Actors' techniques can help elderly

TERRE HAUTE, Ind., Jan. 27 (UPI) -- A couple who combine psychology and theater say that the way actors learn their parts can help people with dementia.

Helga Noice, a psychologist at Elmhurst College in Illinois, and her husband, Tony, an actor, director and cognitive researcher at Indiana State, have found that actors do not use rote memory of their lines. Instead, they think their way into the characters they play, breaking scripts down into logically connected "beats."

The Noices say that Academy Award-winner Michael Caine summed up the technique -- "You must be able to stand there not thinking of that line. You take it off the other actor's face."

The couple studied three groups of older adults, one given a four-week acting course, another a course on visual arts, and a control group. Those in the acting class significantly improved word-recall and problem-solving abilities, an improvement that lasted for four months and gave the subjects a better quality of life.

The Noices' article appears in the February issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science.