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A VIRTUAL Three-month Intervention Study of the Effects of a Smartphone Application (HippoCamera) on Memory in Teens and Young Adults With Down Syndrome

NCT07008989 · Status: RECRUITING · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 40

Last updated 2025-06-19

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Down syndrome is a chromosomal abnormality associated with significant deficits across multiple cognitive domains, including a disproportionate deficit in hippocampally-dependent memory. In other words, individuals with Down syndrome may have a particular difficulty remembering specific details from past events. One way this manifests itself is in overgeneral autobiographical memory, or a tendency to remember the general gist of an event or cluster of events, rather than a single, isolated event. This overgeneral memory makes it difficult for individuals with Down syndrome to access their past, can interfere with attempts to becoming more independent, and increases anxiety and depression.

In the current VIRTUAL study, the investigators test whether a new digital memory prosthetic-HippoCamera-can enhance specific autobiographical memory in individuals with Down syndrome. In HippoCamera, users are asked to record and replay events from their daily lives. This replay is curated by a research-based algorithm in HippoCamera that optimizes consolidation of these events over time and has been shown to enhance memory specificity in other populations with memory impairments, particularly those that stem from hippocampal disfunction. It is, therefore, likely that similar enhancements in autobiographical memory specificity will be identified in individuals with Down syndrome, highlighting the benefits of this applications in this population.

Conditions

  • Memory Replay
  • HippoCamera

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Memory replay

Within the HippoCamera application, half of all recorded events will be categorized as "baseline" memories, and half will be categorized as "replay" memories. Baseline memories are recorded, but never viewed by the participant again until the "Early HippoCamera" test at the end of the 12-week intervention. Replay memories are recorded, and then placed into a memory gallery. HippoCamera uses a research-based algorithm to select 5 memories from this gallery for participants to replay each day. Prior research has shown that this replay is associated with significant memory enhancements for replayed v. baseline memories for HippoCamera users from other populations.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Massachusetts General Hospital

    collaborator OTHER

  • University of Colorado, Denver

    collaborator OTHER

  • Boston College

    lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
SINGLE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
15 Years
Max Age
35 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2025-06-01
Primary Completion
2026-07-31
Completion
2026-07-31

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT07008989 on ClinicalTrials.gov