PsyCen seminar: Dr Ali Mair

Speaker: Dr Ali Mair, University of Leeds

Title: Using wearable cameras to support everyday memory

Abstract:

Wearable cameras are small devices that can be worn around the neck or attached to clothing, and which capture automatic photographs every few seconds, from the wearer’s perspective. The photographs can then be transferred to a computer, and later used to cue memory. Early studies showed promising results with amnesic patients, who were able to retrieve previously inaccessible details about autobiographical events when cued with wearable camera photographs. In this talk, I will discuss some of my own research showing similar effects in cognitively healthy young and older adults, as well as people with mild cognitive impairment and early-stage dementia. In this work we have found striking increases in the recall of details that are not depicted in the images themselves, indicating that the photos act as a kind of “cognitive prosthesis” to support the organic function of memory. An interesting feature of wearable camera photos is their ability to occasionally trigger a sudden wave of recollection, whereby a large number of previously inaccessible details flood into consciousness seemingly at once. Precisely what causes these sudden floods of remembering remains unknown, but I will also present some ongoing work aimed at understanding the cognitive psychological mechanism behind this phenomenon. The hope is that this work will enable us to build better memory-supportive technology in the future.

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Meeting ID: 326 398 743 958

Passcode: 7jUEms

Host or Publisher LBU - Centre for Psychological Research (PsyCen).