After conducting my experiment there were numerous findings that both supported and contradicted the hypotheses. The first major finding verifies that the fictional storybook, “It’s a Small World After All” was an effective and useful tool in assisting Alzheimer’s patients.  The psychological state of Alzheimer’s patients became calm and focused throughout the story.  Also, these patients were able to recognize all six of the human emotions, having a more difficult time recognizing emotions such as fear, and surprise. Surprisingly, one of the significant findings that contradicted the hypotheses was that, in fact, patients had an easier time recognizing emotions through touch and smell.  These findings not only contradict the hypotheses but also the belief that hearing through music is a new way to connect with Alzheimer’s patients.

The second major finding supports the hypotheses.  It was predicted that individuals who had more education and lived in an urban setting would have greater knowledge on Alzheimer’s Disease and display better results on Alzheimer’s Awareness survey.  After completing several statistical analyses and determining the correlation coefficient of numerous variables, it has been determined that the most significant contributing factor to one’s awareness of the disease would be their level of education, followed by location of residence and gender. A person’s age did not prove to have an impact their results on the survey as this variable proved to display the weakest correlation.  Generally, the public had very little knowledge about Alzheimer’s Disease and only knew the bare minimum about it. For example, most people were aware of the symptom however, very few people were aware of the how many drugs are currently on the market to treat Alzheimer’s Disease. 

The information that has been gathered from this experimentation can furthermore support that “It’s a Small World After All” can effectively assist Alzheimer’s patients and senses such as touch and smell may be perhaps newer and more effective ways to communicate with Alzheimer’s patients.

The results from this project have determined that using the four senses incorporated with the six universal emotions can effectively treat the agitated behaviors of patients suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease.  Through statistical analyses, it was also determined that the general public has not been made fully aware of Alzheimer’s Disease- only giving the bare facts such as what it is, and what some of the symptoms are.

The fictional storybook, “It’s a Small World After All” was an extremely helpful tool for Alzheimer’s patients.  This book allowed patients to connect with the main character of the story, Isabella, and feel her emotions.  Because these patients varied in the severity of the disease, different individuals were  effected and had different outcomes than others.  Some examples of people that shall briefly be mentioned include subjects 4, 7, 10, 12.  Subjects 4 and 12 were females who suffered from Alzheimer’s Disease.  Both came into the testing very anxious as they suffer from anxiety disorders as well as AD.  However, when they felt different objects, smelt different things and connected them with the different emotions they became calm.  When they first came into the room where the testing was taking place, their head’s were shaking and they were upset, and crying, but when they left after the story, these women were happy and did not have any anxiety.  The most effective senses for them were touch and smell.  

Subjects 7 and 10 suffered from the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s Disease.  They were male (7) and female (10).  All four senses were equally effective for these patients.  The reasoning behind other senses being effective for these patients is that areas of the brain that involve vital processing for understanding speech have not yet been damaged.  These individuals would comment on different things that the main character was doing or thinking.  It allowed them to think about what they would do if they were in a situation.  One of the patients said, “This book really let me think about what I would do if I was Isabella.  I learned a lot about the world.”  These patients generally retained the same psychological state and took part in a lot of discussion.

All patients that took part in this experimentation left with a positive attitude and smiles on their faces.  Whether they had been living with Alzheimer’s for 10 years or 2 years, they all enjoyed the story and enjoyed looking, hearing, feeling and smelling different objects. 

This experiment focused solely on the senses see, hear, touch and smell.  Therefore, further experimentation would be required to determine if the other sense, being taste, would have a different effect on the Alzheimer’s patients.