Musiquence – Design, Implementation and Validation of a Customizable Music and Reminiscence Cognitive Stimulation Platform for People with Dementia
Dementia is a neurodegenerative diseaseay only perceivable decades later. The disease leads to a gradual loss of memory, learning, orientation, language, and comprehension skills, which compromises activities of daily li Musiquence, in which healthcare professionals can create music and reminiscence based cognitive activities to stimulate people with dementia. In this dissertation, we present the results from several studies about the usage and effects that music and reminiscence have on such a population. We performed two studies using Musiquence to study the feasibility of a novel learning method based on musical feedback to aid people with dementia during task performance in virtual reality settings. Results show that participants relied more on music-based feedback during the task performance of virtual reality activities than in other forms of feedback. Also, data suggest that the music-based feedback system can improve task performance, compensating for some dementia-related deficits. We also used Musiquence in a longitudinal one-month-long pilot study to assess its efficacy when used for a cognitive stimulation intervention in dementia patients. The results of the study are promising. The participants showed improvements in terms of general cognition, quality of life, mood, and verbal fluency.
15/12/2021 14:00
Multimodal Systems
Luís Ferreira, graduated in Interactive Design (University of Madeira) and Master in Entertainment Technologies (Carnegie Mellon University). In 2021, he completed his PhD in Digital Media at the Faculty of Science and Technology, Universidade Nova de Lisboa (FCT – UNL), where he developed a platform that makes use of music and reminiscence for cognitive stimulation purposes - the Musiquence . Musiquence has an innovative learning system for people with dementia, which is based on the use of sound distortions to guide behavior in a corrective way. Prof. Luís recently won the 2nd edition of the H-INNOVA-HEALTH INNOVATION AWARD 2021, where he presented this platform. Currently, Prof. Luís is a professor at the University of Madeira and actively collaborates in research projects at the Neuro Rehab Lab. His role consists, above all, in the development of serious games and in the study of their impact on clinical populations (eg, Neurological and Psychiatric).
