Promoting Reminiscences with Virtual Reality Headsets: A Pilot Study with People with Dementia.

This study aimed to explore the feasibility and effects of promoting reminiscences, using virtual reality (VR) headsets for viewing 360° videos with personal relevance, with people with dementia. A study with a mixed methods design was conducted with nine older adults diagnosed with dementia. Interventions consisted of four sessions, in which the participants' engagement, psychological and behavioral symptoms, and simulation sickness symptoms were evaluated. Neuropsychiatric symptomatology and quality of life were measured pre- and post-intervention. Caregivers were interviewed regarding the effect of the approach. In most cases, participants appeared to enjoy the sessions, actively explored the 360° environment, and shared memories associated with the depicted locations, often spontaneously. There were no cases of significant increases in simulator sickness and psychological and behavioral symptoms during sessions, with only some instances of minor eyestrain, fullness of head, anxiety, irritability, and agitation being detected. Although there were no significant changes in the measured outcomes after intervention, the caregivers assessed the experience as potentially beneficial for most participants. In this study, promoting reminiscences with VR headsets was found to be a safe and engaging experience for people with dementia. However, future studies are required to better understand the added value of immersion, using VR, in reminiscence therapy.

Awake Craniotomy and Memory Induction Through Electrical Stimulation: Why Are Penfield's Findings Not Replicated in the Modern Era?

From the 1930s through the early 1960s, Wilder Penfield12 collected a large number of memories induced by electrical brain stimulation (EBS) during awake craniotomy. As a result, he was a major contributor to several neuroscientific and neuropsychological concepts of long-term memory. His 1963 paper, which recorded all the cases of memories he induced in his operating room, remains a substantial point of reference in neuroscience in 2019, although some of his interpretations are now debatable. However, it is highly surprising that, since Penfield's12 reports, there has been no other surgical publication on memories induced during awake surgery. In this review, we explore this phenomenon and analyze some of the reasons that might explain it. We hypothesize that the main reasons for lack of subsequent reports are related to changes in operative procedures (ie, use of anesthetics, time constraints, and insufficient debriefings) and changes in EBS parameters, rather than to the sites that are stimulated, the pathology treated, or the tasks used. If reminiscences are still induced, they should be reported in detail to add valuable contributions to the understanding of long-term memory networks, especially memories that are difficult to reproduce in the laboratory, such as autobiographical memories.

Rabindranath Tagore-his childhood and creativity from the perspective of a Psychiatrist.

A man of prodigious literary and artistic accomplishments, Tagore played a leading role in Indian cultural renaissance and came to be recognized, along with Mohandas Gandhi, as one of the architects of modern India. Tagore's career, extending over a period of more than sixty years, not only chronicled his personal growth and versatility but also reflected the artistic, cultural, and political vicissitudes of India in the late nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century. His work depicts all the human emotions in depth and as a psychiatrist it was an interesting to view his childhood and his literary work from this point of view.

Towards living within my body and accepting the past: a case study of embodied narrative identity.

This narrative case study, created from several qualitative sources, portrays a young woman's life experiences and an eight yearlong therapy process with Norwegian Psychomotor Physiotherapy (NPMP). It is analyzed retrospectively from an analytical angle, where NPMP theory is expanded with Løgstrup's phenomenology of sensation and Ricoeur's narrative philosophy. Understanding Rita's narrative through this window displayed some foundational phenomena in a singular way, illuminating embodied experiences in inter-subjective relationships in movement, sensation and time entwined. It illustrates how traumatic life experiences may cause pain, suffering and ruptured narratives with fragmented physical and sensuous reactions, chaos and loss of temporal coherence with consequences for a person's sense of identity. Rita's narrative also illuminates how intersubjective interaction has healing potentials when there is time and space for trust to emerge and to support new bodily-based experiences. Embodied sensuous experiences in present time may help clarify past and present and support chronology in narration and the sense of identity. With this exemplary case study, we argue that Løgstrup's and Ricoeur's thinking may add valuable perspectives to understanding suffering and healing processes in the field of embodied therapies like NPMP.

Teaching Through Remembering: Using Written Reminiscences in Courses for Older Adults.

This article presents the use of reminiscence work in educational courses for older adults. The author analyzes a course that addresses experiences of time and the process of remembering at a later age. The study demonstrates how reminiscences, written by participants of the course, are used as illustrative material for some of the theoretical points. They are also instrumental in unfolding an answer to one of the key questions of the course, which is, what is the meaning of remembering in later life? The author argues that an educative use of personal reminiscences can improve the insight of the participants in theoretical issues at hand and can help them to develop new social skills, thus enabling them to translate experiences of aging into a sense-making process in later life. In addition, an educational application of reminiscence work broadens the possibilities for the participants to strengthen their feeling of belonging and to reach beyond one dominant version of history.

O resgate do brincar na formação de educador / The redemption of playing in the educator's formation

Investiga o valor das reminiscências lúdicas, individuais, para a formação do educador. São integrantes da pesquisa cento e dezessete alunas (117), de 20 a 45 anos, do curso de Pedagogia, de uma universidade situada em uma cidade de grande porte. Elas escrevem, desenham o brincar e apresentam os brinquedos prediletos remanescentes na sua infância, como apoio ao emprego do lúdico aos seus futuros alunos, especialmente àqueles que frequentariam a Educação Infantil. Para a pesquisa, utiliza-se a análise quantitativa e qualitativa da frequência das brincadeiras e brinquedos apresentados. Tendo em vista os resultados e sua discussão, conclui-se que jogos como amarelinha e pular corda são os mais frequentes e, entre os brinquedos, a boneca, todos esses brinquedos considerados vigentes para a nossa atualidade educacional, tendo como objeto a criança. Mostra-se, com isso, a viabilidade da presente pesquisa(AU)

This paper investigates the importance of ludic and individual remembrance for the educator‘s formation. One hundred and seventeen (117) female students from 20 to 45 years old participated of the research. They are following a Pedagogy course at a university of an important city. They write and draw about playing and/or show their favourite toys, that remained from their childhood as a support for the ludic use of their future pupils, especially those who attend Child Education. This research makes use of quantitative and qualitative analysis in the frequency of plays and toys offered. According to the results and the discussion it was concluded that such plays like hopscotch and skipping rope are the most frequent, and among the toys, the doll. All of these toys are considered applicable for our current education, focusing in the child as our object. The feasibility of this research is, then, demonstrated(AU)