http://goo.gl/hCRhrE
The researchers found that people with both bvFTD and Alzheimer’s tended to prefer slapstick humour to satirical and absurdist humour when compared with healthy people of a similar age. In fact, friends and relatives reported seeing these changes an average at least nine years before the start of more typical dementia symptoms. This highlights that changes in humour are not only an early feature of FTD, but may also occur in Alzheimer’s.
As sense of humour defines us and is used to build relationships with those around us, changes in what we find funny has impacts far beyond picking a new favourite TV show. We’ve highlighted the need to shift the emphasis from dementia being solely about memory loss.
These findings have implications for diagnosis – personality and behaviour changes should be prompts for further investigation, and clinicians themselves need to be more aware of these symptoms as a potential early sign of dementia. As well as providing clues to underlying brain changes, subtle differences in what we find funny could help differentiate between the different diseases that cause dementia.
Humour could be a particularly sensitive way of detecting dementia because it puts demands on so many different aspects of brain function, such as puzzle solving, emotion and social awareness.”