This paper explores the role of perturbance and attractor, two key nonlinear features described by the Neuro-occupation model in shaping human behavior. A convenience sample of eleven Iranian participants who had both strokes and demonstrated high resilience were recruited for this study. To explore the process of how participants fell under the influence of the perturbance and attractor, the content analysis with pre-determined categories using deductive reasoning was used. The findings suggest that perturbance and attractor exerted considerable influences on adaptation to stroke and assist in the understanding of the Neuro-occupation model.

Introduction:Campus life tends to make social and academic demands on college students. To cope with these demands, students are required to use their neurocognitive skills of problem-solving and planning intentional actions that target towards adaptation to college. This paper presents an illuminating perspective that would inform understanding of a new approach to cognitive neuroscience. The linkage between cognition and adaptation was sought in the context of a cognitive neurodynamic approach proposed by the Intention, Meaning, and Perception (IMP) model of neuro-occupation.Methods:An ex post facto study was conducted on a convenience sample of 187 college students in Shiraz, Iran. A brief questionnaire was developed to screen participants for diversity of cognitive neurodynamic processing capacity and three standardized questionnaires were used to gather data about college adaptation manifestations. The partial correlation, 1-way, and 2-way ANOVA tests were used to analyze the data.Results:The partial correlation test showed large, positive correlation (r≥0.7, P<0.001) between elements of the cognitive neurodynamic process, denoting that the interrelated connections among intention, meaning, and perception were governed by feedback loops. One-way ANOVA test revealed that students with diverse cognitive neurodynamic processing capacity had a variety of college adaptation manifestations. Two-way ANOVA showed a statistically significant main effect for neurodynamic processing capacity (F2, 178=8.1, P<0.001).Conclusion:College adaptation could have been established by the cognitive neurodynamic process proposed by the IMP model. Therefore, it is advisable for faculty, mental health practitioners, and counselors who work with students at universities to understand this process and address students’ maladaptation to campus life.

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The current study aimed at investigating the impact of SHOFER computer game on visual-motor coordination in children with hearing impairments. Methods: The current pre-test, post-test experimental study was conducted in Ahvaz, Iran in 2018. Sixteen preschool children with hearing impairment were randomly assigned into two groups of experimental (n=8) and control (n=8). The experimental group subjects played the SHOFER computer game (driving/racing genre) two 45-minute sessions per week for a five consecutive weeks, but the control group did not receive any intervention. Before and after the intervention, visual perception and attention, as visual-motor coordination components, were measured by the advanced Frostig test of visual perception and continuous performance test in both groups. Using SPSS version 21, the performance of the two groups was compared by running the Mann-Whitney and Wilcoxon tests. Results: The analysis of findings with the effect size indicator showed that the computer game increased attention and spatial perception in the experimental group. However, no significant difference was found between the groups, except in the sub-test of figure-ground perception. Discussion: The present study showed that commercial computer games can be used to improve visual-motor coordination of children with hearing impairments.

The theoretical model of neuro-occupation, intention, meaning and perception, sought to describe the symbiotic relationship between occupation and the brain, as a chaotic, self-organized, complex system. Lack of evidence has limited its applicability to practice. The aim of this study was to track the postulates of the model within the daily experiences of subjects. Structured matrices were created for content analysis, using a qualitative multiplecase-study design, typically used for testing models. An underpinning principle of the model, defined a circular causality feedback process, which was confirmed as described through tracing the repetitive processes within the lived experience of two Iranian men. The process suggested that continual adaptation occurred in lives interrupted by cerebrovascular accident, which enabled the subjects to return to expression of meaning through purposeful occupation and continually re-shaped their perceptions. The primary limitation of this study was that it was the earliest attempt to test the model and to substantiate the process by comparing the similarities and differences between too few subjects. Future research should identify the same process in more subjects and validate a practical assessment tool for clients. These findings may inform practitioners about intentional use of occupational challenges to elicit adaptive behaviours in clients.