Aging and Brain Research

Memory decline is common in aging and significantly worsens quality of life, but there are few, if any, effective interventions to improve episodic memory recall in older adults. And there are no effective interventions specifically targeting autobiographical episodic memory. A smartphone app called 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 and a short video recording of the event. The approach was shown to be effective tool for improving the recall of episodic memories in older adults. Seniors were able to improve their ability to recall episodic memories, increase the differentiation of hippocampal activity, and better remember the personal past. These findings suggest that using mobile phone technologies to record and replay episodic memories may be a feasible, low- cost, and effective way to improve memory recall in older adults (Adapted from SpinnerChef:...