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At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources
PubMed2001

A study of the effect of color photostimulation from a cathode-ray tube (CRT) display on photosensitive patients: the effect of alternating red-cyan flicker stimulation.

PURPOSE: In an attempt to establish evidence for developing better guidelines for the production of animation programs that would not induce photosensitive seizures in Japan, we evaluated the effects of red flicker, alternating red/cyan (complementary color to red) flicker stimuli, and of contrast between the red and cyan frames from a cathode-ray tube (CRT) display in photosensitive patients. METHODS: We studied 35 photosensitive patients. They were exposed to seven types of flicker. The first three types were alternating red/cyan flicker (R/C) with the luminance of cyan set at three different levels, high, equal, and low luminance (65, 20, and 16 cd/m2, respectively) relative to the red (20 cd/m2). The following four types were red, cyan, yellow, and magenta flicker stimuli. EEGs were recorded while the patients watched these stimuli on a CRT display. RESULTS: Rates of photoparoxysmal response (PPR) provocation were 11.4, 13.7, and 14.0% with high-, no- and low-contrast R/C flicker, respectively, and 3.7% with red flicker. The differences between red and each of the other R/C flicker stimuli were all statistically significant (p<0.05, 0.01, 0.01). No significant differences were found between the effects by each of the three levels of contrast in alternating R/C flicker (p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that alternating R/C flicker is more provocative than simple red flicker, and that contrast between frames of different colors may play some role in the effects of alternating flicker stimuli from a CRT display in photosensitive patients. Therefore, caution against the use of the combination of red and cyan, in addition to the red flicker stimulus, should be included in any guidelines drawn up to prevent photosensitive seizures.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Dopey's seizure.

Angelman syndrome is a neurogenetic condition namely characterized by developmental delay, virtual absence of expressive verbal language, peculiar organization of movement, seizures and happy demeanor. This syndrome has been recognized since 1965, but it seems that Walt Disney presented an original depiction of it in his first full-length animated film, including myoclonic jerks and an apparently generalized tonic-clonic seizure.

Angelman Syndrome↗
PubMed1995

Recognition of parts of famous-face photographs by children: an experimental note.

Children aged between 5 and 10 years were shown photographs of familiar TV personalities, presenters, and celebrities for immediate recognition (naming). The pictures were of whole faces, outer features only (hair, chin, ears), or inner features (eyes, nose, mouth). Only the oldest group (9-10 years) resembled adults in recognising these familiar faces more efficiently from internal than external parts. In the youngest children (5-6 years) there were some indications that the outer face features were more salient, particularly when cartoon characters were included in the array.

Attention↗
PubMed1995

The use of a cartoon rating scale as a measure for the humor construct.

A new scale based on the rating of newspaper cartoons was administered to 129 White South Africans, after which a statistical analysis indicated high reliability for the instrument. A principal components analysis yielded seven factors, one of which appeared to relate to family relationships and the derision or misfortune of one of its members. Although there was a significant and positive link between chronological age and funniness ratings, no valid relations were found with other life measures or with scores on three other humor scales.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Gender differences in memory for object and word locations.

It has been hypothesized that gender differences in visuo-spatial working memory (VSWM) are larger in tasks requiring active elaboration of the material. In the present study we explored this issue by using an object relocation task, with both verbal and visual stimuli. The involvement of active processes was manipulated through the type of transformation required on the stimulus and through the introduction of different kinds of interference. In the three experiments reported, participants were shown either words or cartoon object icons in different locations and had to relocate them in either the same format or in the opposite one (object icons could be transformed into words and vice versa). Males outperformed females in the most demanding conditions, in which object icons and words were presented together in the encoding phase, and both had to be transformed in the recall phase; or when more demanding interferences were used. Our data suggest that the retention strategy was similar for the two groups and that the gender effect is related to a selective female difficulty associated with the increase in active VSWM processing. These findings further support the hypothesized distinction between the passive and active components of VSWM and illustrate the role that this distinction might play in accounting for individual differences.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Short-term mood change, perceived funniness, and the effect of humor stimuli.

Two studies investigating humor are reported in this article. The first study demonstrated a reduction in ratings of state anxiety following exposure to a humor stimulus. Reduction in ratings of state depression depended on participants' initial scores and the perceived funniness of the humor stimulus. The second study demonstrated reductions in the perceived funniness of cartoons when participants identified with the protagonist but only, it seemed, when the protagonist was also a "victim" in the cartoon scenario. Issues associated with humor are complex, but the present results suggest that humor may be of benefit when short-term mood changes are desirable, if individual differences are taken into account.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Differential influences of coping humor and humor bias on mood.

The authors investigated relationships among sense of humor measured by a questionnaire, attentional bias toward humor measured by performance on a word-search task, and experimentally induced mood change through the use of sad and humorous cartoons. Mood was significantly altered in a negative direction after the sad cartoon. Coping humor, part of the sense of humor questionnaire, was associated with less negative mood ratings after the sad cartoon. In terms of main effects, only a modest change in mood was found after the humorous cartoon. Humor bias was associated with more positive mood ratings after the humorous cartoon. The authors suggest that coping humor serves a protective psychological function, helping screen the person from negative stimuli and, thus, from negative reactions. Attentional bias toward humor serves a different protective psychological function by helping the person focus on mood-enhancing stimuli in the environment.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMedDate not supplied

A randomized control trial of new tailored walking campaigns in an employee sample.

Public health groups use mass media communications to address the problem of sedentary behaviour. However, these campaigns are poorly evaluated and lack tailoring. Campaigns and questionnaires were developed based on existing theoretical, cross-sectional, and qualitative data regarding how to promote walking with people who are not regularly active. Subjects were volunteer white-collar employees (n = 181) randomly allocated by quota to the campaigns, or control, for one week. One-hundred-thirty-eight subjects (76.2%) completed pre- and postcampaign questionnaires. This study successfully (1) developed four new tailored campaigns to promote walking according to a formalized process that health promoters can adapt and refine, (2) developed a complimentary measure of outcomes, and (3) compared the new campaigns with the English Health Education Authority (HEA) "Active for Life" campaign (control).

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Differential processing of implicature in individuals with left and right brain damage.

To evaluate the processing ability of implicature , especially indirect request and indirect refusal, the Four Scenes Test was administered to 20 left hemisphere damaged (LHD) subjects, 20 right hemisphere damaged (RHD) subjects and 15 normal control subjects. The results showed first, that the performances of the brain-damaged subjects was inferior to that of the control subjects in processing implicature; second, that indirect request understanding was easier than indirect refusal understanding in the brain-damaged subjects, and the third that indirect refusal understanding in of the left hemisphere damaged subjects was inferior to that of the right hemisphere damaged subjects. There was no group difference in indirect request understanding though the ability of brain-damaged subjects was poorer than that of the normal controls. These findings suggest that LHD and RHD subjects were not the same in implicature processing and their responses depended on the implicature's modularity (refusal and request).

Aged↗
PubMed2003

TopDraw: a sketchpad for protein structure topology cartoons.

SUMMARY: Protein topology cartoons are a representation of structural data commonly used by structural biologists to illustrate the relationship between one-dimensional sequence and three-dimensional structural data in a convenient two-dimensional format. TopDraw is a simple, freely available TCL/Tk based drawing program designed specifically for the production of publication quality topology cartoons in a style commonly presented by structural biologists. AVAILABILITY: TopDraw is freely available under the terms of the GNU General Public License. It can be downloaded from http://stein.bioch.dundee.ac.uk/~charlie/scripts/topdraw.html.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2006

Brain activation during sight gags and language-dependent humor.

Humor is a hallmark of human discourse. People use it to relieve stress and to facilitate social bonding, as well as for pure enjoyment in the absence of any apparent adaptive value. Although recent studies have revealed that humor acts as an intrinsic reward, which explains why people actively seek to experience and create humor, few have addressed the cognitive aspects of humor. We used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging to differentiate brain activity induced by the hedonic similarities and cognitive differences inherent in 2 kinds of humor: visual humor (sight gags) and language-based humor. Our findings indicate that the brain networks recruited during a humorous experience differ according to the type of humor being processed, with high-level visual areas activated during visual humor and classic language areas activated during language-dependent humor. Our results additionally highlight a common network activated by both types of humor that includes the amygdalar and midbrain regions, which presumably reflect the euphoric component of humor. Furthermore, we found that humor activates anterior cingulate cortex and frontoinsular cortex, 2 regions in the brain that are known to have phylogenetically recent neuronal circuitry. These results suggest that humor may have coevolved with another cognitive specialization of the great apes and humans: the ability to navigate through a shifting and complex social space.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Prevention of viral hepatitis C: assessment of a comic strip-based information campaign targeting adolescents.

BACKGROUND: The risk of exposure to hepatitis C virus increases markedly in adolescence, and students are thus a preferential target for information campaigns. The aim of this study was to evaluate the results of a hepatitis C information campaign targeting secondary-school students. METHODS: The study was done in 52 classes of 11 general and vocational secondary schools. Before the information meetings and two months afterwards, the students received an anonymous questionnaire to test their knowledge of hepatitis C. The information session was backed up by a comic strip depicting scenarios involving hepatitis C. RESULTS: The students were aged from 14 to 24 years (mean 15.9 years, SD 0.9 years). Respectively 1509 and 1419 questionnaires were completed before and after the information session. Answers to the first questionnaire showed that the students' knowledge of hepatitis C was poor. Scores improved significantly after the information session, from an overall mean of 6.2 (SD 2.0) to 8.5 (SD 1.7) (p<0.001). The largest score improvement concerned transmission due to illicit drug use, the potential severity of the disease, and lack of a vaccine. The improvement was significantly larger among pupils who said they read the comic strip than among those who did not (p=0.02). CONCLUSIONS: General and vocational secondary school students in France have mediocre knowledge of hepatitis C, particularly its modes of transmission and the lack of a vaccine. Knowledge improved significantly when measured two months after an information session, suggesting that subsequent at-risk behaviours might be reduced.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

The extent and nature of food promotion directed to children in Australian supermarkets.

The aim of this study was to describe the nature and amount of sales promotion use on food packaging in selected Australian supermarkets, specifically those directed at children through the use of premium offers, such as giveaways and competitions, and cartoon and movie character promotions. The study also examined the promotion of healthy versus unhealthy foods. Nine supermarkets located across the metropolitan area of Sydney, Australia were surveyed to assess the extent and nature of food promotion directed at children. The number and types of promotions were measured within seven food categories: sweet biscuits, snack foods, confectionery, chips/savoury snacks, cereals, dairy snacks and ice cream. Any foods that utilized promotional tactics were categorized as either healthy or unhealthy, according to set criteria. The study found that within the seven food categories between 9 and 35% of food products used promotional tactics. The use of television, movie celebrities and cartoon characters for promotion was most common, making up 75% of all promotions. Giveaways accounted for 13% of all promotions. When used, giveaways were commonly used in conjunction with another promotional method. Data from this study also confirmed that 82% of all food promotions were for unhealthy foods and only 18% were used to promote healthy foods. However, for dairy snacks and ice cream the majority of promotions, 99 and 65%, respectively, were healthier choices. This was the first study to describe the extent and nature of food promotions used in supermarkets. The promotion of unhealthy foods in supermarkets is common and is one of the many factors contributing to today's obesity promoting environment. Further research is required to determine the impact of food promotions on children's dietary intake, and to determine the most effective ways to restrict the promotion of unhealthy foods.

Cartoons as Topic↗
PubMed2004

Patient communication: a multidisciplinary approach using animated cartoons.

Communication is a major problem in the management of patients. Miscommunication occurs frequently in populations with low reading skills, illiteracy does not completely account for the observed low rates of recall of communicated information. Transmission of the message also plays an important role. Successful strategies to improve communication with patients include the use of videotapes, videotape modeling or cartoon illustrations. Do these products communicate effectively because they overcome illiteracy or because they also transmit a very clear message? Can good transmission of messages overcome illiteracy? In this study, we compared the effectiveness of a printed message about polio vaccinations with the same message converted into a production of animated cartoons using marketing and advertising techniques. The production that resulted from using this strategy showed that in the setting of this study, a well-designed animated cartoon is more effective in delivering a message than the same information provided in written instructional materials.

Cartoons as Topic↗