In 2020 an extraordinary video went viral. It featured Marta Cinta González Saldaña, a former ballet dancer suffering from severe Alzheimer’s disease in her senior years. In the video, Saldaña is played a piece from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake and suddenly she flashes awake and begins moving to a dance routine she presumably rehearsed over and over in her younger days.
These kinds of clips have been shared for years, and they highlight the stunning way music can rekindle dormant neural pathways in elderly subjects experiencing serious forms of dementia. And while music therapy is now a common practice in nursing homes, little research has actually zoomed in on the neural mechanisms behind the phenomena, and in particular, what kinds of music could optimize the potential brain benefits.
These kinds of clips have been shared for years, and they highlight the stunning way music can rekindle dormant neural pathways in elderly subjects experiencing serious forms of dementia. And while music therapy is now a common practice in nursing homes, little research has actually zoomed in on the neural mechanisms behind the phenomena, and in particular, what kinds of music could optimize the potential brain benefits.