Five questions: a professor from the former USSR discusses his memory-enhancing smartphone app

Florida State University professor of psychology Chris Martin.
Florida State University professor of psychology Chris Martin.

A study by Florida State University psychology professor Chris Martin and a team of researchers from the University of Toronto., shows that the smartphone app they developed can improve memory function in the elderly.

Martin was the lead author of the study, which was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in December. Studying found that regular users of the HippoCamera app recall everyday events in more than 50 percent more detail than they otherwise would.

Improvements have been seen in healthy older adults, as well as those with memory impairment. The data obtained may be useful for those who suffer from memory impairment, including in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease.

“Our personal identity is closely tied to memory,” Martin said. “We are what we remember, and when we start to lose memory due to age, illness or injury, we also lose our sense of self. We hope that by helping people feel closer to the events and people in their lives, we can also protect that sense of self.”

Martin answered a few questions about the study and the HippoCamera app.

HOW IS HIPPOCAMERA DIFFERENT FROM OTHER MEMORY IMPROVEMENT APPS?

There have been attempts to use digital memory for people with signs of memory impairment, but most of these efforts were not really based on the knowledge of cognitive psychology and neuroscience. These were (essentially) cameras that automatically took pictures for later viewing.

We came to this in a different way. Much is known about the cognitive and neural mechanisms that support successful memory encoding, storage, and retrieval. However, relatively little effort has been made to translate this knowledge into technologies that can improve memory for everyday experiences. The HippoCamera is a digital memory device that embodies the principles of decades of memory science. For example, it encourages users to take a closer look at their lives and evaluate moments with the intention of remembering them later.

APP NAME – PORTMANTO HIPPOCAMPUS AND CAMERA. WHAT CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT THE HIPPOCAMPUS?

The hippocampus is a brain structure that is critical for memory. It supports the creation and retrieval of new, detailed memories that allow us to mentally travel back and relive the past. It also tends to deteriorate with age – structurally and functionally.

The hippocampus has the unique ability to create memories from one-time experiences, moments that we can only experience once. It then reactivates those memories in a way that helps reinforce them, making them more resistant to forgetting. But if the hippocampus is compromised by age or disease, this process of memory reactivation is less likely to occur.

That was the spirit of the app’s design.

WHAT APP USERS DO?

They create and reproduce powerful memory signals. Creating a label is a three-step process that can be completed in less than one minute.

First, users create an eight-second verbal description of what they hope to remember. Creating a memory label enhances encoding and is useful for later retrieval. They then record a short but detailed video of the event. Finally, they have the opportunity to appreciate the importance of memory, which contributes to deeper and more meaningful coding.

The video element is accelerated, in this case by a factor of three, for efficient viewing and mimics the hippocampus. The app then does some processing and combines the verbal description and video into a powerful memory prompt.

WHAT DOES THE APP DO WITH THIS INFORMATION?

This allows users to reproduce high quality memory signals and study them using the best practices of memory science. The app will automatically link multiple lines together, giving users the ability to view their recent past through a set of self-created narratives. It only takes about one minute to play five lines, which means that the participants in the experiments only used the HippoCamera app for a few minutes a day.

In this way, the app provides a digital framework for the hippocampus, giving people the ability to play cues on their mobile devices, which can activate and reinforce memories in the brain. Essentially, this gives the hippocampus plenty of room to create a lasting memory that helps build a bridge between the present and the past.

WHAT IS THE IMPACT OF THE APP ON PARTICIPANTS?

Using the HippoCamera increased the recall of event-related details by over 50%. Importantly, this benefit persisted for at least three months after the HippoCamera was discontinued. This means that older people in our study were able to more vividly recall their recent past. Using neuroimaging technology, we found that using the app changed the way the brain stored memories of everyday events. In particular, we found an increased activity of the hippocampus in relation to memories reproduced using the HippoCamera.

For more information, visit martinmemorylab.com and hippocamera.com.

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