2013 Three Minute Thesis Winner - Sharon Savage

don't you just hate when you can't think of a word that thingy what's it for dementia sufferers this can be a constant battle particularly in semantic dementia where everyday words like a toaster can be easily forgotten and as words are Stripped Away your ability to do everyday activities like the grocery shopping suddenly become challenges imagine you went to the supermarket and you looked down at your shopping list and you realized you didn't actually know what any of these words meant scary worse yet you're told that this is because there's a part of your brain that's

shrinking and there are no cures all you can do is just watch these words disappear yet research is showing us now that maybe these Pat Pat s have an ability to relearn words although many questions remain about the best methods who's likely to benefit and why in my PhD studies I've been looking at the extent to which simple practices to restore these words can provide these dementia sufferers with meaningful lasting gains how have I done this well you've all heard that practice makes perfect so to give my patients the opportunity to practice everyday words like

toaster or carrot I've set up an online program they log in from home for half an hour a day for an initial 2mon period and it works resoundingly my patients whether mild or severe have shown clear improvements in just a matter of weeks and it's a simple method of pairing back a picture of the object with the word itself repetitively over and over better yet if they keep going with practice each week these words can improve and stay improved importantly for the first time I've been able to show that these patients not only learn the

words on the computer but they can make use of them in their everyday lives so if a family member says to them hey can you switch on the toaster they understand again what this means this is important in bringing hope to dementia sufferers and their families and also adds to a growing body of research that just shows how amazing our brains are that they can make positive change in the face of disease in my final PhD study I'm going to be looking at how this is possible using sophisticated brain Imaging techniques to explore the connections

that have been formed as a result of doing this training ultimately this helps us answer how it is we can influence our brains by working our minds thank you [Applause]