Sensory Information Processing is the collaboration between our senses and purposeful movement; In other words, between our way of perceiving and our actions. In this article I zoom in on dementia and stimulus processing. What is stimulus processing and how does it work in people with dementia?

Sensory information processing

Our senses have two tasks: to warn of danger and to provide us with information. As long as our senses are mainly concerned with warning of danger, they cannot provide us with information at the same time. It is then difficult to absorb information, to learn and remember something or to keep the attention on the ‘work’. This is recognizable in stressful situations, no good choices can be made. This behavior is often the cause that we experience problems, that we can no longer act as we want.

Dementia and stimulus processing

But what is sensory information processing like as we age? As one gets older, a number of senses deteriorate in quality. We see less well, we hear less well and everything goes a bit slower. As a result, the purposeful movement also becomes different. When there is dementia, the stimulus processing is different again. In this target group we see that the inhibition from cognition (partly) disappears and there may be uninhibited behavior. You see this in the continuing to push others, the anger, the restless behavior. People with dementia will also drown out when certain stimuli become too much. For example, shouting or singing to exclude other sounds, sounds that people do not consciously provoke. People with dementia need multiple sensory stimuli, precisely because sensory perception deteriorates. Supervisors should also provide as many targeted stimuli as possible and as few disturbing, distracting or irrelevant stimuli as possible. These last stimuli cause unrest and chaos. So when eating together do not offer other stimuli such as television, music or talking about something completely different. This only distracts so that people with dementia do not even realize that they can eat.

Too many stimuli and dementia

People with dementia find it difficult to ward off stimuli and make connections, especially the sound and movement stimuli. Therefore, it is often impossible for them to focus their attention on anything; They are very easily distracted. In a ward where people with dementia live, there may be too many stimuli. Staff walk back and forth, phone and beepers go, people call each other, residents walk away from the table and have to be picked up again, the radio is on, etc. This causes distracting anxiety and the people with dementia no longer know what is happening. One also starts walking and (if this is no longer possible or allowed) one becomes very tense and starts wriggling or tapping.

The ‘pleasant hustle and bustle’ is experienced differently by people with dementia. For them, this means above all a frightening chaos in which they cannot function. Many materials that we use for hygiene purposes are often hard and reflect a lot of noise, such as sitting on wooden chairs.

Too few stimuli and dementia

It can also happen that there are too few sensory stimuli in the department. In the living room there is often no one present or it is quiet. One resident is rubbing the table, another is always feeling her own arms, someone occasionally shouts a cry. In many people with dementia, the brain is still looking for stimuli. The person with dementia will then make sound and moving stimuli themselves. Or look for places where there is movement or sound.

Pleasant stimuli for people with dementia

For people with dementia, recognizable, slow images are generally pleasant to experience. Think of slow films from the past, preferably with animals or about nature. The so-called ‘silent films’ are also good to offer, in which a lot of use is made of gestures and mimicry. This nonverbal communication is better understood than language.

Paraverbal communication is also important in people with dementia: the sound of our voice, the pace at which we speak and the tone in which we say something. Moving lights such as a disco ball, videos of birds, fireplace flames, projections on the wall or a magic table are also nice for people with dementia and they attract their attention. But also think of sensory toys, sensing material, sensory balls, glitter lamp or bubble tube and floor tiles that give light or in which liquid moves by applying pressure to it.

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