Training Autobiographical Memory in Older Adults Using Photos From Wearable Cameras.

OBJECTIVES

Older adults are substantially impaired in memory for specific past events, particularly for memory of contextual information, such as when an event happened (temporal-order memory). In the current study, we investigated a novel approach for training temporal-order memory in older adults using wearable cameras that automatically take first-person photos of participants' lives.

METHODS

As opposed to the traditional method of training memory using simple laboratory stimuli (laboratory memory-LM), our method trained memory using participants' life events (autobiographical memory-AM). We randomly assigned participants to 3 groups, the AM group trained using photos from wearable cameras, the LM group trained using conventional laboratory stimuli (scene photos), and the control vocabulary knowledge group trained on word definitions. We assessed temporal-order memory for AM events (AM task) and LM stimuli (LM task) in the lab before and after training, which occurred at home 5 days per week for 4-5 weeks.

RESULTS

A significant interaction showed that AM training was more effective for enhancing AM whereas LM training was more effective in improving LM. The control training condition did not enhance either form of memory.

DISCUSSION

The results suggest that using photos from wearable cameras is a promising approach for improving AM in older adults.