Lola Cuddy (right) with her long-time collaborator on music and memory in dementia Dr. Jacalyn Duffin in the Faculty of Health Sciences.

The Association for Psychological Science (APS) recently named Lola Cuddy a fellow for her contributions in making music cognition a prominent new area of inquiry in cognitive neuroscience.

“It’s a wonderful honour. It’s also marvelous to see work in the music field recognized by the APS,” says Dr. Cuddy, an emerita professor who continues to direct the Music Cognition lab in the Department of Psychology and edit the journal Music Perception.

Her award-winning research explores the musical memories of people suffering from dementia, especially Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Cuddy studies something that caregivers and families have often observed: memories of music, cherished tunes, lyrics, and melodies, remain with a person even into advanced stages of memory loss.

Dr. Cuddy’s discoveries have allowed psychologists in a range of fields to learn more about the brain itself, and her work has had some very practical implications in palliative care. Staff working in clinical settings with patients suffering from dementia have indicated that knowing more about the staying-power of music has helped them improve interactions between patients and families.