Caregivers Education Series: Class 3

"The past which is not recoverable in any other way is embedded, as if in amber, in the music, and people can regain a sense of identity. . ." — Oliver Sacks

 What stands out the most for me from tonight's class is the research about music and memory.   

While we all know that familiar songs from our personal past have the power to trigger emotionally salient memories, findings have shown that this spontaneous activation is preserved even in persons with advanced dementia (Janata, 2009).

For a testament of the power of music to preserve identity, trigger memory, and enliven the self, watch this moving clip of Henry from the documentary Alive Inside.



References
Janata, P. (2009). The Neural Architecture of Music-Evoked Autobiographical Memories. Cerebral Cortex, 19 (11). doi:10.1093/cercor/bhp008