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Music and Cognition

Last modified by Andrei Stefan on 2022/02/19 21:31

Cognitive Changes

Dementia affects the brain and therefore causes a decline in cognition including learning and memory, language, executive function, complex attention, perceptual-motor, social cognition.[1].  Besides, as we age, various cognitive abilities tend to worsen even without dementia, because the brain changes both structurally and functionally.
People with dementia have various symptoms, for example, problems with short-term memory, difficulty with planning, and ease of becoming anxious and angry. These signs of dementia gradually get worse. 

These declines are hard to be cured and only some existing treatments can temporarily help slow the worsening. Several interventions exist for cognition in dementia. Psychosocial interventions are one of the effective treatments that support and improve the quality of life for PwD.

Music Psychology

Research shows that music plays an important role in enhancing the social, cognitive, and affective experiences of both PwD and their social environment[2]. Music is usually used to modulate emotion. It can trigger emotions and some biographical memories as alternative means of personal or group expression, not necessarily verbal. It's crucial for PwD to keep a relatively stable emotion daily and be reminded of the previous experience scheduled.

For our robot, the music can be integrated to help the life of PwD. The music aims to:

  • remind the daily routine of PwD and caregivers
  • help PwD remember their early life, for example as a background music (BGM) when playing the picture album 
  • support various music-related activities like choosing music from a pool or finding specific music from the Internet
  • is easy to use for PwD and caregivers 

Reference

[1] American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5), American Psychiatric Association, 2013.
[2] Peeters, M., Harbers, M., & Neerincx, M. (2016). Designing a personal music assistant that enhances the social, cognitive, and affective experiences of people with dementia. Computers in Human Behavior, 63, 727-737. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.06.003