Search

IntroductionThe ecological assessment and the analysis of spatial organization behaviors, like the organization of objects in an empty space, in clinical and neurotypical conditions, is crucial. The Enhanced-Baking Tray Task (E-BTT) is as simple as that – placing objects inside a frame as evenly as possible, as if they were “cookies” to be baked in the oven. The E-BTT is the enhanced version of a task for neglect assessment, the Baking Tray Task, and has the advantage to register the coordinates of each object and their temporal order, meaning that it is easy to reconstruct the sequence of their placement. This sequence could be further analyzed, and, in this paper, we aim to do that with a series of indexes. Moreover, since they investigate the visual search organization of the sequence itself, their validity will be tested with a convergent measure of subjective organization.MethodsTherefore, we asked 100 observers (76 women) to evaluate the subjective organization of each of 97 E-BTT plots, on a scale that ranged from 0 = not at all to 100 = well organized.ResultsA multiple regression model showed a significant association between subjective organization ratings (dependent variable) and Intersection rate, Total time of performance and distance to both optimal sequences (independent variables).DiscussionTherefore the above-mentioned indexes can be considered measures of the overall organization in the E-BTT.

Inf@nzia Digi.Tales 3.6 è un progetto che ha avuto l’obiettivo di sviluppare metodologie e tecnologie di apprendimento innovative a supporto delle attività educative curriculari nella scuola dell’infanzia e nel primo anno della scuola primaria, come l’esplorazione spontanea o guidata, che sfrutta il ruolo centrale del tatto, della manipolazione e di tutti e cinque i sensi. Il progetto ha affrontato l’apprendimento al di fuori del contesto scolastico: ha stabilito un continuum scuola-famiglia-città, valorizzando il contesto socioculturale e territoriale; ha inoltre coinvolto amministrazioni scolastiche, docenti e famiglie, sviluppando metodologie partecipative, per accrescere il senso di corresponsabilità educativa, e promuovendo azioni per migliorare la qualità dei servizi amministrativi.

The Baking Tray Task is an ecological task developed for the assessment of unilateral neglect that can also be used for research on neurotypical participants. In this task, participants are asked to place 16 objects inside a board as evenly as possible. In the case of impaired spatial exploration, consequent to right attentional networks damage, asymmetrical object disposition is observed as more objects are placed on the ipsilesional side (typically the right side). The E-BTT is a technology-enhanced version of the Baking Tray Task, implemented with a software platform, E-TAN, which detects the objects and automatically computes their spatial coordinates. This allows a complement to the traditional scoring methods with new measures to extract richer information from the data. In this study, we focus on neurotypical participants to explore if some new indexes, derived from the literature review on similar tasks, can be applied to BTT and E-BTT for research aims. A principal component analysis (PCA) was then performed to verify if these new indexes reflect some common dimensions. Results indicate the emergence of two principal dimensions: spatiality, which summarizes both laterality and verticality, and quality, which regards the explored space and (dis)organization in placing the items.