MP3 players can help people dementia to remember

MP3 players and iPods can help people suffering with Alzheimer's disease and dementia, researchers in Canada have stated.

The Murray Alzheimer Research and Education program (MAREP) at the University of Waterloo in Ontario found that the part of the brain which processes music is also the part which stores memories.

It is hoped that giving older people the tools to listen back to the favourite songs which help them to remember things.

"It's the part of the brain that tends to be connected to autobiographical experiences, particular moments in time from a person's life," Sacha Geer, a researcher at MAREP, explained in an interview with Canadian TV show The Morning Edition.

MAREP is now asking people to donate their old MP3 players so they can be used to provide personalised playlists to people who have dementia.

The Alzheimer Society of Canada states that around 747,000 people in the country have the cognitive disorder.

Find the nearest Barchester nursing home