EFFECTS OF YOGA ON COGNITIVE FUNCTIONS

Yoga has played a role in relaxation and gentle exercise for some people with Alzheimer's, according to the Alzheimer's Association Massachusetts/New Hampshire chapter. A study released last year during the Alzheimer's Association's International Conference on the Prevention of Dementia in Washington, D.C., found that regular meditation can bolster cognitive function for people with memory loss. In this regard, Patrice Flesch (South End Yoga) has been teaching yoga classes at the Boston Alzheimer's center for eight years. She is a pioneer in this area. Patrice alters poses and movements from her traditional yoga to make them more cognitive.
More research is needed to determine how Yoga techniques can reliably be used to improve cognitive performance and possibly aid in treating and even preventing Alzheimer's Disease.

Information available in Spanish
Reference (The Boston Globe)

PASSION FOR SCIENCE

- The ESOF 2010 (the next Euroscience Open Forum) will take place in Torino, Italy, on 2-7 July 2010, under the slogan Passion for Science. http://www.esof2010.org/

MORE INTERESTING ARTICLES AND BOOKS

- Hughes, J.C.; Louw, S.J.; Sabat, S.R. (2006). Dementia: Mind, Meaning, and the Person. Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press, 2006.
- Robbins, P. & Aydede, M. (2009). A Shor Primer on Situated Cognition. In P. Robbins & M. Aydede (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of situated cognition. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
- Tomasello, M. (2008). Origins of Human Communication. MIT Press.

TALK: DISCOURSE AND ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE

I would like to share this talk that I gave last year at the Advanced Seminar in Discourse Studies led by Professor Teun A. van Dijk.
It focuses on:
1) a panoramic view of Alzheimer's Disease;
2) a literature review over Alzheimer Discourse approaches;
3) a cognitive perspective to study this issue.

Download (.ppt) (Spanish version)

INTERESTING ARTICLES

- Arkin, S. (2007). Language-Enriched Exercise Plus Socialization Slows Cognitive Decline in Alzheimer's Disease. American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease & Other Dementias, 22 (1), 62-77.
- Arkin, S. M., Mahendra, N. (2001). Discourse analysis of Alzheimer's patients before and after intervention: Methodology and outcomes. Aphasiology, 15(6), 533-569.

- Chapman, S. B., Ulatowska, H. K., King, K., Johnson, J. K., & McIntire, D. D. (1995). Discourse in early Alzheimer’s disease versus normal advanced aging. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 4(4), 125–129.
- Fromm, D., & Holland, A.L. (1989). Functional Communication in Alzheimer's Disease. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders Vol.54, 535-540.

- Joanette, Y., Ansaldo, A.I., Carbonnel, S., Ska, B., Kahlaoui, K., Nespoulous, J.L. (2008). Communication, language and the brain: from past anterior to near future. Revue Neurologique, 164 (S3), 83-90.

- Mahendra, N., & Arkin, S. (2003). Effects of four years of exercise, language, and social interventions on Alzheimer discourse. Journal of Communication Disorders, 36(5), 395-422.
- Orange, J. B., & Kertesz, A. (2000). Discourse analyses and dementia. Brain & Language, 71, 172–174.
- Sherratt, S. (2007). Multi-level discourse analysis: A feasible approach. Aphasiology, 21 (3/4), 375-393.
- Stemmer, B. (1999). Discourse Studies in Neurologically Impaired Populations: A Quest for Action. Brain Language, 68, 402-18.

- van Dijk, T. A. (1997). Context models and text processing. In M. Stamenow (Ed.). Language Structure, Discourse and the Access to Consciousness . Amsterdam: Benjamins, 189-226.

- van Dijk, T. A. (2006). Discourse, context and cognition. Discourse Studies, 8(1), 159-177.

RECOMMENDED BOOKS

- Davis, Boyd (ed.). (2005). Alzheimer Talk, Text, and Context: Enhancing Communication. New York: Palgrave-McMillan.
- Guendouzi, J. and Müller, N. .(2006). Approaches to Discourse in Dementia. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
- Hamilton, Heidi E. (1994). Conversations with an Alzheimer's Patient: An Interactional Sociolinguistic Study. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Hamilton, Heidi E. (2003). Glimmers: A Journey Through Alzheimer's Disease. Ashland, OR: RiverWood Books.
- Radvansky, G. A. (2006). Human Memory. Allyn & Bacon.
- Ramanathan, V. (1997). Alzheimer discourse: Some sociolinguistic dimensions. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
- Sabat, S. (2001). The experience of Alzheimer's Disease: Life through a tangled veil. Oxford: Blackwell.
- Stemmer, B. (1998). Handbook of neurolinguistics. San Diego: Academic Press.
- van Dijk, Teun A. (2008). Discourse and Context: A Sociocognitive Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

- van Dijk, T.A. (1997) ‘Cognitive Context Models and Discourse’, in M. Stamenov (ed.)
Language Structure, Discourse and the Access to Consciousness, pp. 189–226. Amsterdam:
John Benjamins.

THE NEED TO CREATE SUCH KIND OF BLOG

This blog has been set up to provide a virtual space as an international meeting point for researchers, PhD students or anyone interested in studying this research area. The aims of the blog are: 1) to share information among researchers thus taking a multidisciplinary approach to Discourse Studies and Alzheimer's Disease; 2) to publish and update a blog with relevant links, documentation, congresses, conferences about Alzheimer Discourse; 3) to know find out where this type of research is being carried out and by whom; and 4) to be aware of the importance of studying Alzheimer Discourse to achieve an integral knowledge, not only, regarding interaction among discourse processes, memory systems and context, but also about the communicative profile and real needs of people living with this disease.