HippoCamera, the app that helps not to lose memories
Over time memory can fade and memories become increasingly faded but some researchers have observed that using an app that lets you record and review videos of daily events can help. All the details
An app that can keep memories alive in people who have memory problems. It's called HippoCamera and it imitates the behavior of the hippocampus, the brain region that plays a fundamental role in the processes of learning and episodic memory, the one that concerns the events of our lives .
In fact, the ability to remember the past decreases with age, and it is an aspect that has a negative impact on general well-being. But now a study conducted by researchers at the University of Toronto and published in Pnas has observed how HippoCamera can have a positive impact on consolidating memories.
THE IMPORTANCE OF REMEMBERING EVERYDAY EXPERIENCES
The act of remembering a daily experience, the authors explain, influences how we interpret the world, how we think about the future and how we perceive ourselves. It also improves long-term retention of remembered content, increasing the likelihood that it will be recalled.
The decline in recall that results from age may reflect a decrease in the distinctiveness of hippocampal memory representations, however, there are few effective cognitive-behavioral interventions that target real-world episodic memory.
Hence the idea of developing an app that would allow trial participants to record videos of daily events and later play them back.
THE TRIALS
Two experiments were conducted to understand the potential of HippoCamera. In one, participants recorded five 24-second clips of daily events each day for two weeks. As they filmed each event they also recorded an 8-second audio description of its meaning. Then he was asked to play back six previously recorded events every day for two weeks. They also got a reminder from the app.
While playing a video, text briefly appeared on the screen indicating the time elapsed since the event was recorded and its date.
The video was then played back at triple speed – mimicking the high-speed playback of the hippocampus – accompanied by the recorded description of the event played back at normal speed.
In the second experiment, however, closer to the real use that would be made of the app, the participants recorded and reproduced only one event per day for 10 weeks.
THE RESULTS
The scans revealed that there was increased activity in the hippocampus as the events were replayed, and that there was a positive correlation between the degree of this activity and the number of details the participants remembered. Three months after the experiment, the participants were given a new test, but this time they didn't have access to the app and relied solely on their memories.
People who used the app for two weeks saw a 56% increase in their ability to remember details of events recorded with HippoCamera, and those who used it for 70 consecutive days by 84%.
Furthermore, more detailed recall was associated with more differentiated memory signals in the hippocampus.
For this reason, according to the researchers, the use of this app that systematically reactivates memories of recent real-world experiences can help maintain a bridge between the present and the past in older adults.
BEYOND THE SINGLE EVENT
Although HippoCamera helps people remember only recorded memories, for one of the authors, its value could be wider: "If you can better remember a specific moment in your recent past, you will have a stronger mental bridge between your present and the past".
Also according to another researcher who participated in the study, the app could encourage new habits to preserve memory.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/sanita/hippocamera-lapp-che-aiuta-a-non-perdere-i-ricordi/ on Wed, 25 Jan 2023 14:13:43 +0000.