Sing It, Baby! Research Shows Music Improves Cognition in People with Dementia

Recently, two research studies looked at how music affected people with Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia. The aim of these studies was to figure out if music did more than just calm people with dementia- an already established important benefit. One study was published in The Gerontologist and involved 89 people with dementia whose mental ability was measured prior to the study with a variety of cognitive tests. For 10 weeks, they participated in one of three randomly assigned groups-  a musical singing group, a musical listening group or a usual care (control) group.  After the 10 weeks, their cognitive functioning was again evaluated. The participants in both the singing and listening groups showed improved orientation, remote episodic memory, executive functioning, and mood. Those who were in the singing group also specifically improved their short term memory and working memory. A second study that was presented last week at the Society for Neuroscience meeting involved residents of a secure dementia unit who were assigned to either a singing group or a listening group. After four months, those who were in the singing group showed  significantly higher mental status test scores compared to those who were in the listening group. The cognitive assessments included the Mini-Mental State Exam and the clock drawing test. The take-away? For me, there are a couple of things here. One, participating in music by singing familiar songs (often songs from the per...
Source: About Alzheimers Disease - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news