Prosody variations for improving the cognitive response and the communicative interaction between Alzheimer patients and their caregivers

Spanish Education Ministry [CSO2017-83432-R]. PI: Emma Rodero. Researchers: Juan José Meilán, Carme De-la-Mota, Francisco Martínez, Sergio Sayago, Olatz Larrea, Lluís Mas, and Marta Lopera. 

The main objective of this project is to analyze whether several prosodic strategies can improve the cognitive response and the communicative interaction between Alzheimer’s disease patients (AD) and their caregivers. In other words, the study aims at assessing how a variety of instructions delivered with different prosodic variations is cognitively processed by patients. To do this, a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods will be applied. The qualitative methods will assess the caregivers’ needs and impressions through a survey. After, we will measure the cognitive response of AD patients: their attention, activation, and emotional response. This response will be analyzed by measuring the psychophysiological reaction: heart rate, electrodermal activity, and electromyography. A digital game with tasks will also be designed to measure the motivation and comprehension of the instructions that these patients receive. The contribution will be: to implement an Alzheimer’s Caregiver Training and to create a digital game to measure the prosody response of Alzheimer’s patients.