Page 75 - JCBP-3-4

Journal of Clinical and
Basic Psychosomatics Intervention through natural/digital art

Furthermore, some people who were not suffering from
dementia were not interested in such events (and did not
go at all), but these people also actively visited the venue.
Q4: Have the residents’ lives changed as a result of being
given a certain stimulus?
A4: (There was some overlap with the previous
question.) It has made them feel more cheerful, and
the staff have also noticed the change. It seems to have
given their lives more variety.
4. Discussion

Our LED pixel mapping entertainment in the courtyard of
the nursing home was well received by the senior residents
throughout the scheduled exhibition period, encouraging
Figure 7. Results of the questionnaire responses from the senior residents them to spontaneously leave their rooms. This could be seen
as promoting the prosocial behavior of the senior residents.
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time or went to the area near the illumination. Based on a literature survey, we initially predicted that the
Q2: What do the other care workers think of this elderly would be receptive to the natural environment of the
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illumination event? existing senior care facility, including the trees and ground.
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Champagne gold LEDs, which are a yellowish-white hue,
A2: Before it was held, they weren’t paying much were attached to the three main objects — the cherry
attention to it, but after it was lit up, they were so blossom trees — to make them stand out. In addition,
surprised by the dynamic lighting that many of them full-color LED projectors placed behind the grove of trees
went home and brought their families to see it.
displayed artwork, which led to most of the seniors leaving
Q3: Did it contribute to the memories of the people their rooms and moving to the dining area, which also
living in the facility? served as a social space, thus promoting sociality.
A3: I think it provided a high level of stimulation for As there was no music accompanying this illumination
the people living in the facility. Many of the people show, we would like to explore the biological mechanisms
living in the facility remember this event, and we have involved in promoting the functions of senior citizens
received many questions about whether we are going through their vision. Photopigments are complex proteins
to do it again this year. When I think that even some consisting of opsin and a vitamin A derivative (retinal).
of the people with mild dementia are asking the same There are four types of photopigment proteins: Rhodopsin,
questions, I think that the event itself is remembered found in rods, and blue, green, and red opsins, found in
because the stimulation got their brains working. In blue, green, and red cones, respectively. Of these, both
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the past, our facility used to hold an illumination event rhodopsin and blue opsin are made up of 348 amino acids,
where we would just put up ready-made decorative with the genes that encode them located on chromosomes 3
lights, but almost no one remembered this event itself. and 7, respectively. On the other hand, the genes encoding
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We also took people to other illumination events as rhodopsin and green opsin are both located on the long arm
an outing, but even there, some people forgot that of the X chromosome (Xq28), with one to several copies of
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they had even been there on the way home, so it was the green opsin gene adjacent to one copy of the rhodopsin
surprising that even these people remembered the new gene downstream. Both visual and auditory functions
illumination event. decline with age, and it is believed that suppression of these

Also, even for people with dementia, five residents functions could lead to a negative spiral, accelerating the
as mild and three residents as moderate, seeing the decline and negatively impacting social and psychological
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illuminations every day has some kind of impact on them, functions. Research on the effects of aging on vision has
and they repeat the process of forgetting and then being shown that subjective responses to visual yellowing were
stimulated; in other words, their “switch” is turned on and more pronounced in Japanese individuals over 75 years
off every day, and some people feel refreshed. In that sense, old. Another recent study, which involved a color vision
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there were no people who expressed negative opinions, and diagnostic method, suggests significant changes in blue-
even among the staff, the level of positive feeling toward yellow color perception among elderly individuals. This
the event was very high. could indicate the involvement of biological mechanisms

Volume 3 Issue 4 (2025) 69 doi: 10.36922/jcbp.5740