Prior research reveal that spatial navigation skills rely mostly in visual sensory abilities, but the study of how spatial processing operates in the absence of visual information is still incomplete. Therefore, a spatial navigation task in virtual reality using auditory cues was developed to study navigational strategies in sighted individuals. Twenty healthy adult participants were recruited. The task consisted of a VR scene, in which participants were asked to localize the sound source and move to the target without visual information (i.e. blindfolded). Task difficulty was manipulated by route length.The participants were first exposed in a study phase with the objective to move to the sound source and then return to the starting point. In a test phase, the participants performed the same task without the sound source but with auditory cues from obstacles to test spatial learning. This manipulation allowed to assess navigational strategies as local navigation in the first and wayfinding in the second phase. Performance was assessed from behavioral measures of execution time, obstacle collisions, and prompts during the task execution. These variables were correlated with established neuropsychological instruments for global cognition and memory abilities. The results revealed a relationship between executive functioning and task performance. Global performance was better in wayfinding involving spatial learning, while increases in task difficulty affected performance through execution time only for local navigation. These data reveal the importance of auditory information from spatial sound cues for spatial learning and navigation in a known environment.
Non-immersive VR environments are related to the least interactive application of VR techniques, such that interaction with the VR environment can occur commonly by 3D-TV without full immersion into the environment. This study presents how 3D-TV exposure combined with physiology recording can elicit fear of cockroaches among individuals with different levels of fear. Thirty-six participants, set apart into three fear groups (low vs. moderate vs. high), were exposed to VR environment with cockroaches for 4 minutes while recording and using cardiac activity as input to the VR environment. Results revealed significant effects on self-report measures and heart rate between different fear groups. Moreover, participants with higher levels of fear were more likely to trigger cockroaches into the scenario due to their cardiac acceleration. Overall results suggest that our physiology-driven VR environment is valid for fear elicitation while having potential use in therapeutic domain.
This paper analyzes the problems arising from the remediation of the relief effect in the transition from analog to digital of stereo photography. One of the main problems in this conversion is the portability of the awe effect that constitutes an important part of the experience when viewing a stereo pair. This image conversion process, necessary to the creation and dissemination of digital files of 19th century stereoscopic photography, is not linear. The digital stereoscopic projection cards present a number of difficulties for a proper consistency reproduction of the relief effect. Through the study comparison of different viewing apparatus (both digital and analogue including 3D and VR) of a specific stereo image, we will present important results achieved with a sample of 134 participants that were exposed to these devices and propose a guideline manual for the digital stereo archive. For the developing of this work it has been crucial the research done by both authors for the Stereo Visual Culture project (supported by the FCT Foundation ref. PTDC / IVC-COM /5223/2012), the stereopsis analysis made with the research center HEI-Lab (Digital Human-Environment Interaction Lab) and through the particular case study based on the VR application developed for the recreation of XIX century
Background Sedentary behavior (SB) has been linked to several negative health outcomes. Therefore, reducing SB or breaking up prolonged periods of SB improves functional fitness, food consumption, job satisfaction, and productivity. Reducing SB can be achieved by introducing a health-enhancing contextual modification promoted by a sit-stand desk in the workplace. The primary goal will be to test the effectiveness of this intervention in reducing and breaking up SB, while improving health outcomes in office-based workers during a 6-month intervention. Methods A two-arm (1:1), superiority parallel-group cluster RCT will be conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of this intervention in a sample of office-based workers from a university in Portugal. The intervention will consist of a psychoeducation session, motivational prompts, and contextual modification promoted by a sit-stand desk in the workplace for 6 months. The control group will work as usual in their workplace, with no contextual change or prompts during the 6-month intervention. Three assessment points will be conducted in both groups, pre-intervention (baseline), post-intervention, and a 3-month follow-up. The primary outcomes include sedentary and physical activity-related variables, which will be objectively assessed with 24 h monitoring using the ActivPAL for 7 days. The secondary outcomes include (a) biometric indices as body composition, body mass index, waist circumference, and postural inequalities; and (b) psychosocial variables such as overall and work-related fatigue, overall discomfort, life/work satisfaction, quality of life, and eating behavior. Both the primary and secondary outcomes will be assessed at each assessment point. Discussion This study will lean on the use of a sit-stand workstation for 6 months, prompted by an initial psychoeducational session and ongoing motivational prompts. We will aim to contribute to this topic by providing robust data on alternating sitting and standing postures in the workplace. Trial registration The trial was prospectively registered, and the details are at: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/JHGPW; Registered 15 November 2022. OSF Preregistration.
A Comissão Europeia, no Plano de Ação para a Educação Digital 2021-2027. Reconfigurar a educação e a formação para a era digital (2020), sublinha a necessidade de explorar o potencial das tecnologias digitais para a aprendizagem e o ensino e desenvolver competências digitais para todos. Nesta era digital, a educação tem um papel essencial na modificação da sociedade, assim como, a tecnologia. Juntas compreendem uma dimensão fundamental de mudança social, já que a evolução e a transformação das sociedades são construídas por meio da interação complexa de fatores culturais, económicos, políticos e tecnológicos. Face a este enquadramento, os objetivos que nortearam esta investigação foram captar e comparar as perceções de estudantes do ensino superior privado (universitário e politécnico) sobre o ensino remoto nas aprendizagens e analisar o impacto desta modalidade de ensino nas competências socioemocionais e digitais. Para conduzir este estudo, a metodologia utilizada foi a construção e aplicação de um questionário a estudantes de diferentes cursos de duas instituições de ensino superior privadas. A amostra foi intencional (Creswell, 2014). Os dados foram recolhidos via questionário on-line, composto por questões de escolha múltipla e abertas. Os resultados deste estudo mostram que as medidas de confinamento impostas afetaram a forma de estar, de aprender e de ensinar. E que os estudantes inquiridos apresentam uma similaridade em termos de competências socioemocionais mas divergente no respeitante a competências digitais. Defendem, na sua grande maioria, uma aposta inequívoca no ensino híbrido. Por esta investigação, de carácter exploratório, podemos concluir que a utilização das tecnologias, exploradas nas aulas on-line, representam uma grande possibilidade de dinamização do ensino pós-pandemia, e que as competências digitais são estrategicamente importantes no contexto das transições ecológica e digital.
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