‘Memory Shots’: Kodak and Happiness launch AI tool to help dementia patients reconstruct memories

Caregivers can then start a conversation with their parent, loved one or patient, asking if the AI got it right or if they should add new prompts and directions to get it closer to the real memory.

Hantson, along with other people on the collaborative team, have parents with dementia, which is one of their driving motivators in developing the project, he said. Hantson noted that while dementia is mostly marked by memory loss, it can also result in a breakdown of communication, and this was a problem they wanted to tackle.

“What we noticed is that dementia is also a problem of communication, because at a certain point communication just stops,” Hantson said. “The second thing we noticed is that sometimes [people with dementia] have a fantastic, cherished memory, but there is no picture of the memory.”

“My father, for example, had a beautiful memory about how he had a horse when he was a child, but there aren’t any pictures of that,” he continued. “So we initially thought, ‘What if we could create pictures from memories where no picture exists? How would patients react?’”

Reminiscence therapy

The partners drew on a growing body of research for a type of dementia and Alzheimer’s intervention known as reminiscence therapy. The idea behind it is to use certain markers, like music, pictures, stories or environmental details, to trigger memories in people with the neurodegenerative conditions.

Research has shown that reminiscence therapy may not necessarily slow down the disease, but it can lead to a reduction of stress and anxiety, and improve patients’ quality of life. One 2021 study published in Frontiers in Psychology also found that reminiscence therapy resulted in a significant increase in remission from depression.

To develop Memory Shots, Hantson and his team partnered with leading Belgian dementia organizations, including Alzheimer Liga Vlaanderen, Alzheimer Belgique and Baluchon Alzheimer, among others. They also worked with researchers and professors specializing in dementia, at the University of Leuven and other universities, to ask how they could make the tool the most effective and beneficial to dementia patients.

(Photo credit: Kodak. Image used with permission). 

“They said, ‘Well, it could be an add-on, or an enrichment of the existing photo-reminiscence therapy,’” Hantson said. “They were involved from step one to the very end. They all said that it could increase quality of life [for patients].”

When the partnering dementia centers began testing Memory Shots with patients, they discovered that conversations based on the memories and prompts became much more in depth, detailed and emotional — and lasted much longer than usual.

When Hantson tried out Memory Shots with his own father, his father laughed as he tweaked the prompts and tried to reconstruct his memory. “I hadn’t seen him laugh in years,” Hantson recalled.

Memory Shots is open and free to use among the public, but it’s already been picked up and implemented in 70% of dementia treatment centers around Belgium.

Future research

The program has already drawn attention in Belgium, but Hantson hopes that it will grow globally. He encourages people and caregivers to use the tool for free at home, well before their loved ones are admitted into a care facility.

Researchers are already planning to conduct a study on Memory Shots to examine some of its unique qualities that trigger longer conversations and memories among dementia patients.

Hantson is eager to see the results of a study on the project as they work to expand it. His hopes for the future are based on two goals — that “Memory Shots” actually works to improve quality of life in the long-term, and that it eventually expands to as many care centers as possible.

“What we already know is that photo-reminiscence, or just looking at pictures, triggers something,” Hantson said. “What they didn’t know is that constructing a picture triggers way more interesting things. So they are now digging deeper into that — into the ‘why.’ That’s going to be very interesting to find out.”