RECALL - Enhanced Human Memory

RECALL aims to re-think and re-define the notion of memory augmentation. Recent developments in capture technology and information retrieval allow for continuous and automated recordings of many aspects of our everyday lives. RECALL will harness these trends and develop a new paradigm for memory augmentation technologies that are technically feasible, desired by users, and beneficial to society. By combining technological interventions with basic research questions in memory psychology, we plan to elevate memory augmentation technologies from a clinical niche application to a mainstream technology, initiating a major chance in the way we use technology to remember and to externalize memory. RECALL will build on contemporary memory theories that highlight how technology augmented recall can be used to both re-enforce and attenuate memories. It will develop novel capture technologies and corresponding control mechanisms to automate the acquisition of personal memories, and investigate how feedback through ambient large displays and personal mobile devices can aid personal memory acquisition, retention, and attenuation. The project is highly innovative – no such memory augmentation systems exist today and their emergence would represent a radical transformation in the way we understand and manage human memory acquisition and recall.

The project is high risk – numerous technical and societal challenges need to be addressed before augmented memory systems are possible; and potentially high pay-off – if successful, the project will contribute to our fundamental understanding of human memory and have a transformational impact on all spheres of life – the workplace, family life, education, and psychological well-being – by measurably improving the acquisition of new knowledge, the retention of existing knowledge, and the loss of unwanted knowledge.