Long-term musical experience and auditory and visual perceptual abilities under adverse conditions

Musicians have been shown to have enhanced speech perception in noise skills. It is unclear whether these improvements are limited to the auditory modality, as no research has examined musicians' visual perceptual abilities under degraded conditions. The current study examined associations between long-term musical experience and visual perception under noisy or degraded conditions. The performance of 11 musicians and 11 age-matched nonmusicians was compared on several auditory and visual perceptions in noise measures. Auditory perception tests included speech-in-noise tests and an environmental sound in noise test. Visual perception tasks included a fragmented sentences task, an object recognition task, and a lip-reading measure. Participants' vocabulary knowledge and nonverbal reasoning abilities were also assessed. Musicians outperformed nonmusicians on the speech perception in noise measures as well as the visual fragmented sentences task. Musicians also displayed better vocabulary knowledge in comparison to nonmusicians. Associations were found between perception of speech and visually degraded text. The findings show that long-term musical experience is associated with modality-general improvements in perceptual abilities. Possible systems supporting musicians' perceptual abilities are discussed

Visual-spatial sequence learning and memory in trained musicians

Previous research has shown that musicians have enhanced visual-spatial abilities and sensorymotor skills. As a result of their long-term musical training and their experience-dependent activities, musicians may learn to associate sensory information with fine motor movements. Playing a musical instrument requires musicians to rapidly translate musical symbols into specific sensory-motor actions while also simultaneously monitoring the auditory signals produced by their instrument. In this study, we assessed the visual-spatial sequence learning and memory abilities of long-term musicians. We recruited 24 highly trained musicians and 24 nonmusicians, individuals with little or no musical training experience. Participants completed a visual-spatial sequence learning task as well as receptive vocabulary, nonverbal reasoning, and short-term memory tasks. Results revealed that musicians have enhanced visual-spatial sequence learning abilities relative to nonmusicians. Musicians also performed better than nonmusicians on the vocabulary and nonverbal reasoning measures. Additional analyses revealed that the large group difference observed on the visualspatial sequencing task between musicians and nonmusicians remained even after controlling for vocabulary, nonverbal reasoning, and short-term memory abilities. Musicians' improved visualspatial sequence learning may stem from basic underlying differences in visual-spatial and sensorymotor skills resulting from long-term experience and activities associated with playing a musical instrument

The Impact of an Interprofessional Geriatric Training Experience: Attitudes of Future Healthcare Providers

As the older adult population increases, it is vital to educate and train healthcare providers as members of interprofessional healthcare teams who can work effectively with these individuals. Ageism is a potential obstacle to achieving this goal. The purpose of this pre/post-test design pilot study was to determine the impact of an interprofessional geriatric training experience on the attitudes of future healthcare providers towards interprofessionalism and working with older adults. Sixteen graduate level students from occupational therapy and clinical psychology programs completed four interprofessional sessions with older adults residing in a long-term care facility. Quantitative data were gathered from pre/post-test scores on three instruments: (1) Self-Perceptions and Older Adults Questionnaire; (2) A Refined Version of Aging Semantic Differential; and (3) Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale. Results of paired sample t tests indicated that participants described older adults significantly more positively and their perceptions about working with older adults became significantly more positive following the interprofessional geriatric training experience. Additional data were gathered regarding participants’ perceptions of the interprofessional training experiences at the conclusion of the study. This feedback regarding students’ perceptions of the interprofessional geriatric training experiences indicated that the majority of the participants found the experiences with the older adults to be valuable and that the interprofessional learning activities helped them better understand the older adults. The results of this pilot study suggest that even short-term interprofessional experiences may have the ability to positively influence the attitudes of future healthcare providers regarding older adults

Avances de la Investigación en Ingeniería

El texto está conformado por 31 capítulos, agrupados en 5 grandes áreas temáticas. En la primera parte se encuentran los trabajos relacionados con el tema de los Recursos Hidráulicos; en la segunda parte se tratan temas relacionados con la Planificación y Gestión del Territorio; la tercera parte está relacionada con el Manejo Integral de los Recursos Agua, Aire y Suelo; la cuarta parte incluye la Investigación Aplicada a la Ingeniería de Sistemas, y la última parte comprende la Investigación Aplicada a la Ingeniería Civil