Abstract
<p>Our ability to recollect details from personal past events tends to decline with age, which can affect how we act in the world, communicate with others, and understand ourselves. HippoCamera is a neuroscience-guided smartphone application that aims to mitigate these age-related memory changes by guiding users to record and review cues for real-world events using established mnemonic strategies. Previous work demonstrated improved episodic recollection and enhanced hippocampal activity for events reviewed using HippoCamera. Here, we followed up with 25 older adults 3.5 to 6 years after their participation in a HippoCamera study, using a mixed-methods approach to assess the longevity of these memory benefits. Participants reported greater subjective re-experiencing for events that were previously reviewed using HippoCamera relative to events that were only recorded but never reviewed. Further, participants reported greater subjective re-experiencing for events recorded using HippoCamera compared to events that were cued with calendar entries from a comparable time period. Using semi-structured interviews, we also explored the experience of using HippoCamera itself and reminiscing upon their past recorded events. Participants spoke to the benefits of HippoCamera not only for episodic memory, but more broadly to their daily lifestyle and activities, and their sense of meaning and well-being. Participants also reflected upon their attitudes and beliefs both towards HippoCamera and their own memory as it changes with age. Altogether, these results demonstrate the broad and long-lasting effects of a smartphone-based tool that improves memory for real-world events and enriches how older adults relate to their own past experiences.</p>