SenseCam Aids Patients with Memory Problems

Ponca City, We Love You writes "A small digital camera developed by Microsoft Research could boost memory in people with dementia and possibly mild forms of Alzheimer's disease. SenseCam is worn around the neck and automatically takes a wide-angle, low-resolution photograph every 30 seconds. It contains an accelerometer to stabilize the image and reduce blurriness, and it can be configured to take pictures in response to changes in movement, temperature, or lighting. An entire day's events can be captured and downloaded onto a PC where software converts the pictures into a short movie displaying the images at up to 10 frames per second, to allow patients to view a day's events in a few minutes to jolt their memory. "Not only does SenseCam allow people to recall memories while they are looking at the images, which in itself is wonderful, but after an initial period of consolidation, it appears to lead to long-term retention of memories over many months, without the need to view the images repeatedly," says neuropsychologist Emma Berry."

I used to do something similar and it helps!

[garcia]

I have something sorta like that. When I was using Gallery along with a shell script out of procmail to do uploads from e-mail to handle my mobile pictures, it would create galleries in the format yyyymmdd and I can usually recall almost to the day what I was doing.

It's most likely because I would go back through the photos either that day or the next and caption some. This would help to jog my memory and help me recall the dates much later. My friends say I'm an idiot savant (in the most negative connotation possible) but I tell them that I'm just a nerd.

I seem to remember an article about memory

[mrjb]

Supposedly the problem is not that memory itself fails, but often we cannot remember things because we didn't "register" them properly. Which also explains after-party blackouts, of course.

What?

[ByOhTek]

It seems I've seen this on /. in the last couple of weeks (maybe not the same article, but the same MS camera thing). It was tagged "biotech" then too.

This is not biotech any more than the mouse on your computer is biotech or the shirt on your back is biotech.

Also, what's the point of repeatedly posting this? Not only has it been on in the last week or two, but it's been posted once or twice before that, at least.

Great, MS is putting small cameras on people to help them remember and associate memories.

respect

[Errtu76]

I don't care what company you are and what products you normally sell. If you can create something as useful as this, you deserve respect. Well done!

I quickly scanned the article, but i couldn't find a built-in lcd. That would've been perfect, although i can assume the power comsumption would be too heavy and you'll end up losing half a day because of it. *shrug* Wonderful device though.

Interesting

[inKubus]

I could see how you could use this in school, to capture a lecture in a very basic form. Then you can run through 1 minute of audio around the time each picture was taken (say every 5 minutes) and review a 50 minute lecture in 10 minutes. Of course it's possible to record all the audio (the snippet function would be in software), so if you came to a spot that you needed to fully review, you could listen to all the audio of the section. I think that if dementia patients could benefit from this then everyone can.

It might be useful to add some additional information, such as geocoordinates, to the recordings also. Then you could "tag" your regular locations (such as the lecture hall, etc), and set up rules to automatically download and save to certain categories in the database, based on the location you were at when they recorded. So, for instance, you could set up a rule that all recordings at the coordinates of Lecture Hall One should be saved to "Physics Lectures", and all recordings at the coordinates of Lecture Hall Two go to "Accounting Lectures". It's going to need to be automatic if people are going to use it.

Re:Loss of connections

[Sen.NullProcPntr]

Now, if deodorant makers would simply stop using Aluminum oxide in their products, we could probably cut the number of Alzheimer cases in half, but it's no big surprise that the makers of those products are also the ones making the drugs to treat the disease.

Not sure about the conspiracy connection;-) While aluminum can cause memory related problems most research [ccohs.ca] has not found [cdc.gov] any direct link with Alzheimer's.

Aluminum can be found in many other products that come in contact with our bodies [viewzone.com], even tap water.