OLD people with dementia who have trouble remembering things should keep the
gramophone on, say researchers in London. They have found that music sharpens
memory in people with dementia.
Elizabeth Valentine and Nicholas Foster of Royal Holloway, part of the
University of London, already knew that old people with dementia are better at
recalling memories when there is background noise than when there is silence.
But the researchers wanted to know if music could improve such people鈥檚 memories
even more.
They tested 23 men and women aged between 68 and 90, who had mild to moderate
levels of dementia. Some could not recall what they did yesterday, while others
couldn鈥檛 remember their children鈥檚 names.
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The volunteers were asked a series of questions鈥攚here they were born,
when they married, what job they were doing when they retired鈥攚hich
spanned different eras of their lives. In some sessions, they were questioned in
total silence. In others, they either heard noise from a cafeteria or were
played one of two instrumental pieces: the familiar 鈥淲inter鈥� from Vivaldi鈥檚
The Four Seasons, and the unfamiliar Hook, by Graham Fitkin. The
pieces were chosen because they were similar in tempo, energy and
pleasantness.
The researchers found the volunteers answered significantly more accurately
when listening to music than when hearing noise or silence. There was no
difference between the familiar and unfamiliar pieces, they told a meeting of
the British Psychological Society in London this week.
Valentine thinks that both noise and music arouse people. 鈥淚t gets the
general level of the system up,鈥� she says. She thinks that sound may also help
to cover up distractions, and suggests that music is especially effective
because it is structured. Doctors, social workers and other professionals should
always play music when interviewing elderly patients with dementia, she says.