It Still Matters: Preference in Visual Appearance of Stimuli Among People in the Late Stages of Dementia

Introduction: This study aims to examine the emotional response towards visual stimuli in people with an advanced stage of dementia. Methods: One-to-one interview sessions were conducted with nineteen (17 females and two males) nursing home residents to investigate their response toward different visual stimuli. Fifteen positive images selected from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) were used as visual stimuli. Participants’ attitude and attention toward each stimulus was rated using the Observational Measurement of Engagement Tool (OME); their difficulty in recognising each stimulus was rated via a 3-point scale. Results: Stimuli contained children’s faces received significantly higher attitude and attention scores than all the other stimuli (p < 0.05). Stimuli containing animals received the 2nd highest attitude and attention scores. Stimuli contained human faces or animals appeared to be more recognisable, especially the ones include children’ faces. A strong, positive correlation between the attitude and recognisable ranking was identified, which was statistically significant (p = 0.000). The similar results have been found between the attention and recognisable ranking (p = 0.002). Discussion: The results of this study reveal that the people with moderate or severe stages of dementia still respond strongly to Kindchenschema (baby-schema). It provides designers with better insights into how to develop products/interventions for people with dementia, in particular for those in the advanced stage.