O uso de pinturas de Dalí como ferramenta para avaliação das alterações na percepção de forma e tamanho em pacientes esquizofrênicos

Abstract

Estudos envolvendo portadores de esquizofrenia têm mostrado alterações severas da percepção e cognição. A maioria dos diagnósticos, entretanto, é baseada na avaliação de processos cognitivos. Nossos estudos investigaram a percepção alterada de forma e tamanho em pacientes com esquizofrenia e com depressão maior utilizando 24 pinturas de Salvador Dalí. Conduzimos dois estudos comparando grupos experimental e controle e observamos, em ambos os casos, que os portadores de esquizofrenia perceberam figuras 1,5 e 3,0 vezes maior do que os respectivos grupos controle. Em outro estudo com pacientes com depressão maior não foram observadas alterações na percepção de tamanho comparado ao grupo controle. Concluímos que este efeito de percepção de forma e tamanho alterados pode servir como marcador no diagnóstico precoce da presença de sintomas positivos na esquizofrenia. Sugerimos que estas pinturas de Salvador Dalí sejam utilizadas como ferramenta para avaliar alterações na percepção de formas e tamanhos em pacientes portadores de esquizofrenia e, assim, prevenir o agravamento dos sintomas cognitivos.

Development of a sensory and perceptual assessment test for psychosis and schizophrenia

“…This is true even for the complete stimulus set. Figure 3 and 4, EG perceive sizes that are significantly larger than the CG, Results are consistent with previous studies (Modesto, 2012;Simas, et al, 2011) reported in terms of spatial frequencies that have shown a progressive increase in perceived size of PPLI by schizophrenic patients, as compared to healthy volunteers, that seems to correspond to the degree and severity of the psychotic and/or prodromal states. Figure 6 is an adapted summary of sizes for the first observed image from three previous studies (Modesto, 2012;Simas, et al, 2011) that have used the Dali-Simas…”

“…This study reports experiments run in a clinic and a hospital comparing inpatients to healthy volunteers. Our hypothesis was that we would reproduce previous results (Modesto, 2012;Simas, et al, 2011) even though using a selection of only 10 Dalí paintings (and 10 Rorschach plates with a partial sample) in an iPad2 display where the volunteers encircled, by themselves, the first perceived image in each of the paintings (and plates).…”

“…In our initial studies (Simas, et al, 2011), we used a selection of 24 paintings by Dalí and asked people with schizophrenia and healthy volunteers to point out the first image they perceived in each of those paintings. We were able to reproduce the same results repeatedly from 2002 to 2012 with a total of over 100 experimental and 100 healthy volunteers (Modesto, 2012;Simas, et al, 2011).…”

“…In our initial studies (Simas, et al, 2011), we used a selection of 24 paintings by Dalí and asked people with schizophrenia and healthy volunteers to point out the first image they perceived in each of those paintings. We were able to reproduce the same results repeatedly from 2002 to 2012 with a total of over 100 experimental and 100 healthy volunteers (Modesto, 2012;Simas, et al, 2011). Those studies have shown that schizophrenics perceive larger images than controls, and that different populations of schizophrenics perceive progressively larger images that seem to be related to the severity of the prodromal or acute/chronic states.…”

“…The Dalí-Simas test was adapted to a digital version from the studies previously reported (Modesto, 2012;Simas, et al, 2011) and originally carried out with printed photographs of 24 Dali paintings (10x15 cm).…”