{"id":15257599,"date":"2026-08-16T13:00:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T17:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/researchers-say-its-time-to-ask-a-different-question-about-dementia\/"},"modified":"2026-08-16T22:33:59","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T02:33:59","slug":"researchers-say-its-time-to-ask-a-different-question-about-dementia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/researchers-say-its-time-to-ask-a-different-question-about-dementia\/","title":{"rendered":"Researchers Say It's Time To Ask A Different Question About Dementia"},"content":{"rendered":"

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When we think of dementia, symptoms like memory loss and confusion might spring to mind. And that\u2019s completely reasonable \u2013 dementia is a condition that progressively affects<\/a>\u00a0memory and thinking.<\/p>\n

But researchers think there are other parts to the picture.\u00a0<\/p>\n

People with dementia can have<\/a> periods of \u201cparadoxical lucidity\u201d, or moments when a long-term dementia patient\u2019s brain seems to briefly snap back to what it once was. Carers say<\/a> moments like these are common.<\/p>\n

They can last<\/a> for minutes or hours and may make a dementia patient\u2019s loved one feel as if, for a while at least, the \u201cfog lifted\u201d.<\/p>\n

Dr Heather E. Whitson, a professor of neuroscience, the director of the Duke Ageing Centre, and co-director of the Duke\/UNC Alzheimer\u2019s Disease Research Centre, said<\/a>: \u201cI really think that a lot of what we learn about these dramatic episodes could have bearing on better cognition and better outcomes throughout the disease.\u201d<\/p>\n

She is one of many academics who\u2019ll join the Lucidity in Alzheimer\u2019s and Dementia (LEAD) Network.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What is LEAD Network?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The upcoming project, due to start this autumn, aims to create a standard definition of lucidity, understand how it affects caregivers and families, and work out the mechanisms behind lucid periods.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some reports suggest that triggers like music<\/a> may help to induce these states of clarity among dementia patients. But the team behind LEAD Network want more hard science to explain what\u2019s really going on during clearer spells.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s even hoped that working out why lucidity happens in dementia could help researchers find ways to protect us from the condition, and even recover memories.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve spent decades focused on preventing dementia and treating dementia,\u201d Whitson stated. \u201cThis research asks a different question: What allows moments of preserved function to emerge, even in the setting of advanced disease?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Researchers think periods of lucidity could mean functional parts of the brain remain \u2013 it may be a question of access<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Lucidity among long-term dementia patients may have to do with what\u2019s been called<\/a> the brain\u2019s\u00a0\u201csubstrate\u201d, or the hidden, underlying part of the brain that still seems capable of regular, or better-than-usual, function.<\/p>\n

Dr Whitson said that the times when a person with advanced dementia is able to remember a loved one or sing every chorus of a song \u201csuggest there is still some preserved substrate there. It means that a profound part of their self \u2013 which dementia took away \u2013 is still there\u201d.<\/p>\n

Maybe research like the one she and others are set to undertake could make accessing that\u00a0\u201csubstrate\u201d more predictable and reliably possible.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The professor claimed,\u00a0\u201cNeuroscientists often frame cognitive resilience as your mind\u2019s ability to hang on to a capacity even though there is brain damage.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut lucid episodes tell us that even when a capacity seems as if it\u2019s lost, it may not be lost forever.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Related…<\/h3>\n