His general knowledge or semantic memory was greatly affected along with his episodic and day-to-day memories. With this music he was able to improvise, joke, and play with any piece of music. His memory for that particular piece only occurred while he played it. He then started playing “Prelude 9 in E major” and remembered playing it before. Clive said he had never played it or seen it before. Sacks interviewed Clive in his home and noted some Bach music sitting on top of the piano and asked him to play it.

“He always feels he just emerged from unconsciousness and arising from the dead,” she said.ĭr.

His wife Deborah stated that it was as if every waking moment was the first waking moment. He could not preserve new memories and had loss of almost his entire past. His memory span was less than 15 seconds. It predominantly damaged his medial temporal lobes responsible for normal memory function. 1 In particular, he discussed the English musician Clive Wearing, who developed Herpes Encephalitis in his 40s. In his famous book Musicology, published in 2007, the late Oliver Sacks discussed a few patients with severe memory impairment only. What does the literature say about the value of music in people with dementia and other categories of cognitive impairment? Let’s first look at individuals with predominantly moderate to severe memory impairment. Memory for events, knowledge, and reasoning, known as Explicit Memory (EM), gradually disappears as dementia worsens. The memory for these activities is called Procedural Memory (PM). The person doing these activities may not know who you are or who they are, but these activities were learned and engrained in their younger years and remain. These include activities such as pedaling an indoor bicycle, enjoying music, dancing, and throwing a baseball. Understanding Procedural Memoryĭespite the level of brain impairment and severity in dementia, certain activities remain preserved in most instances and are very resistant to decline. More studies are needed to confirm the specific benefits of music therapy. Recent findings suggest that that musical training delays cognitive decline and promotes brain plasticity in the elderly brain. Music can elicit emotions and memories and help provide a link to a person’s past and promote interconnection with caregivers and others with dementia.

Musicology oliver sacks