‘Redefine the conversation’: how Just a Minute can help people with dementia
BBC Radio 4’s Just a Minute may be hugely entertaining for listeners, but for the players it is often a hellish task to speak for 60 seconds without repetition, hesitation or deviation.
An academic paper, jointly produced by a university linguist and one of the leading exponents of Just a minute has suggested that the game is so treacherous that the best way to succeed is to let go of the ambition to win.
The article, written by Alison Wray, from Cardiff University, and comedian Paul Merton, also explore how exploring the challenges the show raises can help dementia patients and their carers.
Wray said the rules of “Just a Minute” created the perfect conditions for “cognitive overload” or “brain fry.” She said: “It happens when we try to do too much at once. The rules of Just a Minute create a perfect storm of cognitive pressure.”
“In normal speech, we strive to speak fluently so that we are not interrupted and lose our chance to speak. We manage the flow of ideas and gain time as we plan what to say next by inserting hesitant filler words, repeating material, and inserting asides or digressions. Just a Minute prohibits these options. The distortions of fluency in these circumstances create a high risk of brain fry.”
There’s also the fact that it has to be entertaining. “Hesitation, repetition, and deviation are all important means of delivering comedic material. The need to avoid their usual tools of the trade is another source of cognitive pressure.”
Wray not only analyzed hundreds of hours of footage from the show, but also worked with Merton to analyze his approach.
Merton said he found the most effective way to avoid brain fry is to reconceptualize the game away from something to try to win. Instead, he focuses on keeping the show fun and well-timed. That’s proven to be a winning formula for him.
In the article, published in the journal Comedy Studies, he writes: “Playing JAM (Just a Minute) is about putting on a good show, and that has nothing to do with how long you can talk. There’s much more fun to be had from interruptions and challenges. The show has to be entertaining, and it has to make people laugh. It doesn’t matter who wins, as long as we’ve achieved that goal together.”
“Ironically, I do win a lot. Part of that is because I can get points for a funny challenge (about a fellow contestant’s stumble) even if it doesn’t get honoured. At one point I won 12 episodes in a row and I realised I had to stop that. If Man Utd keep winning, people will want Leicester City to have a chance.”
Wray said: “Paul will tell you he doesn’t mind not winning, but of course he wants to win. It’s just that he wants to do other things too.”
Previously, she investigated how dementia, in which a person’s cognitive ability declines, affects the way people with the condition and the people they interact with produce language.
Wray said: “Dementias (there are many) are caused by brain diseases that compromise the functioning of the brain. Usually the result is a reduced ability to process information, so it is easy for a person to find themselves in cognitive overload. A common response is anxiety about not being able to cope with all the information, and this in turn can lead to frustration, anger and sadness.”
She said mapping the lessons learned from how players interact with the game Just a Minute could be useful for people with dementia and their caregivers.
Wray said: “We see, for example, Paul Merton avoiding the pressure of brain fry by redefining what he’s trying to do. Similarly, people dealing with people with dementia often find it helpful to remove the pressure of getting specific information and focus on the overall experience of a conversation.
“So if someone wants to tell an anecdote, does it really matter if they can’t remember the person or the place it refers to? If someone is thinking back to their childhood, does it matter if it takes them a while to describe a place or an experience?”