Santiago Fernández González

Background: This study examined the influence of creative thinking, shaped by different forms of episodic mental representations, on human movement. The primary objective was to investigate how creativity, elicited through distinct cognitive stimuli, affects movement variability. Methods: Twenty-four professional dancers developed two original dance phrases, each inspired by either a visual or a narrative mental representation. Movement data were collected via inertial sensor technology and subsequently analysed to determine differences in motor expression. Results: The results indicated that movements performed under narrative representation conditions exhibited significantly increased risk-taking behaviour, greater movement amplitude, and a higher overall movement volume compared to those guided by visual stimuli. Conclusions: These findings underscore the role of creativity in modulating both the expressive and physical dimensions of human movement. Moreover, this research demonstrates the potential of inertial sensor technology not only to capture kinematic patterns but also to provide insight into the deeper layers of human artistic and cognitive processes.

The loss of a sense, such as vision, forces individuals to adapt to their environment and its demands in a variety of ways. In the case of blindness, significant neurofunctional and cognitive changes have been documented. However, there is no clear consensus on the differences in performance between adult blind participants and sighted controls in cognitive processes such as working memory (WM). Two variables are important, including the cognitive task used to measure working memory and the age at which vision loss occurs. This review is aimed at exploring potential disparities in verbal and spatial WM performance between blind and sighted adults, as well as understanding how these differences may be influenced by the age of vision loss. A systematic search across PsycArticles, PsycInfo, Medline, and Web of Science databases identified 21 pertinent studies. The studies were categorized, and effect sizes were calculated through meta-analysis, distinguishing between verbal (auditory simple forward and backward span, complex span, and n-back) and visuospatial WM tasks (adapted Corsi-block and simple storage tasks, imagery tasks, and complex storage tasks). Visual sensory loss induces adaptations affecting WM function in blind participants. In the verbal domain, improved phonological processing and/or serial item position encoding might facilitate WM retrieval. In contrast, in spatial WM, an over-reliance on serial processing may hinder strategic grouping in blind individuals. This review highlights the need to further explore the role of age at the time of vision loss. Although evidence suggests that adaptations to serial processing may be more pronounced in early development, particularly in comparison to those who become blind in adulthood, the available data are limited. The study calls for further research to deepen our understanding of cognitive adaptations and their temporal dynamics in response to vision loss.

This paper presents descriptions, and taxonomic and ecological data by the angiosperm pollen grains recovered from Quaternary sediments of the Gruta do Urso Cave, Tocantins State, Northern Brazil. Among recovered assemblage, 44 types of angiosperm pollen were identified. Most of the pollen types described here are related to the modern aboreal-shrub and herbaceous-subshrub taxa currently present in the plant communities of the Cerrado biome: (i) forest formations (Annonaceae, Aspidosperma, Ilex, Celtis, Trema, Tournefortia, Protium, Combretaceae-Melastomataceae type, Croton-type, Moraceae-Urticaceae type, cf. Bauhinia brevipes, Cassia, Pithecellobium, Peixotoa, and Cedrela); (ii) savannah formations (Anacardium, Astronium, Asteraceae Tribu Eupatorieae, Caryocar, Cyperaceae, Eriotheca-type, Ludwigia, Pseudobombax spp., Ouratea, Qualea, and Utricularia), and (iii) grasslands (Poaceae). Regarding the diversity of pollen types registered, the most representative botanical families were: Fabaceae (8), Malvaceae (4), Euphorbiaceae (3), Anacardiaceae (3), Apocynaceae (2), Cannabaceae (2), Sapindaceae (2) and Poaceae (2), which also occur in the Cerrado-Caatinga transition. Pollen data show paleovegetation during the Last Glacial Maximum and Holocene times out of the cave, and provides a reliable source for paleoecological, paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic investigations. Keywords: palynology, Quaternary, paleovegetation, Brazilian savannah. Este artigo apresenta as descrições morfológicas, dados taxonômicos e ecológicos de grãos de pólen de angiospermas recuperados de sedimentos quaternários da Gruta do Urso, Estado do Tocantins, Norte do Brasil. Foram registrados 44 tipos polínicos que se relacionam com os táxons arbustivo-arbóreos e arbustivo-herbáceos ocorrentes atualmente nas comunidades vegetacionais do bioma Cerrado: (i) formações florestais (Annonaceae, Aspidosperma, Ilex, Celtis, Trema, Tournefortia, Protium, Tipo Combretaceae-Melastomataceae, Tipo Croton, Tipo Moraceae-Urticaceae, cf. Bauhinia brevipes, Cassia, Pithecellobium, Peixotoa e Cedrela); (ii) cerrado sensu stricto (Anacardium, Astronium, Asteraceae Tribo Eupatorieae, Caryocar, Cyperaceae, Tipo Eriotheca, Ludwigia, Pseudobombax spp., Ouratea, Qualea e Utricularia) e (iii) gramíneas (Poaceae). Quanto à diversidade polínica, as famílias botânicas mais representativas foram: Fabaceae (8), Malvaceae (4), Euphorbiaceae (3), Anacardiaceae (3), Apocynaceae (2), Cannabaceae (2), Sapindaceae (2) e Poaceae (2), que também ocorrem na transição dos biomas Cerrado-Caatinga. Os dados polínicos refletem a paleovegetação do entorno da caverna durante o Último Máximo Glacial e Holoceno, e constituem uma fonte confiável para as investigações paleoecológicas, paleoambientais e paleoclimáticas. Palavras-chave: palinologia, Quaternário, paleovegetação, Cerrado.