Memories and Feelings of Music and Words in the Dementias

Abstract

To date, very little is known about the memories and feelings of music and words in the dementias. And yet, these are skills we accomplish without much effort and are integral to our social milieu. Whether or not these aspects of knowledge are similarly affected across different dementia syndromes was investigated in this thesis using behavioural and neuroimaging tools. Results showed that one s memory for previously known famous tunes and also the ability to identify feelings conveyed through music and words is most impaired in individuals with the syndrome of semantic dementia. These aspects of cognition, in comparison, remain relatively well-preserved in patients with Alzheimer s disease or another condition called behavioural-variant frontotemporal dementia. Distinct profiles of impairment across dementia types may have potential diagnostic and therapeutic value for clinicians and caregivers of loved ones with a dementia. Analysis of brain MRI showed that loss of knowledge for memories and feelings of music was associated with atrophy of the bilateral anterior temporal lobes. Interestingly, the right temporal pole appear critical for memories of music and overlapped with areas known to be important for the recognition of famous faces. In contrast, the identification of feelings in music was, interestingly, associated with left-sided temporal structures previously attributed principally to language and verbal semantics. Overlap in the processing of differing conceptual domains contribute to our understanding of the neural basis of semantic memory. The work presented in this thesis, therefore, illustrates the continuing clinical importance and contribution to cognitive neuroscience of studies involving patients with dementias.