Project homeMotivation and Dementia
"Lack of motivation, or apathy, and lack of interest in activities affect over 70% of persons with dementia."
For example, Mayers and Griffin24 utilized mechanical toys to stimulate activity in patients with dementia. Le Bar et al25 demonstrated that emotion-based pictures increased interest and activity in persons with earlystage Alzheimer’s disease. Hoffmann et al26 used computer programs with personally relevant activities and personal photographs to improve motivation and positive attitude in persons with Alzheimer’s disease. They demonstrated improved social competence in persons with early dementia and improved orientation in persons with moderate dementia.
Emotional curiosity: modulation of visuospatial attention by arousal is preserved in aging and early-stage Alzheimer’s disease
Although attention to color may play a role in conveying the emotional impact of a scene (e.g. images containing blood), color information alone was insufficient to drive and sustain visual scanning patterns on the task when the stimuli were blurred. These findings support the idea that extraction of the emotional content of the scene, rather than mere attention to lower-level visual features, is of primary relevance to task performance.