Week 0: Your brain isn’t fully formed until 25!
Rusha B -
Hello everyone!
My name is Rusha Banerjee, and I’m conducting a research project where I determine whether engagement in visual arts prior to being diagnosed with dementia helps boost memory retention.
I proposed this after learning about a phenomenon observed by the UCSF laboratories in people with frontotemporal dementia, where sometimes the people displayed a sudden “burst of creativity” and obsessively wanted to create art! I hypothesized that this phenomenon was due to neuroplasticity or the brain attempting to “self-heal” or compensate for the loss of function with dementia. I further suggest that this burst of creativity is due to the individual trying to communicate through self-expression, a mechanism I can facilitate with art therapy!
I plan to explore this phenomenon and the complex effects art has on dementia through survey analysis and showcasing my very own artwork to the participants with dementia to record their feedback. With the mentorship of Dr. Sattler, a neuroscientist at Barrow Neurological Institute, and Anna Dale ((a graduate student)) (you’re going to hear a lot of her she’s amazing and I love her so much) I will discover the impacts art has on people with dementia and how art can be utilized to transform their lives by slowing down cognitive decline.
I hope to observe the reactions and responses to the survey(s) I administer to participants in carehomes/daycares and create original artwork that will hopefully have effects on memory retention! Thanks for listening!! 🙂
Appendix:
– Neuroplasticity: The brain’s ability to change its structure and function in response to new experiences or injuries.
– FTD: Frontotemporal Dementia