Do multimodal approaches support Alzheimer’s patients with declining autonomy?
The robustness and precision of memory consolidation increase when learning occurs in a multimodal or multisensory context. Existing studies on healthy populations, spanning both the young and elderly, provide substantial evidence that an environment offering simultaneous stimulations across diverse sensory modalities can amplify memory retention. However, limited data address the applicability of this concept to patients with neurodegenerative disorders, who often show a decline in autonomy as the disease advances. In the early phases of neurodegenerative diseases, the neural networks responsible for motor and musical processing remain intact. Furthermore, memories rooted in bodily experiences tend to be more resilient to decay. By leveraging a multimodal stimulation paradigm, there is potential to both stabilize existing memories and strengthen those vital for maintaining independence. Our investigation explores the augmentation of daily action-related memory via motor, musical, or bimodal stimuli. Throughout the study, patients were guided to engage with phrases like « cutting bread » or « rinsing a sponge » using various modalities: silent reading, enacting a correlated gesture, moving in harmony with music, or an amalgamation of these. Then, they accomplished a recollection task and a recognition task. We used a mixed-model analysis on discrimination index on the first 11 patients (out of 40). We found a better sensitivity in action-oriented setting compared to control one (Maction = 72.673, Mcontrol = 57.737, z = 2.005, p < 0.05), but the musical stimuli (Mmusic = 43.956) diminished retention compared to control condition (z = 2.172, p < 0.05). This result contradicts our hypothesis that the addition of music, as a new sensory modality, would promote encoding. On the contrary, using the body during learning appears efficient to promote memory of patients with neurodegenerative disorders. These data underscore the potential of embodiment in enhancing memory, thus catalyzing further research for incorporation into routine care practices. 1|Marwa El Zein|Humans Matter|Null|France| 2|Alexandre Beaussier|Humans Matter|Null|France| 3|Pascal Hot|Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, LPNC, 38000 Grenoble|UMR 5105|France| 4|Céline Borg|Neurology Department, University Hospital, Saint-Etienne, France|UMR 5105|France|