This paper presents new touch-screen collaborative interaction models for people with dementia. The authors argue that dementia technology has yet to focus on group musical interactions. The project aims to contribute to dementia care while addressing a significant gap in current literature. Research includes observations and two system trials exploring contrasting musical scenarios: the performance of abstract electronic music and the distributed performance of J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations. Findings presented in this paper suggest that dementia people are able to successfully perform and engage in collaborative music performance activities with little or no scaffolded instruction.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. 1. Interaction Design for Dementia Presently, there are nearly 460,000 Australians living with dementia (Dementia Australia, 2020). Dementia is comprised of symptoms linked to exacerbated cognitive deterioration caused by disorders affecting the human brain. Some of these symptoms include memory loss, confusion, changes in behaviours and ability to communicate (WHO, 2017). As time progresses, families and friends may struggle to communicate with people living with dementia as they might not be able to follow conversations, often leading to increased stress levels for everyone involved (Maresova & Klimova, 2015). Engagement is crucial for people living with dementia in order to maintain capabilities and participate in stimulating activities leading to greater quality of life (Craig et al, 2014). Technologies have emerged as capable stimulation and engagement tools in formalised care settings and can be an important component of ageing well (Collier & Jakob, 2017).

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