José Antonio Blanco Sánchez

Improvement of autobiographic memory recovery by means of sad music in Alzheimer’s Disease type dementia

Background and aims: Autobiographic memory undergoes progressive deterioration during the evolution of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The aim of this study was to analyze mechanisms which facilitate recovery of autobiographic memories. We used a repeatedly employed mechanism, music, with the addition of an emotional factor. Methods: Autobiographic memory provoked by a variety of sounds (music which was happy, sad, lacking emotion, ambient noise in a coffee bar and no sound) was analyzed in a sample of 25 patients with AD. Results: Emotional music, especially sad music for remote memories, was found to be the most effective kind for recall of autobiographic experiences. Conclusions: The factor evoking the memory is not the music itself, but rather the emotion associated with it, and is useful for semantic rather than episodic memory.