A New and Effective Tool for Improving Memory in Older Adults
Post by Megan McCullough
The takeaway
A smartphone application called HippoCamera was shown to be an effective tool for improving the recall of episodic memories and increasing different memory representations in the hippocampus in older adults.
What's the science?
There is a relationship between age and the ability to re-experience the past and recall specific memories about life events. Previous research has shown that as humans get older, there is a decline in memory recollection that may correlate with a decrease in the differentiation of hippocampal activity. Despite numerous studies that have confirmed these findings, there are limited behavioral interventions that have been shown to successfully target episodic memories. This week in PNAS, Martin and colleagues aimed to test the effectiveness of a smartphone application on the ability of older adults to improve episodic memory recall.
How did they do it?
The authors tested their self-developed smartphone app on older adults, as age has been correlated with a decrease in the ability to recall details about specific everday life events that they wish to remember. HippoCamera allows users to create memory cues of specific events that they personally value and hope to remember. These cues consist of a short verbal description created by the user as well as a short video recording of the event. The users then can rate the significance of the event in the app. Cues were randomly assigned to either a replay condition, where the user could view it multiple times, or a control condition, where the cue was never replayed. This study consisted of two experiments, either a 2-week intervention, or a 10-week one. In both experiments, the authors conducted two memory tests to test the effectiveness of the smartphone app on memory recall. The authors also performed functional magnetic resonance imaging scans (fMRI) one weeks after the end of the intervention (both experiments) to measure brain activity related to memory of events evaluated in the memory tests.
What did they find?
The authors found that HippoCamera was an effective and user-friendly memory aid intervention for older adults. The authors conducted memory tests of personal life events that the participants recorded with the app both one week after the end of HippoCamera intervention and around 3 months after the use of the HippoCamera. The data support the conclusion that the use of HippoCamera enhances the recall of personal, episodic memories. After the 10-week intervention, participants were able to recall even more details about the event versus after the 2-week intervention. As for the results of the fMRI scans, they showed that use of HippoCamera altered how episodic information was represented in the hippocampus. The app promoted differentiation of memory-related activity patterns in the brain which correlated with the increase in recollection of event details.
What's the impact?
This study tested a non-invasive, user-friendly memory intervention that can be utilized to improve memory for life events in older adults. HippoCamera was shown to improve episodic recollection and increase differentiated activity in the hippocampus. Effective and safe tools such as HippoCamera can potentially improve memory for meaningful life events and therefore the quality of life of individuals of aging adults.