Grant: Project Grant

Millions of Canadians live with brain damage that affects their memory. Acquired brain injury (e.g., from viral infection, tumor removal, epilepsy, or stroke) and Alzheimer's disease cause profound memory problems that make it hard to remember life's daily events. These memory problems can diminish one's autonomy and sense of identity, leading to a vicious cycle of social isolation and depression, which in turn hurts memory. Digital Memory Augmentation (DMA) is a new and promising approach to lessen memory loss by harnessing advances in digital technology. Here, portable devices capture information about everyday events, allowing for later recall. DMA can produce memory benefits - more so than common strategies such as keeping a diary. However, prior DMA approaches have not been informed by our understanding of brain function and often neglect basic principles from cognitive science about how best to learn and retain information. We have created a simple and effective DMA tool that is based on our understanding of how the brain optimally stores and retains memories. This smartphone-based app uses principles from cognitive science and neuroscience to create powerful memory cues that trigger memory for the original event. It then replays these memory cues in a manner known to optimize learning and long-term retention. Our prototype has dramatically improved memory for real-life events in healthy older adults. These memory gains lasted up to 3 months, they were superior to the gains from typical smartphone event recording, and they were accompanied by enhanced brain function. Toward our goal of aiding memory, we will therefore (i) disseminate this new memory tool to people with severe memory impairments; (ii) measure the benefits for event memory and overall wellbeing; (iii) measure the brain reorganization associated with the app's use; and (iv) make the app publicly available on any modern smartphone so that its benefits can be enjoyed on a large scale.