Wearable Affective Memory Augmentation

TL;DR

This paper introduces a wearable system that enhances human memory by leveraging the emotional states of social companions to prioritize and improve the recall of important information.

Contribution

It presents a novel affective memory augmentation system that uses social affective cues to facilitate value-directed memory enhancement.

Findings

Demonstrates improved memory recall through affective cues

Integrates social affective data into memory augmentation

Provides a wearable solution for affective memory enhancement

Abstract

Human memory prioritizes the storage and recall of information that is emotionally-arousing and/or important in a process known as value-directed memory. When experiencing a stream of information (e.g. conversation, book, lecture, etc.), the individual makes conscious and subconscious value assessments of the incoming information and uses this as a metric to determine what to remember. In order to improve automatic recall of memory, previous memory augmentation systems have sensed users' physiological state to determine which sensory media should be prioritized. Here, we propose to prioritize memories using the affective state of individuals that the user is interacting with. Thereby, the proposed wearable Affective Memory Augmentation system uses affective information from the user's social companions in order to facilitate value-directed memory.