A University of Reading professor is part of a project helping people with memory loss.
As part of the scheme, a research trial involving over 200 people is currently ongoing, looking into whether videos, images and sounds from the past can help to prompt dementia patients’ memories.
Participants use a special type of software on a touchscreen computer, called CIRCA, to access music or photographs or movie clips from different periods of time, such as the 1960s.
Dementia has a devastating impact on short-term memory, but older recollections tend to be retained, so the project can be a way for those with memory loss to keep their minds active.
It also encourages them to remember who they were before being diagnosed with dementia – and reconnect with friends and family members through conversations about the past.
Professor Arlene Astell from the School of Psychology was interviewed about the project by BBC Berkshire and ITV Meridian for World Alzheimer’s Day on the 21st of September.
You can watch the interview with ITV News at the link below:
Professor Arlene Astell is part of a new project launched in the south of England that aims to help people living with dementia by using mementos and historic events to jog their memories. Arlene talks to ITV News: https://t.co/raYdhiw2jq
— School of Psychology & Clinical Language Sciences (@UniRdg_Psych) September 26, 2018