单选题
Tom was a wanderer. When his wife, Elsie, came to visit him at a care unit for patients with dementia, he would give her a
perfunctory
(敷衍的) kiss, then wander off through the rooms and stare out the window. Elsie tried to walk with him and hold hands, but he would shake her off, leaving her heartsick.
A music therapist at the facility, Alicia Clair, was searching for ways to help couples like Elsie and Tom connect. Ms. Clair asked Elsie if she"d like to try dancing with Tom, then put on some music from the 1940s—Frank Sinatra singing
Time After Time
. Ms. Clair said, "I knew Tom was a World War Ⅱ vet, and vets did a lot of ballroom dancing."
As Sinatra began singing, Elsie opened her arms, beckoning. Tom stared a moment, then walked over and began leading her in the
foxtrot
(狐步舞). "They danced for thirty minutes!" Ms. Clair said. When they finished, Elsie broke down and sobbed. "I haven"t been held by my husband in three years," she told Ms. Clair. "Thank you for bringing him back."
Ms. Clair, a professor of music therapy at the University of Kansas, tells this story to show how music can reach people with Alzheimer"s disease. Music has the power to bypass the mind and wash through us, triggering strong feelings and cueing the body to synchronize with its rhythm.
Researchers and clinicians are finding that when all other means of communication have shut down, people remember and respond to music. Familiar songs can help people with dementia relate to others, move more easily and experience joy. Tom had forgotten his name and couldn"t utter one word, but hearing Sinatra prompted him to dance.
Music memory is preserved better than verbal memory, according to Ms. Clair, because music, unlike language, is not seated in a specific area of the brain but processed across many parts. "You can"t rub out music unless the brain is completely gone."