Preliminary adaptation into Portuguese of a standardised picture set for the use in research and neuropsychological assessment

Abstract

-Pictorial stimuli and words have been widely used to evaluate mnemonic processes in clinical settings, neuropsychological investigations, as well as in studies on the mechanisms underlying the phenomena of memory. However, there seem to be few studies of standardisation of pictures for research in this field. The present paper aimed at adapting the use of a set of pictures standardised for English speaking subjects for Portuguese speakers. Name agreement of 150 pictures was assessed in 100 high-school students. Ninety pictures were found to present the same name for over 90 subjects. Results yield data that may help create more controlled tests for the study of memory for pictorial stimuli in Brazil.KEY WORDS: explicit memory, implicit memory, repetition priming, pictures, neuropsychological tests.Adaptação preliminar para o português de conjunto de figuras padronizado para uso em pesquisa e avaliação psicológica RESUMO -Figuras e palavras há muito vêm sendo utilizadas para avaliar processos mnemônicos em investigações clínicas relacionadas a exames neuropsicológicos, bem como em estudos de mecanismos subjacentes ao fenômeno de memória. Existem, porém, poucos estudos de padronização de figuras para pesquisas nessas áreas. O presente estudo propõe uma adaptação preliminar para o português falado no Brasil de um conjunto de figuras padronizado para o idioma inglês. A consistência de nomeação de 150 figuras foi avaliada em 100 estudantes de segundograu. Noventa figuras apresentaram o mesmo nome por mais de 90 sujeitos. Resultados permitem auxiliar na criação de testes mais controlados de memória para desenhos de objetos comuns a serem utilizados no Brasil. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: memória explícita, memória implícita, pré-ativação, figuras, testes neuropsicológicos.It is now widely accepted that memory is comprised of a series of distinct phenomena and that it can be divided into subtypes which exhibit different characteristics. In 1985 Graf and Schacter 1 proposed a systemic model of long-term memory which comprises an explicit, or "consciously" retrievable memory, and an implicit memory, retrievable without the aid of "conscious" strategies. Explicit memory can be considered to involve a so called semantic memory, responsible for factual, conceptual, impersonal knowledge, as well as an episodic memory which stores autobiographic information 1 . Implicit memory, on the other hand, includes learning which can be evaluated through performance such as skills, priming and classical conditioning 2,3 . Others 4-6 , however, suggest that the distinction between explicit and implicit memory does not reflect the existence of different memory systems but of distinct processing during acquisition and retrieval of information, which can be based on physical (perceptual) or conceptual characteristics. There are also authors who Arq Neuropsiquiatr 1998;56(3-A) claim that the best approach is a mixed one, that considers both systemic and processing characteristics 7 .Whatever the criteria adopted for classifying memory, it...

A set of 400 pictures standardised for Portuguese: norms for name agreement, familiarity and visual complexity for children and adults

“…We hope that the normative data presented here will be used as a guide for the selection of pictorial stimuli to be used in research in several fields 11 . Investigators who intend to study semantic memory using pictured objects can find pictures organised into semantic categories in Cycowicz et al's 5 paper.…”

“…Since the pioneering paper of Snodgrass & Vanderwart 3 in the USA, similar work has been conducted on the 260 picture-set for British 7 , Spanish 8 , Japanese 9 and Icelandic populations. A preliminary adaptation into Portuguese was also accomplished with a smaller (150) set of pictures 11 . A larger set of 400 pictures has been studied more recently for both North Americans 5 and Frenchmen 6 .…”

Considerações metodológicas na elaboração de experimentos com priming de repetição

“…As normas atendem aos critérios de nomeação, familiaridade e complexidade visual para crianças e adultos (Pompéia & Bueno, 1998;Pompéia, Miranda, & Bueno, 2001, 2003. Em testes no paradigma de completar fragmentos, a fragmentação das imagens pode ser realizada com o programa ULTRAFRAG (Life Science Associates, Bayport, NY), que utiliza o método de Snodgrass, Smith, Feenan e Corwin (1987), removendo blocos de pixels (16 x 16) aleatórios da imagem.…”

Evolution of language assessment in patients with acquired neurological disorders in Brazil

“…Finally, we should highlight the initiatives for characterization of linguistic stimuli that do not consist of assessment materials in themselves, but which are essential for the construction of assessment instruments for clinical practice and research. 77 - 80 Due to these studies, therapists and researchers can draw on norms of frequency, imageability and semantic association of words, as well as pictures whose familiarity, naming agreement and visual complexity have been evaluated.…”