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This study explored the effects of three treatment approaches on the cognitive functioning of Alzheimer's subjects: (a) musically cued reminiscence, (b) verbally cued reminiscence, and (c) music alone. The subjects were 12 female nursing home residents ranging in age from 71 to 92 who suffered from senile dementia and met currently accepted guidelines for having Alzheimer's Disease. Changes in cognitive functioning were ascertained by the differences between pre- and post-session treatment scores on the Mini-Mental Status Questionnaire. Comparisons were made for total scores and subscores for orientation, attention, and language. The results showed that musically cued and verbally cued reminiscence significantly increased language subsection scores, but not orientation or attention subscores, nor total scores. Musical activity alone significantly increased total scores, but not any subsection scores. No one treatment intervention proved to be significantly more effective than the other two in increasing cognitive functioning level. Pretreatment scores were not predictive as to which intervention would be most effective. The findings suggest that music may be a useful treatment modality for Alzheimer patients in promoting optimal cognitive functioning. Further research should be carried out for a longer period of time with more subjects.
Graham Smith (Wed,) studied this question.