Dr. Morgan Barense and Dr. Bryan Hong
Memories are at the core of who we are. They link us to our experiences and social bonds, connect us from the present to the past and help us create bridges with other people.
Memory fascinates Drs. Morgan Barense and Bryan Hong, neuroscientists who developed HippoCamera, a smartphone application inspired by how the brain works and designed to support the long-term retention of memories (loosely mimicking the hippocampus).
The app is for anyone who wants to improve their memory and is shown to work for young and older adults. HippoCamera guides users to record rich and distinctive cues for everyday events, consisting of a short video and a verbal description. Users then replay these cues using strategies from memory science to help solidify those memories.
The HippoCamera team has led numerous validation studies—supported by AGE-WELL—confirming its effectiveness. The research has shown that, on average, HippoCamera boosted older adults’ recall of memories from everyday life by 57.5 per cent.
“We found that the benefits for older adults were significant—it really, really works,” says Dr. Barense, CEO of HippoCamera, an AGE-WELL startup affiliate, and professor and Glassman Chair at the University of Toronto. “In every single study, users showed a benefit in terms of their ability to recall event-specific details for memories that had been captured and replayed with HippoCamera. In fact, the neuroimaging studies showed that HippoCamera events led to sharpened brain activity in the hippocampus.”
Moreover, memories replayed with HippoCamera were recalled with more positive emotions and language, Dr. Barense said.
“That’s an important finding. We know that memory loss can contribute to depression and depression can contribute to memory loss, and there can be this virtuous cycle between better memory and better well-being overall,” noted Dr. Barense, who watched her grandmother experience memory loss, and created HippoCamera in her honour.
“As memory scientists, we realized there wasn’t a tangible tool people could actually use to apply some of the strategies we knew worked to ensure long-lasting recall of day-to-day events that matter to them—whether it’s something really unique like going to a party, or something more everyday like noticing on a walk that the flowers are starting to bloom,” said Dr. Bryan Hong, chief science and product officer of HippoCamera and an assistant professor at the University of Guelph. “Seeing how the basic science is being translated into an easy-to-use tool that people are benefitting from is really meaningful.”
Even people in the early stages of cognitive decline can benefit from HippoCamera, according to findings from smaller-sample studies by the team.
Photo by Diana Tyszko
For the HippoCamera team, working with AGE-WELL has enabled them to leverage the network’s expertise in co-designing technologies with older adults. An alumnus of the AGE-WELL EPIC training program, Dr. Hong has collaborated closely with older adults, gaining invaluable feedback about HippoCamera’s language, content flow, functionalities and new features that has gone on to improve the app.
Dr. Barense reflects on the ways AGE-WELL has supported the startup: “I have really felt that AGE-WELL has had our back. Just knowing that there is a large group of smart, motivated people who really want us to succeed and will help us whenever needed has been really great. Having AGE-WELL’s support and knowledge makes it less lonely in the startup world and has made us more willing to take risks. I am really grateful for that.” Dr. Barense is also a senior scientist at Baycrest Hospital.
HippoCamera is available to the public for free and can be downloaded from the App Store or Google Play.