How aware is a person in the last stage of Alzheimer’s?

We know very little about where people are. You can get very hung up thinking about medical things, but at a very basic level, even someone with advanced dementia is aware of the atmosphere around them, so if people are distressed around them, the person will pick up on that. It’s about thinking holistically, so they may preserve certain senses. Their sense of smell may be very well preserved, which is why using aromatherapy—despite that there’s no real evidence that it helps dementia patients—is comforting. It’s helpful being surrounded by nice smells or music, which reach the inner parts of our brain and trigger basic emotional responses in us.