While patients with Alzheimer’s might not remember when their loved ones visit, it has a profound effect on how they feel, a new study finds.
The study showed both happy and sad video clips lasting around 20 minutes to people with Alzheimer’s disease and a group of healthy adults, and observed their emotional states.
Five minutes afterwards, all the participants were given a memory test to see if they could remember the video they had just seen. As expected, Alzheimer’s patients remembered significantly less about the clips they’d just seen than the healthy group.
However, despite not being able to remember seeing the videos, they were happier (or sadder, depending on the clips they’d seen) for at least 30 minutes afterwards.
This confirms that the emotional life of an Alzheimer’s patient is alive and well. It also underlines the importance of generating positive emotions when visiting patients with Alzheimer’s.
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Source material from PSY Blog