RESUMO
A within-participants experiment was conducted in two countries (the UK and Colombia) in order to investigate the matching of shapes to taste words. Comparing the two countries allowed us to explore some of the cultural differences that have been reported thus far solely in terms of people's visual preferences. In particular, we addressed the question of whether properties other than angularity influence shape-valence and shape-taste matching (crossmodal correspondences). The participants in the present study repeatedly matched eight shapes, varying in terms of their angularity, symmetry, and number of elements to one of two words-pleasant or unpleasant and sweet or sour. Participants' choices, as well as the latency of their responses, and their hand movements, were evaluated. The participants were more likely to judge those shapes that were rounder, symmetrical, and those shapes that had fewer elements as both pleasant and sweet. Those shapes that were more angular, asymmetrical, and that had a greater number of elements, were more likely to be judged as both unpleasant and sour instead. The evidence presented here therefore suggests that aside from angularity and roundness, both symmetry/asymmetry and the number of elements present in a shape also influence valence and taste categorizations.
RESUMO
This study was designed to assess the effect of time on the repeatability of the LorAn pressure distribution measurement system, and evaluate the variability of plantar pressure and postural balance, during barefoot standing in diabetic and non-diabetic subjects, for future diabetic foot clinical evaluation. Fourteen subjects were evaluated (8 females, 6 males, 8 non-diabetics and 6 diabetics, age range 30-70 years) and had no musculoskeletal symptoms. Four variables were measured with the platform in the barefoot standing position. Ten measurements were taken using two different techniques for feet and posture positioning, during three sessions, once a week. The MANOVA test confirmed that the platform measurements are reproducible for variables body baricenter (x) and foot baricenter (x) through time, being the coefficients of variation, with a 99% confidence interval, lower than 1.6% for body baricenter (x), and lower than 2.06% for foot baricenter (x), for all studied conditions. For the remaining variables, the results were not stabilized through time, which makes necessary to standardize the measurement protocol that guarantees the repeatability in all variables.