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The purpose of the pilot study was twofold, seeking to investigate both the feasibility and preliminary effects of a music therapy intervention on the global cognitive state (attention, immediate and delayed memory, and executive function) and gait parameters (gait velocity, cadence, and right and left stride length) in older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Sixteen participants attended the one-hour music therapy sessions three times a week for 12 weeks. The intervention was feasible, achieving a retention rate of 84%. Significant effects were found in global cognitive state (p =.001), attention (p =.007), immediate memory (p <.001), delayed memory (p =.001), executive function (p =.002), gait velocity (p =.021), right stride length (p =.007), and left stride length (p =.014). These results suggest that music therapy intervention is a potentially innovative strategy for improving cognition and gait parameters in older adults with MCI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On May 22, 1960, the most powerful earthquake recorded in history shook the coast of southern Chile: the ‘Valdivia Earthquake’. The areas around the Budi Lake, eighty kilometers from the epicenter, are lands of the Lafkenche-Mapuche indigenous group. The present study explored the role of culture and place in the remembrance and meaning-making processes of the earthquake in Lafkenche-Mapuche community members. Semi-structured qualitative interviews with eighteen participants (N=18) were completed. Through the use of decolonial narrative analysis, findings were organized around two themes describing how cultural and spatial elements in Mapuche communities can afford systems of meaning to remember and make sense of an extreme environmental event like a devastating earthquake. Results provide insight into how indigenous communities recollect sacred oral histories, tap into reserves of traditional ecological knowledge and adapt to shifting landscapes, which together surfaced as critical dimensions of remembrance, meaning-making and response to environmental hazards and their aftermath. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the risk homeostasis theory, the aim of this study was to assess acceptable risk, measured by personality factors, and risk perception, measured by physiological arousal, as predictors of risky behavior in young adult pedestrians, as well as to assess for gender differences. Eighty-two young adults, aged 18–30, completed self-report measures about risky pedestrian behaviors and these personality traits: impulsiveness, conscientiousness and openness to experience. Sixty-four of these participants then took part in an experimental task designed to assess their perception of the level of risk in situations involving different interactions between cars and pedestrians. Risk perception was assessed by these physiological responses: heart rate, skin conductance level, and skin conductance response. Results showed that risky behavior had significant correlations with impulsiveness, conscientiousness, and skin conductance level. Gender differences also emerged in risky behavior, impulsiveness, conscientiousness, and skin conductance level. Finally, a structural equation model showed that impulsiveness, conscientiousness and the difference in skin conductance level between risky and neutral situations predicted risky pedestrian behaviors, and explained 23.6% of the its variance, after controlling the effect of gender. Implications for evaluation, prevention, and intervention for risky pedestrian behaviors are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]