Just a Minute game strategy could help people living with dementia, paper says

BBC Radio 4's Just a Minute may be wonderfully entertaining for listeners but it is often excruciating for players as they attempt to speak for 60 seconds without repetition, hesitation or deviation.

- Steven Morris

An academic paper jointly produced by a university linguist and one of the greatest competitors on Just A Minute has suggested the game is so devious that the best way to succeed is to let go of any ambition to win.

The paper, written by Alison Wray, of Cardiff University, and the comedian Paul Merton, also looks at how exploring the challenges of the show may help dementia patients and their carers. Wray said the rules of Just a Minute create the ideal conditions for "cognitive overload" - or "brain fry". She said: "It happens when we are trying to attend to too much at once. The rules of Just a Minute create a perfect storm of cognitive pressure.

"In regular speech, we aim to be fluent, so we don't get interrupted and lose our chance to talk. We manage the flow of ideas and gain time while we plan what to say next by inserting hesitation filler words, repeating material and putting in asides or deviations.