a 42 meses de edad. Se utilizo cuestionario Affordances in the Home Enviroment for Motor Development – AHEMD – 18­42 Months y tambien el Teste de Desarrollo Motor Grueso – 2ª Edición (TDMG­2). Los resultados demuestran una deficiencia significativa en la promoción de oportunidades para el DM de los niños en el ámbito doméstico, sin embargo influir negativamente el desarrollo motor de las mismas. Se deduce que el ritmo maduracional de estos niño y principalmente la acción de otros microsistema pueden estar supliendolas deficiencias detectadas en el ámbito doméstico.