Supporting older and younger adults’ memory for recent everyday events: A prospective sampling study using SenseCam

The convergence of naturalistic paradigms and cognitive neuroscience methods to investigate memory and its development

Studies that involve lab-based stimuli (e.g., words, pictures) are fundamental in the memory literature. At the same time, there is growing acknowledgment that memory processes assessed in the lab may not be analogous to how memory operates in the real world. Naturalistic paradigms can bridge this gap and over the decades a growing proportion of memory research has involved more naturalistic events. However, there is significant variation in the types of naturalistic studies used to study memory and its development, each with various advantages and limitations. Further, there are notable gaps in how often different types of naturalistic approaches have been combined with cognitive neuroscience methods (e.g., fMRI, EEG) to elucidate the neural processes and substrates involved in memory encoding and retrieval in the real world. Here we summarize and discuss what we identify as progressively more naturalistic methodologies used in the memory literature (movie, virtual reality, staged-events inside and outside of the lab, photo-taking, and naturally occurring event studies). Our goal is to describe each approach's benefits (e.g., naturalistic quality, feasibility), limitations (e.g., viability of neuroimaging method for event encoding versus event retrieval), and discuss possible future directions with each approach. We focus on child studies, when available, but also highlight past adult studies. Although there is a growing body of child memory research, naturalistic approaches combined with cognitive neuroscience methodologies in this domain remain sparse. Overall, this viewpoint article reviews how we can study memory through the lens of developmental cognitive neuroscience, while utilizing naturalistic and real-world events.

The formation of episodic autobiographical memory is predicted by mental imagery, self-reference, and anticipated details

Introduction

Despite the ecological nature of episodic memory (EM) and the importance of consolidation in its functioning, studies tackling both subjects are still scarce. Therefore, the present study aims at establishing predictions of the future of newly encoded information in EM in an ecological paradigm.

Methods

Participants recorded two personal events per day with a SenseCam portable camera, for 10 days, and characterized the events with different subjective scales (emotional valence and intensity, self-concept and self-relevance, perspective and anticipated details at a month, mental images…). They then performed a surprise free recall at 5 days and 1 month after encoding. Machine learning algorithms were used to predict the future of events (episodic or forgotten) in memory at 1 month.

Results

The best algorithm showed an accuracy of 78%, suggesting that such a prediction is reliably possible. Variables that best differentiated between episodic and forgotten memories at 1 month were mental imagery, self-reference, and prospection (anticipated details) at encoding and the first free recall.

Discussion

These results may establish the basis for the development of episodic autobiographical memory during daily experiences.

Posterior hippocampal CA2/3 volume is associated with autobiographical memory recall ability in lower performing individuals

People vary substantially in their capacity to recall past experiences, known as autobiographical memories. Here we investigated whether the volumes of specific hippocampal subfields were associated with autobiographical memory retrieval ability. We manually segmented the full length of the two hippocampi in 201 healthy young adults into DG/CA4, CA2/3, CA1, subiculum, pre/parasubiculum and uncus, in the largest such manually segmented subfield sample yet reported. Across the group we found no evidence for an association between any subfield volume and autobiographical memory recall ability. However, when participants were assigned to lower and higher performing groups based on their memory recall scores, we found that bilateral CA2/3 volume was significantly and positively associated with autobiographical memory recall performance specifically in the lower performing group. We further observed that this effect was attributable to posterior CA2/3. By contrast, semantic details from autobiographical memories, and performance on a range of laboratory-based memory tests, did not correlate with CA2/3 volume. Overall, our findings highlight that posterior CA2/3 may be particularly pertinent for autobiographical memory recall. They also reveal that there may not be direct one-to-one mapping of posterior CA2/3 volume with autobiographical memory ability, with size mattering perhaps only in those with poorer memory recall.

Contextual Specificity of (Un)Healthy Food/Drink Intake in Everyday Life: A Study Based on Episodic Memories

Identifying the contexts of episodes of (un)healthy food/drink intake could inform strategies for eating more healthily. This study assessed memories of recent episodes of healthy and unhealthy eating from adults in Mexico. For each (un)healthy eating episode participants recalled place, time of day, people present and food/drink intake. Categories were formed for the contextual features and foods/drinks that were reported, then the relative frequency of each category was tested between healthy and unhealthy eating episodes. Overall, there was a large set of categories of (un)healthy food/drink choices, and there were more healthy eating episodes with family at home and unhealthy eating episodes with friends out of home. However, as expected, a more specific context as well as food/drink intake was identified for each sort of recalled (un)healthy eating episode of the day. Additionally, eating out of home, later in the day and with people present were features related to higher estimated energy content across (un)healthy eating episodes. These findings support the assessment of self-reported memories of recent eating episodes to generate evidence that contribute to contexts that support healthy eating habits.

Effects of the use of autobiographical photographs on emotional induction in older adults: a systematic review

There is evidence to support the positive contribution of autobiographical recall based techniques on individuals' quality of life, mood and cognitive functioning. In this review, we analyzed the effects of the use of personal photographs in interventions based on autobiographical memory in older people with and without cognitive impairment. The PRISMA guidelines for systematic reviews were followed. The search was carried out in the electronic databases Web of Sciences (WOS), Medline (PubMed), SCIELO and PsycInfo (American Psychological Association). The articles based on clinical trials selected were evaluated using the PEDRo scale, which is specific to this type of article. Of the 1098 articles initially found, 6 met the inclusion criteria. The final articles focused their intervention on the use of autobiographical photographs as a means of stimulation. The results show that the use of photographs in different autobiographical recall stimulation techniques is associated with higher scores on well-being and quality of life, as well as with improvements in personal identity and cognitive functioning. This suggests that using personal photographs shows promise in enhancing the effect of these types of interventions in healthy or cognitively impaired older adults.

Reducing age-related Memory Deficits: The Roles of Environmental Support and self-initiated Processing Activities

BACKGROUND

The notion that memory performance in older adults can be boosted by information provided by the environment was proposed by Craik (1983). The suggestion was that age-related memory deficits can be attenuated and sometimes even eliminated by a complementary combination of environmental support and consciously controlled self-initiated activities.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of the present article was to review the subsequent empirical and theoretical work on the topics of environmental support and self-initiated ativities as they relate to the effects of aging on human memory.

DISCUSSION

The notion of schematic support from the person's knowledge base is introduced and its relevance discussed. In addition, the effects of various types of support on encoding and retrieval processes in older adults are desribed, and the increasing theoretical importance of executive processes in reducing age-related memory deficits is discussed.

CONCLUSION

As one main conclusion, it is suggested that self-initiated control processes interact with both information provided by the environment and by the person's knowledge base to improve the effectiveness of encoding and retrieval processing in older adults.

An older adult advantage in autobiographical recall

This pre-registered online study aimed to measure the effect of environmental support on age-differences in autobiographical memory alongside memory for images. Young and older adults reported autobiographical memories about which they regularly thought (high environmental support through practice) or that were experimentally cued to be mundane (low environmental support). The support manipulation was also applied to descriptions of images that were produced whilst images remained on screen (high support) or produced from memory (low support). In line with existing theory, support disproportionately benefitted older adults in the quantity of information produced. However, analysis of the autobiographical descriptions showed no age deficit in reporting episodic detail, in contrast to much of the existing literature. A second group of young and older adults also evaluated the descriptions produced, and older adults' descriptions were consistently rated as higher quality than young adults' descriptions across several dimensions, such as vividness and clarity. An unplanned meta-analysis was conducted to assess if a publication bias existed in the literature favoring the reporting of age-deficits in producing episodic detail in autobiographical memory: there was no evidence for a bias and the modal result of age deficits was generally supported. A key distinction is that the current study was conducted online - evidence is presented to argue that older adults may perform better at autobiographical memory tasks outside the lab.

Age effects in autobiographical memory depend on the measure

Studies examining age effects in autobiographical memory have produced inconsistent results. This study examined whether a set of typical autobiographical memory measures produced equivalent results in a single participant sample. Five memory tests (everyday memory, autobiographical memory from the past year, autobiographical memory from age 11-17, word-cued autobiographical memory, and word-list recall) were administered in a single sample of young and older adults. There was significant variance in the tests' sensitivity to age: word-cued autobiographical memory produced the largest deficit in older adults, similar in magnitude to word-list recall. In contrast, older adults performed comparatively well on the other measures. The pattern of findings was broadly consistent with the results of previous investigations, suggesting that (1) the results of the different AM tasks are reliable, and (2) variable age effects in the autobiographical memory literature are at least partly due to the use of different tasks, which cannot be considered interchangeable measures of autobiographical memory ability. The results are also consistent with recent work dissociating measures of specificity and detail in autobiographical memory, and suggest that specificity is particularly sensitive to ageing. In contrast, detail is less sensitive to ageing, but is influenced by retention interval and event type. The extent to which retention interval and event type interact with age remains unclear; further research using specially designed autobiographical memory tasks could resolve this issue.

Externalizing autobiographical memories in the digital age

People externalize their autobiographical memories by creating representations that exist outside of their minds. Externalizations often serve personal and social functions, consistent with theorized functions of autobiographical memory. With new digital technologies, people are documenting more memories than ever and are sharing them with larger audiences. However, these technologies do not change the core cognitive processes involved in autobiographical memory, but instead present novel situations that affect how these processes are deployed. Smartphones allow events to be recorded as they unfold, thus directing attention and sometimes impairing memory. Social media increase the frequency of reviewing and sharing records which reactivate memories, potentially strengthening or updating them. Overall, externalization in the digital age changes what people attend to and remember about their own experiences.

Lifelogging as a rehabilitation tool in patients with amnesia: A narrative literature review on the effect of lifelogging on memory loss

Visual lifelogging is the procedure that enables individuals to visually record daily life activities by means of small wearable cameras, which can be worn around the neck or on the clothing. Lifelogging devices automatically take pictures or videos after pre-set time intervals or after dynamic input changes. Although some studies have shown effectivity of reviewing lifelogging images in brain-damaged individuals with forms of amnesia as a rehabilitation tool, systematic endeavours to overview this literature is yet missing. The aim of this narrative literature review was to review all the available case-studies, experimental studies and group studies in brain-damaged individuals applying lifelogging devices in a clinical context. The included studies showed efficacy for both subjective and objective measures of memory. In mild to severe amnesia, reviewing images recorded by the lifelogging device was beneficial to subjective and objective measures of memory. Lifelogging is demonstrated to have a great potential in helping people who are suffering from memory loss. It can offer an excellent alternative to currently more frequently used memory rehabilitation techniques and can be applied more in clinical settings.

Memory for spatio-temporal contextual details during the retrieval of naturalistic episodes

Episodic memory entails the storage of events together with their spatio-temporal context and retrieval comprises the subjective experience of a link between the person who remembers and the episode itself. We used an encoding procedure with mobile-phones to generate experimentally-controlled episodes in the real world: object-images were sent to the participants' phone, with encoding durations up to 3 weeks. In other groups of participants, the same objects were encoded during the exploration of a virtual town (45 min) or using a standard laboratory paradigm, with pairs of object/place-images presented in a sequence of unrelated trials (15 min). At retrieval, we tested subjective memory for the objects (remember/familiar) and memory for the context (place and time). We found that accurate and confident context-memory increased the likelihood of "remember" responses, in all encoding contexts. We also tested the participants' ability to judge the temporal-order of the encoded episodes. Using a model of temporal similarity, we demonstrate scale-invariant properties of order-retrieval, but also highlight the contribution of non-chronological factors. We conclude that the mechanisms governing episodic memory retrieval can operate across a wide range of spatio-temporal contexts and that the multi-dimensional nature of the episodic traces contributes to the subjective experience of retrieval.

Using a wearable camera to support everyday memory following brain injury: a single-case study

Background:

Wearable cameras have been shown to improve memory in people with hippocampal amnesia and Alzheimer's disease. It is not known whether this benefit extends to people with amnesia of complex or uncertain origin.

Method:

This case study examined the effect of wearable camera use on memory and occupational performance in a patient with memory loss and complex mental health problems following a severe neurological incident. With the help of his occupational therapist (OT), Mr A used a wearable camera to record a series of eight personally significant events over a 6-week period. During visits from his OT, Mr A was asked to report what he could remember about the events, both before (baseline) and during the review of time-lapsed photographs captured automatically by the camera.

Results:

The results showed striking improvements in recall while reviewing the photographs, relative to baseline recall, but the additional details recalled during review did not appear to be maintained at later tests, after several days. Across the study period, there were moderate increases in occupational performance, measured using the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure. However, after the study period ended, Mr A ceased to use the wearable camera due to technological difficulty.

Conclusion:

There was a clear benefit of wearable camera use, but the real-world impact of the technology was limited by the complexity of the system. The results of the study are discussed alongside novel clinical insights and suggestions for developing wearable camera support systems that can be used independently by people with memory problems.

A behavioural and ERP investigation of the wearable camera photo review in autobiographical memory

Wearable camera photo review has successfully been used to enhance memory, yet very little is known about the underlying mechanisms. Here, the sequential presentation of wearable camera photos - a key feature of wearable camera photo review - is examined using behavioural and EEG measures. Twelve female participants were taken on a walking tour, stopping at a series of predefined targets, while wearing a camera that captured photographs automatically. A sequence of four photos leading to these targets was selected (∼ 200 trials) and together with control photos, these were used in a recognition task one week later. Participants' recognition performance improved with the sequence of photos (measured in hit rates, correct rejections, & sensitivity), revealing for the first time, a positive effect of sequence of photos in wearable camera photo review. This has important implications for understanding the sequential and cumulative effects of cues on episodic remembering. An old-new ERP effect was also observed over visual regions for hits vs. correct rejections, highlighting the importance of visual processing not only for perception but also for the location of activated memory representations.

Mnemoscape: Supporting Older Adults' Event Memory Using Wearable Camera Photographs on an Immersive Interface

BACKGROUND

Wearable camera photographs have been shown to be an effective memory aid in people with and without memory impairment. Most studies using wearable cameras as a memory aid have presented photographs on a computer monitor and used a written diary or no review as a comparison. In this pioneering study, we took a new and innovative approach to wearable camera photograph review that embeds the photographs within a virtual landscape. This approach may enhance these benefits by reinstating the original environmental context to increase participants' sense of re-experiencing the event.

OBJECTIVE

We compare the traditional computer monitor presentation of wearable camera photographs and actively taken digital photographs with the presentation of wearable camera photographs in a new immersive interface that reinstates the spatiotemporal context.

METHODS

Healthy older adults wore wearable or took digital photographs during a staged event. The next day and 2 weeks later, they viewed wearable camera photographs on a computer monitor or in context on an immersive interface, or digital photographs.

RESULTS

Participants who viewed wearable camera photographs in either format recalled more details during photo viewing and subsequent free recall than participants who viewed digital photographs they had taken themselves.

CONCLUSION

Wearable camera photographs are an effective support for event memory, regardless of whether they are presented in context in an experience-near format.

The Effects of Exposure to Recent Autobiographical Events on Declarative Memory in Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Preliminary Pilot Study

BACKGROUND

Individuals with amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (aMCI) are at heightened risk of developing Alzheimer's dementia. In recent years, much attention has been given to the search for new interventions to slow down the progression of cognitive decline of these patients. Wearable digital camera devices are one form of new technology that captures images of one's life events, so they constitute a promising method to be used as a means to stimulate recent autobiographical memory.

OBJECTIVE

This preliminary study investigates the ability of a new cognitive intervention based on exposure to recent autobiographical memory captured by wearable cameras to improve episodic memory in patients with aMCI.

METHODS

Seventeen subjects wore a wearable camera while they went about their daily activities. The images captured were converted into eight different 3-minute films containing the most relevant information of each event. The intervention involved eight individualized weekly sessions during which patients were exposed to a different autobiographical event each week. Besides, several specific questions were formulated within each session. Clinical questionnaires assessing cognitive reserve, premorbid intelligence, depression, and anxiety were administered at baseline. Measures of objective episodic memory were applied at baseline and at post-treatment.

RESULTS

Significant improvements were observed at post-treatment in memory measures, and significant associations were found between memory change scores and age and cognitive reserve. Anyway, these associations did not reach statistical significance after adjusting for multiple comparisons.

CONCLUSION

The present study provides preliminary evidence that aMCI patients may benefit from a cognitive intervention program based on re-experiencing recent autobiographical events. However, future studies incorporating a control group will be needed to confirm these preliminary findings.

Comparison of the change in interpretative stances of lifelog photos versus manually captured photos over time

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore how people differently create meaning from photos taken by either a lifelogging camera (LC) (i.e. automatic capture) or a mobile phone camera (MC) (i.e. manual capture). Moreover, the paper investigates the different changes in the interpretative stance of lifelog photos and manually captured photos over time to figure out how the LC application could support the users’ iconological interpretation of their past.

Design/methodology/approach

A 200-day longitudinal study was conducted with two different user groups that took and reviewed photos taken by either a LC or a MC. The study was structured in two phases: a photo collection phase, which lasted for five days (Day 1‒Day 5), and a three-part semi-structured interview phase, which was conducted on Days 8, 50 and 200.

Findings

Results revealed that the interpretative stance of the LC group changed greatly compared to the MC group that kept a relatively consistent interpretative stance over time. A significant difference between the two groups was revealed on Day 200 when the lifelog photos provoked a more iconological and less pre-iconographical interpretative stance. This stance allowed the viewers of lifelog photos to systemically interpret the photos and look back upon their past with different viewpoints that were not recognized before.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to further understand the dynamic change in interpretative stance of lifelog photos compared to manually captured photos through a longitudinal study. The results of this study can support the design guidelines for a LC application that could give opportunities for users to create rich interpretations from lifelog photos.

Memory for staged events: Supporting older and younger adults' memory with SenseCam

Two experiments measured the effect of retrieval support provided by a wearable camera, SenseCam, on older and younger adults' memory for a recently experienced complex staged event. In each experiment, participants completed a series of tasks in groups, and the events were recalled 2 weeks later, after viewing SenseCam images (experimental condition) or thinking about the event (control condition). When IQ and education were matched, young adults recalled more event details than older adults, demonstrating an age-related deficit for novel autobiographical material. Reviewing SenseCam images increased the number of details recalled by older and younger adults, and the effect was similar for both groups. These results suggest that memory can be supported by the use of SenseCam, but the age-related deficit is not eliminated.

Temporal compression in episodic memory for real-life events

Remembering an event typically takes less time than experiencing it, suggesting that episodic memory represents past experience in a temporally compressed way. Little is known, however, about how the continuous flow of real-life events is summarised in memory. Here we investigated the nature and determinants of temporal compression by directly comparing memory contents with the objective timing of events as measured by a wearable camera. We found that episodic memories consist of a succession of moments of prior experience that represent events with varying compression rates, such that the density of retrieved information is modulated by goal processing and perceptual changes. Furthermore, the results showed that temporal compression rates remain relatively stable over one week and increase after a one-month delay, particularly for goal-related events. These data shed new light on temporal compression in episodic memory and suggest that compression rates are adaptively modulated to maintain current goal-relevant information.