Reel Out Memories in Alzheimer’s

Memories of our past most often come to us spontaneously rather than in response to being asked directly to reminisce. This fact might lead us to misjudge the capabilities of those with Alzheimer’s disease. Maybe if we listened in to spontaneously generated recollections, we’d realize how much they remember.
     An Aarhus University study found that a group of Danish elderly adults with AD expressed more personal memories of the past than did a matched group of healthy elderly adults. More personal memories, not fewer.
     Study participants were shown a brief film featuring glimpses of everyday Danish life in the 1950s. The experimenter watched the film with the participant. If during the viewing or in the few minutes afterwards, the participant voiced reactions, the experimenter would encourage the participant to continue, such as by nodding or repeating the participant’s words. The experimenter did not explicitly ask the person to recall more, such as by showing great interest in the particulars of what the participant said.
     Subgroups of both the AD and the healthy participants had been asked, before watching the film, to, “Tell me about the events that have been important in your life,” and then given fifteen minutes for unprompted recall. This procedure did end up increasing spontaneous memories during and immediately after the brief film. Still, whether going through the pre-film reminiscence activity or not, the AD participants consistently generated a higher rate of spontaneous responses than did the healthy participants. The words of the AD participants also included more expressions of emotion.
     Playing music from the past has been used to cue memories among seniors with AD. The expectation is that the wealth of reminiscences will be closer—not exceed—that in seniors without AD. In this study using films, the AD group expressed more and richer memories. The researchers attribute this to the film’s addition of visual and auditory cues specific to a period in the past important to the senior. The right film clips can jog the memories of seniors with AD.
     The researchers say that the healthy group might have identified the session as an experiment while the AD group perceived it as socializing, resulting in the findings being attributable in part to more talking by the AD group. That might be a limitation of the study methodology, yet it’s also a cue: To facilitate the wellness reminiscing brings, socialize with those enduring AD.

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