DENVER, Colorado -- Peggy Regnier's wrinkled hands are shaking, the 90-year-old is slumped in a wheelchair with an oxygen tank parked next to her and her mind wanders in and out of consciousness the whole day long.

It's hard to gain her attention but when therapist Gail Shirley places a baby doll in the patient's arms, Peggy Regnier's thoughts bounce back to the present.

At Briarwood health center in Denver, Colorado the plastic toys with their doe-like eyes are one of the latest weapons in the arsenal against Alzheimer's disease. Experts believe the dolls can rekindle maternal instincts and halt the loss of long-term memory - at least momentarily.

"My patients have lost virtually everything in their lives," said Gail Shirley. Their memories have faded and they can no longer recall the things they have learned. People they once knew are suddenly strangers to an Alzheimer's victim.

In this situation of helplessness a baby doll can be a way of dissipating stress and fear. "The patients need help but have no one to care for themselves. The dolls give them back this satisfying feeling."

For Thomas Mueller-Thomsen, a senior doctor at the Hamburg University clinic, the revival of motherly love is not the main reason for using dolls in therapy. "Patients tend to be reminded of their own childhood," says the doctor. He believes there is something to be gained from using the Denver method in German hospitals but stresses that it would be more effective in homes for elderly people where staff have more time to help.

According to the Alzheimer Society in Chicago, four million Americans suffer from the disease. In Germany there are around a million sufferers.

Spokeswoman Kathy o'Brien says no empirical studies have been carried out to show the effectiveness of doll therapy but experience gained by carers who have tried the method is promising: "We welcome any method that improves the quality of life of those afflicted and their relatives."

O'Brien says there is nothing wrong with giving elderly people toys to play with as long as home residents are treated with respect and dignity. Staff are warned not to try and pretend that the dolls are real babies. "Doll therapy is not kid's playtime," said O'Brian. The dolls act instead as a catalyst, triggering feelings of well- being and associated memories.

"Alzheimer sufferers tend to regress in their mental development," explained Susan Lang of the Family Caregiver Alliance, an umbrella organization of self-help groups for relatives in San Francisco. Having a child was a significant life event for many sufferers and directing a person's thoughts to such a fulfilled phase of life can be seen as a valuable experiment, says Lang.

Women in particular respond positively to the new leisure time activity. Instinctively they cradle the doll's head - even those who have never had children of their own. As Shirley said: "My ladies don't wander aimlessly around the corridors anymore, they seem quieter and more well-balanced." in some cases doctors have been able to cut back on medication.

Sonya Hall, the daughter of 90-year-old Peggy Regnier, is certain that the project is something "wonderful" and worthwhile. "At the most trying moments the dolls are a great comfort to my mother," she said.