Computing technology may help improve the recall of positive memories among individuals experiencing depression, according to a team of human-computer interaction researchers from Lancaster University and Trinity College Dublin.
They conducted a series of in-depth interviews with experts in neuropsychology and cognitive behavioral therapy about how to best treat memory impairments in people with depression. It’s an area lacking in technologies designed to support it, according to the researchers.
Through the interviews, the team explored how therapeutic interventions address memory limitations experienced by people living with depression. Such limitations include the predominance of more general memories — of either repeated events or of those occurring over longer periods — rather than specific memories of events experienced in a particular place and time, said Corina Sas, Ph.D., professor of digital health at Lancaster University and one of the project’s researchers. Memory limitations also include more negative memories being remembered, and a reduced ability to vividly experience one’s positive memories.
Based on these findings, the researchers identified several areas of opportunity where technology could help, including the use of biosensors, which could help inform researchers as to the current mind set of the user. In addition, technologies could help support people in purposefully capturing novel positive events and creating positive memory banks to guard against negative feelings, and novel interfaces to help them strengthen the reliving of positive memories, Sas noted.
“For senior residents in long-term care who are experiencing depression, we can imagine technologies that prompt them to identify and retrieve positive memories as counterexamples for when they are ruminating over negative thoughts,” she said. “This can help support a more balanced perspective on life.”
From the May 1, 2019 Issue of McKnight's Long-Term Care News
