Investigators from the University of Toronto have shown that a newly developed application for smartphones helps to greatly increase memory recall. This finding has the potential to be useful for those who are in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease or other kinds of memory impairment.
The app, which has been given the name HippoCamera for its ability to imitate the function of the hippocampus in the brain in terms of memory construction and retention, improves the encoding of memories that are stored in the brain by increasing attention to daily events and consolidating them more distinctly, which then enables later retrieval of memories that are richer and more comprehensive.
Users of HippoCamera go through a two-step procedure in which they record a small video of up to 24 seconds depicting a moment they want to remember along with a quick audio narration of the incident that lasts just eight seconds.
The software brings together the two components in the same way as the hippocampus of the brain does, with the video element having been sped up to imitate some characteristics of the operation of the hippocampus and to make review more effective.
Users will then playback cues provided by HippoCamera at subsequent times, on a controlled and frequent basis, in order to bolster their memories and allow more specific recall.
According to the findings of the study, which were presented in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, frequent users of the app were able to recall over fifty percent more specifics about everyday experiences that had occurred as much as six months earlier. This is in comparison to the results that would have been obtained if they had only recorded events and never replayed them.
This new study reveals that systematic revival of memories for fresh real-world events may assist to preserve a link between the present and the past in elderly adults. It also offers hope for those who are in the initial stages of Alzheimer’s disease or other kinds of memory deficits.
The research also discovered that using HippoCam to evaluate memory cues led to a more optimistic attitude during subsequent retrieval.
For the purpose of the study, participants used the HippoCamera to record one-of-a-kind video clips of everyday occurrences that they wanted to remember. They then played back these memory cues approximately eight times over the course of two weeks in one experiment and over the course of ten weeks in another experiment.
After thereafter, the researchers started a test called “cued recall,” in which they presented the subjects their memory triggers and told them to recount all they could recall about each experience.
After this, the individuals had a series of fMRI brain scans during which the researchers recorded patterns of brain activity as the subjects saw their cues and performed a memory test. The subjects were asked to recollect these experiences a second time after a period of three months during which they did not use the HippoCamera to practice their memories and during which they did not have access to the cues.
The brain scans demonstrated that repeating HippoCamera memory cues altered the manner in which these common events were recorded in the hippocampus. The hippocampus is known for its function in the storage of specific memories related to more recent experiences.
Since the activity associated with recall was found to be more distinct in the hippocampus, this demonstrates that HippoCamera replay assists in ensuring that memories for various occurrences stay unique from one another in the brain.
The researchers believe that the feeling of purpose and intention that is inherent in using HippoCamera is one of the primary factors that contributes to its efficacy. The intervention, by virtue of its design, challenges users to consider what it is that they want to recall and why a specific event is significant to them. Users are then encouraged to routinely engage with the memories in a significant manner.
The researchers point out that when individuals start to lose their current memories as well as their capacity to form new ones, they begin to lose their sense of who they are as a person. This may happen at any time in a person’s life. As a consequence of this, individuals often become emotionally detached from the people and events that occur in their life.
