Perception Of Length Research Articles

AB085. A simple novel surgical technique for penile elongation; compensation for tunical plication in Peyronie’s disease

BackgroundThe major concern with applying tunical plication procedures for Peyronie curvature is the associated with potential loss of penile length. We describe a novel technique for penile elongation by simple scrotal septum detachment from penile base to compensate penile length loss during penile plication in Peyronie’s disease and evaluated the efficacy and safety of our technique.MethodsFrom January 2014 to May 2017, we evaluated 16 patients (24–63 years old) with Peyronie’s disease underwent penile plication with penile elongation via our novel technique. The penile elongation was performed by release and detachment of scrotal septum from penile base until scrotal fat tissue identified. We assessed the stretched penile length (SPL) preoperatively and 4 weeks postoperatively as objective outcome. The subject outcome was assessed with the patient perception of postoperative penile length. Information regarding complications was obtained during the postoperative hospital stay and at all follow-ups.ResultsThe mean increase in SPL was 1.2±1.3 cm (range, −1.0 to 3.0 cm) and it was a statistically significant (P=0.003). There was no significant correlation between preoperative curvature and increase in SPL. Eleven of 16 patients (68.8%) was reported a perceived penile length increase after surgery. There was no procedure related complication such as hematoma, infection, and tissue necrosis.ConclusionsWith the simple dissection and detachment of the scrotal septum from penile base, we obtained objective penile elongation and subjective outcomes without complications. We suggest that this is a promising surgical method to compensate the potential penile length loss in patients who undergo plication surgery with Peyronie’s disease.

The Glare Effect Test and the Impact of Age on Luminosity Thresholds.

The glare effect (GE) is an illusion in which a white region appears self-luminous when surrounded by linearly decreasing luminance ramps. It has been shown that the magnitude of the luminosity effect can be modulated by manipulating the luminance range of the gradients. In the present study we tested the thresholds for the GE on two groups of adults: young (20–30 years old) and elderly (60–75 years old). Purpose of our perspective study was to test the possibility of transforming the GE into a test that could easily measure thresholds for luminosity and discomfort glare. The Glare Effect Test (GET) consisted in 101 printed cards that differed from each other for the range of luminance ramps. Participants were assessed with GET and a battery of visual tests: visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, illusion of length perception, and Ishihara test. Specifically in the GET, participants were required to classify cards on the basis of two reference cards (solid black-no gradient; full range black to white gradient). PSEs of the GE show no correlation with the other visual tests, revealing a divergent validity. A significant difference between young and elderly was found: contrary to our original expectations, luminosity thresholds of GE for elderly were higher than those for young, suggesting a non-direct relationship between luminosity perception and discomfort glare.

Children's intuitive sense of number develops independently of their perception of area, density, length, and time.

Young children can quickly and intuitively represent the number of objects in a visual scene through the Approximate Number System (ANS). The precision of the ANS - indexed as the most difficult ratio of two numbers that children can reliably discriminate - is well known to improve with development: whereas infants require relatively large ratios to discriminate number, children can discriminate finer and finer changes in number between toddlerhood and early adulthood. Which factors drive the developmental improvements in ANS precision? Here, we investigate the influence of four non-numeric dimensions - area, density, line length, and time - on ANS development, exploring the degree to which the ANS develops independently from these other dimensions, from inhibitory control, and from domain-general factors such as attention and working memory that are shared between these tasks. A sample of 185 children between the ages of 2 and 12years completed five discrimination tasks: approximate number, area, density, length, and time. We report three main findings. First, logistic growth models applied to both accuracy and Weber fractions (w; an index of ANS precision) across age reveal distinct developmental trajectories across the five dimensions: while area and length develop by adolescence, time and density do not develop fully until early adulthood, with ANS precision developing at an intermediate rate. Second, we find that ANS precision develops independently of the other four dimensions, which in turn develop independently of the ANS. Third, we find that ANS precision also develops independently from individual differences in inhibitory control (indexed as the difference in accuracy and w between Congruent and Incongruent ANS trials). Together, these results are the first to provide evidence for domain-specific improvements in ANS precision, and place children's maturing perception of number, space, and time into a broader developmental context.

Connectedness underlies the underestimation of the horizontal vertical illusion in L-shaped configurations

L-shaped configuration is a commonly used stimulus configuration in studying horizontal vertical illusion. Here, we report that the horizontal vertical illusion is substantially underestimated when the L-shaped configuration is used for evaluating the illusion. Experiment 1 found that, in a length perception task, the perceived length of a vertical bar was about 10% longer than that of a horizontal bar with the same physical size. Similar amount of HVI was found in a length comparison task, in which the length of a horizontal bar was compared to that of a vertical bar and the two bars were presented separately in space or in time. In contrast, when the length comparison task was conducted with the two bars being arranged in a connected L-shape, the illusion was halved in strength. Experiment 2 and 3 studied what might be the cause of this L-shape induced HVI-underestimation. Two factors were investigated: the connectedness of the two lines, and the 45° absolute orientation or the 45° inner angle information embedded in the upright isosceles L-shape. The results showed that the HVI strength was not much affected when the 45° absolute orientation and the 45° angle information was made useless for the length comparison task. In contrast, the illusion was significantly reduced in strength whenever the two lines were separated as compared to when they were connected. These results suggested that the connectedness of the two lines must underlie the underestimation of the horizontal vertical illusion in the L-shaped configurations.

The differential recruitment of short-term memory and executive functions during time, number, and length perception: An individual differences approach.

Developmental, behavioural, and neurological similarities in the processing of different magnitudes (time, number, space) support the existence of a common magnitude processing system (e.g., a theory of magnitude, ATOM). It is, however, unclear whether the recruitment of wider cognitive resources (short-term memory, STM; and executive function) during magnitude processing is similar across magnitude domains or is domain specific. The current study used an individual differences approach to examine the relationship between STM, executive function, and magnitude processing. In two experiments, participants completed number, length, and duration bisection tasks to assess magnitude processing and tasks that have been shown to assess STM span and executive component processes. The results suggest that the recruitment of STM and executive resources differed for the different magnitude domains. Duration perception was associated with access, inhibition, and STM span. Length processing was associated with updating, and number processing was associated with access to semantic memory. For duration and length, greater difficulty in the magnitude judgement task resulted in more relationships to STM and executive function. It is suggested that duration perception may be more demanding of STM and executive resources because it is represented sequentially, unlike length and number which can be represented nonsequentially.

Malleability of memory and perception in young adults

Two experimental studies were conductedto investigate the malleability of memory and perception in young adults. One hundred and twenty four young adultsin the age range of 20–30 years participated in the studies. In Study 1, the classic misinformation paradigm was used, during which participants first viewed a video, and were then given misinformation about what they had viewed in the form of misleading questions. The visual reproduction sub-test of the WMS-R was administered to the participants, to look at the relationship between visual memory and the misinformation effect. In Study 2, the participants were divided into three groups, each receiving a set of questions that differed in their linguistic framing. The results showed that misleading questions were able to create false memories in young adults. It was also seen that better visual memory did not protect against the misinformation effect, though it did mildly indicate a lower memory lapse. There was also a change in perception of length of time between questions that used different adjectives.

The Independent Perceptual Calibration of Action-Neutral and -Referential Environmental Properties.

Two experiments were conducted to explore how the calibration of perception of environmental properties taken with reference to an animal and their action capabilities (e.g., affordances) and those that are independent of action capabilities (e.g., metric properties) relate. In both experiments, participants provided reports of the maximum height they could reach above their head with a number of different stick(s) (reach-with-stick height) and the length of those stick(s), a property that is a constituent of reach-with-stick height. In Experiment 1 reach-with-stick height reports improved over trials whereas stick length reports remained constant. In Experiment 2, feedback about maximum reach-with-stick height improved perception of this affordance, but such improvements did not transfer to perception of stick length in a pretest/practice task/posttest design. The results suggest that the perceptual calibration with practice perceiving or feedback about actual dimensions of action-referential and action-neutral properties do not necessarily depend on one another.

Can spectral centroid explain voice pitch and vocal-tract length perception in normal-hearing and cochlear implant listeners?

Voice pitch (F0) and vocal-tract length (VTL) are two principal voice characteristics that play a major role in segregating voices in cocktail party situations. Cochlear implant (CI) listeners struggle with taking advantage of voice differences in such situations. Recent studies show that they have difficulties discriminating voices on the basis of these two cues. Yet, the mechanisms underlying perception of these cues in CI users, but also in normal hearing (NH) listeners, remain largely unknown. In CIs, F0 can be coded temporally and spectrally in the lower frequency channels, but some recent studies have suggested that spectral centroid (SC) could be used instead. VTL could be perceived through its effect on individual formants, but is also often likened to timbre, and as such, it has been argued that VTL perception might rely on SC. However, these assumptions tend to overlook the SC variability occurring in natural speech. In this study, it is shown how this variability would influence F0 and VTL JNDs in NH and CI listeners if they were based on SC, using a signal detection theory model. The results suggest that SC is unlikely to be a reliable cue for vocal F0 and VTL perception in natural speech.

Turning perception on its head: cephalic perception of whole and partial length of a wielded object.

Flexibility is a fundamental hallmark of perceptual systems. In particular, there is a great deal of flexibility in the ability to perceive properties of occluded objects by effortful or dynamic touch-hefting, wielding, or otherwise manipulating those objects by muscular effort. Perception of length of an occluded wielded object is comparable when that object is wielded by anatomical components that differ in sensitivity, dexterity, and functionality. Moreover, perception of this property is supported by an analogous sensitivity to inertial properties across such components. We investigated the ability to perceive whole and partial length of an object wielded by hand or by head. Experiment 1 found that perception of length by these anatomical components is qualitatively and quantitatively indistinguishable. Experiment 2 found that perception of length is supported by the same specific sensitivity to inertial properties in each case. Experiment 3 found that perception of whole length and partial length are each supported by specific sensitivities to inertial properties and that this is the case for both hand and by head. The results are discussed in the context of the nature of the stimulation patterns and the organization of the haptic system that are likely to support such flexibility in perception.

Thai Rate-Varied Vowel Length Perception and the Impact of Musical Experience.

Musical experience has been demonstrated to play a significant role in the perception of non-native speech contrasts. The present study examined whether or not musical experience facilitated the normalization of speaking rate in the perception of non-native phonemic vowel length contrasts. Native English musicians and non-musicians (as well as native Thai control listeners) completed identification and AX (same-different) discrimination tasks with Thai vowels contrasting in phonemic length at three speaking rates. Results revealed facilitative effects of musical experience in the perception of Thai vowel length categories. Specifically, the English musicians patterned similarly to the native Thai listeners, demonstrating higher accuracy at identifying and discriminating between-category vowel length distinctions than at discriminating within-category durational differences due to speaking rate variations. The English musicians also outperformed non-musicians at between-category vowel length discriminations across speaking rates, indicating musicians' superiority in perceiving categorical phonemic length differences. These results suggest that musicians' attunement to rhythmic and temporal information in music transferred to facilitating their ability to normalize contextual quantitative variations (due to speaking rate) and perceive non-native temporal phonemic contrasts.

Time Perception in Mild Cognitive Impairment: Interval Length and Subjective Passage of Time.

Patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) may have difficulties in time perception, which in turn might contribute to some of their symptoms, especially memory deficits. The aim of this study was to evaluate perception of interval length and subjective passage of time in MCI patients as compared to healthy controls. Fifty-five MCI patients and 57 healthy controls underwent an experimental protocol for time perception on interval length, a questionnaire for the subjective passage of time and a neuropsychological evaluation. MCI patients presented no changes in the perception of interval length. However, for MCI patients, time seemed to pass more slowly than it did for controls. This experience was significantly correlated with memory deficits but not with performance in executive tests, nor with complaints of depression or anxiety. Memory deficits do not affect the perception of interval length, but are associated with alterations in the subjective passage of time. (JINS, 2016, 22, 755-764).

Relative Position of the Fingers Affects Length Perception While Grasping Objects

Relative Position of the Fingers Affects Length Perception While Grasping Objects

La satisfacción de residentes con su colonia y el programa gubernamental Tu Casa en el estado de Zacatecas

El grado de satisfacción residencial, considerado como un indicador de nivel de vida, tiene como uno de sus componentes la satisfacción con la colonia de los individuos. En este artículo estimamos una serie de modelos para analizar el grado de satisfacción con la colonia de una muestra de hogares en el estado de Zacatecas. Las estimaciones nos permiten determinar si el programa federal de vivienda Tu Casa en ese estado, operado de 2004 a 2009, tuvo alguna influencia en el grado de satisfacción con la colonia, de acuerdo con la percepción de los residentes entrevistados. Encontramos evidencia de que el referido programa causó un efecto significativo en el grado de satisfacción del grupo de familias beneficiarias. Además de ese resultado, la estimación por mínimos cuadrados ordinarios muestra que el acceso vial, la contaminación ambiental, la percepción del valor de la casa y el tiempo de vivir en la vivienda influyen de forma significativa en el grado de satisfacción con la colonia. En los modelos estimados por probit y logit encontramos evidencia de que la seguridad pública y la posesión del inmueble también influyen en tal satisfacción.

Direct Learning in Auditory Perception: An Information-Space Analysis of Auditory Perceptual Learning of Object Length

The theory of direct learning characterizes perception of a given property as occupying a locus in an information space and characterizes perceptual learning as continuous movement in that information space toward a more optimal locus. Three experiments investigated whether such an information-based account of learning could be applied to perceptual learning in audition. The results of Experiment 1 showed that perception of length by audition could be characterized as occupying a locus in an information space consisting of inertial variables that constrain perception of length by dynamic or effortful touch. Experiments 2 and 3 showed that feedback about length led to predictable movements across the information space from less optimal to more optimal loci. Such results provide additional support for the theory of direct learning and suggest that convergence information may be modality independent.

The perception of vocal-tract length in cochlear implant users: Can it be improved?

When trying to understand a speaker among competing speakers, normal-hearing listeners take advantage of differences in the voices of the talkers. However, cochlear implant (CI) users do not seem to benefit from such voice differences. Roy D. Patterson's group in Cambridge has applied psychophysical methods to voice perception in order to isolate the acoustic cues that allow listeners to identify and segregate voices [e.g. Smith, Patterson, Turner, Kawahara and Irino, 2005, J. Acoust. Soc. Am., vol. 117, pp. 305–318]. In our group, we have extended these methods to CI listeners to fully characterize the limitations CI users experience in utilizing voice characteristics. More specifically, we have shown that while voice pitch (F0) is sufficiently salient through the implant to allow gender categorization, the perception of vocal-tract length (VTL) is severely degraded, leading to erroneous gender perception. With the help of acoustic simulations mimicking the CI processing, the potential factors explaining this lack of sensitivity for VTL were explored. Poor spectral resolution, spectral quantization, and spectral distortion were all found to affect VTL just-noticeable-differences. These results have yielded a number of potential solutions to improve VTL representation — and hence concurrent speech perception — in the implant.

The working memory Ponzo illusion: Involuntary integration of visuospatial information stored in visual working memory

Visual working memory (VWM) has been traditionally viewed as a mental structure subsequent to visual perception that stores the final output of perceptual processing. However, VWM has recently been emphasized as a critical component of online perception, providing storage for the intermediate perceptual representations produced during visual processing. This interactive view holds the core assumption that VWM is not the terminus of perceptual processing; the stored visual information rather continues to undergo perceptual processing if necessary. The current study tests this assumption, demonstrating an example of involuntary integration of the VWM content, by creating the Ponzo illusion in VWM: when the Ponzo illusion figure was divided into its individual components and sequentially encoded into VWM (so that the four lines in Ponzo figure components were never simultaneously presented), the temporally separated components were involuntarily integrated, leading to the distorted length perception of the two horizontal lines. This VWM Ponzo illusion was replicated when the figure components were presented in different combinations and presentation order. The magnitude of the illusion was significantly correlated between VWM and perceptual versions of the Ponzo illusion. These results suggest that the information integration underling the VWM Ponzo illusion is constrained by the laws of visual perception and similarly affected by the common individual factors that govern its perception. Thus, our findings provide compelling evidence that VWM functions as a buffer serving perceptual processes at early stages. Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2015

Perception of photoperiod in individual buds of mature trees regulates leaf-out.

Experimental data on the perception of day length and temperature in dormant temperate zone trees are surprisingly scarce. In order to investigate when and where these environmental signals are perceived, we carried out bagging experiments in which buds on branches of Fagus sylvatica, Aesculus hippocastanum and Picea abies trees were exposed to natural light increase or kept at constant 8-h days from December until June. Parallel experiments used twigs cut from the same trees, harvesting treated and control twigs seven times and then exposing them to 8- or 16-h days in a glasshouse. Under 8-h days, budburst in Fagus outdoors was delayed by 41 d and in Aesculus by 4 d; in Picea, day length had no effect. Buds on nearby branches reacted autonomously, and leaf primordia only reacted to light cues in late dormancy after accumulating warm days. Experiments applying different wavelength spectra and high-resolution spectrometry to buds indicate a phytochrome-mediated photoperiod control. By demonstrating local photoperiodic control of buds, revealing the time when these signals are perceived, and showing the interplay between photoperiod and chilling, this study contributes to improved modelling of the impact of climate warming on photosensitive species.

Light pollution alters the phenology of dawn and dusk singing in common European songbirds.

Artificial night lighting is expanding globally, but its ecological consequences remain little understood. Animals often use changes in day length as a cue to time seasonal behaviour. Artificial night lighting may influence the perception of day length, and may thus affect both circadian and circannual rhythms. Over a 3.5 month period, from winter to breeding, we recorded daily singing activity of six common songbird species in 12 woodland sites, half of which were affected by street lighting. We previously reported on analyses suggesting that artificial night lighting affects the daily timing of singing in five species. The main aim of this study was to investigate whether the presence of artificial night lighting is also associated with the seasonal occurrence of dawn and dusk singing. We found that in four species dawn and dusk singing developed earlier in the year at sites exposed to light pollution. We also examined the effects of weather conditions and found that rain and low temperatures negatively affected the occurrence of dawn and dusk singing. Our results support the hypothesis that artificial night lighting alters natural seasonal rhythms, independently of other effects of urbanization. The fitness consequences of the observed changes in seasonal timing of behaviour remain unknown.

Perception of Object Length Via Manual Wielding in Children With and Without Developmental Coordination Disorder

ABSTRACTThe authors compared haptic perception via active manual wielding in children with and without developmental coordination disorder (DCD). Forty-eight children, 11–12 years old, participated as volunteers. Twenty-four were typically developing children (TDC), and 24 had been diagnosed with DCD. Individually, children held and wielded unseen rods of five lengths (20, 45, 60, 75, or 90 cm). Based on this wielding, children judged the length of each rod. Judgments of rod length were shorter in the DCD group than in the TDC group. In addition, significant interactions revealed that the difference between the 2 groups was progressively greater for longer rods. The results provide support for the hypothesis that DCD includes deficits in the ability to use manual wielding in the perception of object length. In addition, the results suggest that the deficit is not general, but is greater for longer objects.

Effects of light pollution on seasonal estrus and daily rhythms in a nocturnal primate

Mammals use variations in the length of day to anticipate environmental changes and time their reproduction. Light pollution, which affects day length perception, could lead to changes in biological functions. To explore the effects of light pollution on seasonal reproduction, we conducted an experimental study on a strict long-day breeder, the nocturnal gray mouse lemur (Microcebus murinus). Twelve females were randomly exposed to either a moonlight treatment or a light pollution treatment for 5 weeks during the transition from a short- to long-day photoperiod. Daily rhythms of locomotor activity and core temperature were recorded, and the occurrence of estrus and urinary 17-β-estradiol concentrations were monitored. In females exposed to light pollution, the first seasonal estrus occurred while they were still in a short-day photoperiod, 2 weeks earlier than in females exposed to moonlight. Moreover, the daily rhythms profiles of females exposed to light pollution showed significant changes that mimicked long-day acclimatization. This study demonstrates that light pollution can affect daily rhythms and the timing of seasonal estrus in a primate and suggests that functional changes in the circadian system may underlie the adverse effects of light pollution that are observed in wildlife.