Response assignment influences visual recognition.

This study investigated whether two different neural systems influenced performance in an immediate visual recognition, i.e. visual same/different task. An observer had to respond rapidly whether a test consonant had just appeared in the study string by pressing one of two response keys, labeled same and different. When the same response was assigned to the response key on the right, there was no effect of study-string position on target response time (RT), indicating that the test item was not compared with the study string. When the different response was assigned to the response key on the right, same RT was an increasing function of the left-to-right position of a target in the study string and different RT was slower than same RT, indicating that during test the study string was compared with the test item. Functional magnetic resonance imaging confirmed that the caudate and left hippocampus were more active when the different response was assigned to the right key but the right hippocampus was more active when the same response was assigned to the right key. Therefore, two different computational processes are performed by two different brain systems depending on whether the same or different response is assigned to the right response key.

Improving Physical Fitness of Children with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities through an Adapted Rhythmic Gymnastics Program in China.

BACKGROUND: Health-related physical fitness is vital for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) to gain healthier lives. The adapted rhythmic gymnastics (ARG) program was designed for children with IDD and is aimed at testing the effects of the exercise program on children's physical fitness. METHODS: Participants were recruited from two special needs schools in Beijing of China. Twenty-two children with IDD were assigned to an ARG experimental group or a traditional control group. The experimental group took part in a 16-week ARG program consisting of three 50 min sessions each week. And children's body composition, aerobic capacity, and musculoskeletal functioning were measured by the Brockport Physical Fitness Test (BPFT) before and after the program. RESULTS: The between-group analysis revealed great improvements for the experimental group in abdominal strength (curl-up test: p = 0.025 < 0.05) and upper limb strength (dumbbell press test: p = 0.038 < 0.05). Compared to the pretest, most of the physical fitness parameters improved significantly in the experimental group except BMI, and flexibility of the experimental group children showed a substantial increase. CONCLUSIONS: Most of the physical fitness parameters of children with IDD in the experimental group improved significantly, especially on abdominal strength and upper limb muscle strength when comparing to the control group.