Memory ReplayNCT07008989
A VIRTUAL Three-month Intervention Study of the Effects of a Smartphone Application (HippoCamera) on Memory in Teens and Young Adults With Down Syndrome
A study testing Memory replay in people with Memory Replay and HippoCamera, run by Boston College at 1 site in United States.
Trial 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. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 15 to 35 years
- Conditions the study is for
- Memory Replay, HippoCamera
- What is being tested?
- Memory replay
- Type of treatment
- Lifestyle or therapy programme
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 40 participants
- Where
- 1 siteUnited States
- Study dates
- 1 Jun 2025to 31 Mar 2027
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- Not yet: the study is under way
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 15 to 35 years
- All sexes
- No healthy volunteers
- Child, Adult
Who may be able to join
- Diagnosis of Down syndrome
- Daily access to a smart phone
- The ability to create and replay memories using HippoCamera with limited support from a guardian
- Informed consent obtained from parent or guardian (or participant, if legally independent)
- Informed verbal assent obtained from participant
- Ability to comprehend instructions, denoted by parent/guardian acknowledgment
Show all 9Show fewer
- English as a primary written and spoken language
- Normal or corrected-to-normal vision and hearing
- All races/ethnicities and socio-economic statuses
Who cannot join
- Autism
- Non-native speaker of English (acquired after the age of 5)
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country. Contact the study team or a site near you to ask about taking part.
Lauren Voso, BS contact
United States1 site, 1 recruiting
- Recruiting
Boston College ONLINE STUDY
Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, 02467
Lauren Voso, BS, (617) 552-6949, canlab@bc.edu
About this study
Official title: Use of a Digital Memory Prosthetic to Support Autobiographical Memory in Down Syndrome
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.
Read the detailed description
Individuals with Down syndrome exhibit a disproportionate deficit in hippocampally-dependent memory, including a particular difficulty remembering event-specific details of events from their own lives (i.e., autobiographical memory). In the proposed research, the investigators test the efficacy of a digital memory prosthetic-the HippoCamera application-in supporting this specific autobiographical memory in individuals with Down syndrome. In HippoCamera, participants are asked to record one event each day and replay up to five recorded events from prior days. This replay is curated by a research-based algorithm in HippoCamera that optimizes consolidation of these events over time. HippoCamera replay has been shown to enhance memory specificity in other populations with memory impairments, particularly those that stem from hippocampal disfunction. Specifically, memories that were replayed during the intervention were remembered with greater specificity than those that were just recorded and not replayed. The current research attempts to extend these findings by showing memory enhancements in a population with intellectual disabilities. Specifically, there are two independent aims:
Goal 1: Does using HippoCamera to record and replay daily events lead to greater memory specificity for the replayed events? To test the efficacy of HippoCamera in enhancing replayed memories, the current study compares memory for replayed and not replayed events in a sample of 40 individuals with Down syndrome. All participants enrolled in the study will take part in this intervention, allowing a within-subject comparison of replayed vs. not replayed events. This difference will be tested at two points: immediately (right after the 12-week intervention) and delayed (6 weeks after the 12-week intervention).
Goal 2: Does using HippoCamera to record and replay daily events help participants to develop memory-oriented strategies and behaviors that lead to global memory improvements?
It is possible that the greater benefit of HippoCamera is a global memory enhancement for all autobiographical memories in individuals who complete the intervention. To explore global memory benefits, the 40 participants will be pseudo-randomly assigned to one of two intervention groups (20 each in Groups A and B; pseudo-randomized to ensure matching of age, education, and baseline memory performance).
Critically, although all participants will eventually take part in the intervention, Group B will have a delayed start. In other words, all participants will complete the baseline memory test at the time of enrollment, then participants in Group A will immediately begin the intervention while participants in Group B will serve as a no-intervention control. At the end of Group A's 12-week intervention, both groups will complete a follow-up memory test.
Baseline-to-follow-up increases in memory specificity in Group A (i.e., intervention arm) will be compared to the same increases in Group B (i.e., control arm); greater increases in Group A could then be attributed to their enrollment in the 12-week intervention).
After serving as the control group for Group A's 12-week intervention, Group B will then begin the intervention.
- Conditions
- Memory Replay, HippoCamera
- Being tested
- Memory replay
- Keywords
- Down syndrome, memory, hippocampus, technology
- Medical subject headings
- Down Syndrome
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Memory replayBehavioural
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.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Immediate intervention | Experimental | During the first 12 weeks following enrollment, the Immediate Intervention group will engage in daily practice with the HippoCamera app. HippoCamera is a smartphone application that allows participants to record and replay important events in their daily lives. Based on principles from psychology and neuroscience, engaging in this daily practice may increase focus on memory-orientated practices in participants. Receives: Behavioral: Memory replay |
| Delayed Intervention | Other | During the first 12 weeks following enrollment, the Delayed Intervention group will serve as a control, receiving no intervention. After the initial 12 weeks, they will be entered into daily engagement with the HippoCamera app. Receives: Behavioral: Memory replay |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Internal detail
All memory narratives will be transcribed and scored using the Autobiographical Interview protocol.
Highly trained raters will score each autobiographical memory according to the number and proportion of episodic (internal) vs. semantic (external) details. Episodic details are specific to the time and place of the targeted event, whereas semantic details involve factual information or extended events that do not require recollection of a specific time and place. Memory for episodic details requires the hippocampus, whereas memory for semantic details is more resistant to hippocampal damage.
Measured: Baseline memory appointment (immediately prior to intervention), immediate post-treatment appointment (within a week of terminating intervention), and follow-up appointment (6 weeks after terminating intervention).
Secondary outcomes (3)
Positive memory content
All memory narratives will be transcribed and scored using a text-based sentiment analysis (Valence Aware Dictionary and sEntiment Reasoner; VADER). VADER uses natural language processing to generate a weighted composite score of each narrative's overall sentiment between -1 (highly negative) to +1 (highly positive).
Measured: Baseline memory appointment (immediately prior to intervention), immediate post-treatment appointment (within a week of terminating intervention), and follow-up appointment (6 weeks after terminating intervention).
Independence
Researchers will ask guardians to complete a brief survey describing participant independence. This survey will include questions about activities outside the house (e.g., work or school), social networks, and ability to perform self-care activities (e.g., feeding, dressing, etc.) independently. This survey will have a range of 0-20, with 20 indicating greater independence
Measured: Baseline memory appointment (immediately prior to intervention), immediate post-treatment appointment (within a week of terminating intervention), and follow-up appointment (6 weeks after terminating intervention).
Positive and Negative mood
Participants will complete the Positive and Negative Affective Schedule (PANAS), a measure of positive and negative affect that has previously been used to evaluate mood in intellectual disability. The PANAS is a 20-item self-report questionnaire with 10 positive affect feelings/emotions and 10 negative affect feelings/emotions with possible scores ranging from (lowest) 20 to (highest) 100.
Measured: Baseline memory appointment (immediately prior to intervention), immediate post-treatment appointment (within a week of terminating intervention), and follow-up appointment (6 weeks after terminating intervention).
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted6 Jun 2025
- Study start1 Jun 2025
- Primary completion31 Dec 2026 (estimated)
- Study completion31 Mar 2027 (estimated)
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Other trials for Memory ReplayStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Basic science
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Model description
- Following a baseline screening and memory test, participants will be randomly assigned to one group. During the first 12 weeks, one group will be assigned to the HippoCamera intervention and the other will serve as a control, receiving no intervention. After the first 12 weeks, the second group will receive the HippoCamera intervention. 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 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.
- Masking
- Single blind
- Who is masked
- Outcomes assessor
- Enrolment
- 40 participants (estimated)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- Boston College
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- Massachusetts General Hospital, University of Colorado, Denver
- Responsible party
- Sponsor
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT07008989
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- 1R21HD114263
- Status last verified
- Jul 2026
- First submitted
- 27 May 2025
- Last updated
- 14 Jul 2026
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- Yes
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- Yes: All data will be anonymized prior to sharing. De-identified data from surveys will consist of tab-delimited output from the programs running the tasks. These data will be exported to a format that can be shared with researchers with either Macintosh or Windows platforms (e.g., .xls or .txt format). These files are small and should easily be able to be shared electronically with interested researchers, via email or secure servers. Videos and transcribed narratives of memories will not be shared, but scored data (e.g., detail and positivity scores) for each memory will be easily de-identified and saved as an excel file on a secure server. These de-identified scored data files will be small and should easily be able to be shared electronically with interested researchers, via email or secure servers.
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 14 Jul 2026. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Use of a Digital Memory Prosthetic to Support Autobiographical Memory in Down Syndrome
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT07008989
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- 1R21HD114263
- Conditions
- Memory Replay, HippoCamera
- Keywords
- Down syndrome, memory, hippocampus, technology
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Recruiting
- Enrolment
- 40 participants (estimated)
- Lead sponsor
- Boston CollegeUniversity, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- Massachusetts General Hospital, University of Colorado, Denver
- Study start
- 1 Jun 2025 (actual)
- Primary completion
- 31 Dec 2026 (estimated)
- Study completion
- 31 Mar 2027 (estimated)
- First posted
- 6 Jun 2025 (actual)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
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.
Detailed description
Individuals with Down syndrome exhibit a disproportionate deficit in hippocampally-dependent memory, including a particular difficulty remembering event-specific details of events from their own lives (i.e., autobiographical memory). In the proposed research, the investigators test the efficacy of a digital memory prosthetic-the HippoCamera application-in supporting this specific autobiographical memory in individuals with Down syndrome. In HippoCamera, participants are asked to record one event each day and replay up to five recorded events from prior days. This replay is curated by a research-based algorithm in HippoCamera that optimizes consolidation of these events over time. HippoCamera replay has been shown to enhance memory specificity in other populations with memory impairments, particularly those that stem from hippocampal disfunction. Specifically, memories that were replayed during the intervention were remembered with greater specificity than those that were just recorded and not replayed. The current research attempts to extend these findings by showing memory enhancements in a population with intellectual disabilities. Specifically, there are two independent aims:
Goal 1: Does using HippoCamera to record and replay daily events lead to greater memory specificity for the replayed events? To test the efficacy of HippoCamera in enhancing replayed memories, the current study compares memory for replayed and not replayed events in a sample of 40 individuals with Down syndrome. All participants enrolled in the study will take part in this intervention, allowing a within-subject comparison of replayed vs. not replayed events. This difference will be tested at two points: immediately (right after the 12-week intervention) and delayed (6 weeks after the 12-week intervention).
Goal 2: Does using HippoCamera to record and replay daily events help participants to develop memory-oriented strategies and behaviors that lead to global memory improvements?
It is possible that the greater benefit of HippoCamera is a global memory enhancement for all autobiographical memories in individuals who complete the intervention. To explore global memory benefits, the 40 participants will be pseudo-randomly assigned to one of two intervention groups (20 each in Groups A and B; pseudo-randomized to ensure matching of age, education, and baseline memory performance).
Critically, although all participants will eventually take part in the intervention, Group B will have a delayed start. In other words, all participants will complete the baseline memory test at the time of enrollment, then participants in Group A will immediately begin the intervention while participants in Group B will serve as a no-intervention control. At the end of Group A's 12-week intervention, both groups will complete a follow-up memory test.
Baseline-to-follow-up increases in memory specificity in Group A (i.e., intervention arm) will be compared to the same increases in Group B (i.e., control arm); greater increases in Group A could then be attributed to their enrollment in the 12-week intervention).
After serving as the control group for Group A's 12-week intervention, Group B will then begin the intervention.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Basic science
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- Single blind (outcomes assessor)
- Number of arms
- 2
- Model description
- Following a baseline screening and memory test, participants will be randomly assigned to one group. During the first 12 weeks, one group will be assigned to the HippoCamera intervention and the other will serve as a control, receiving no intervention. After the first 12 weeks, the second group will receive the HippoCamera intervention. 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 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.
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Immediate intervention | Experimental | Behavioral: Memory replayDuring the first 12 weeks following enrollment, the Immediate Intervention group will engage in daily practice with the HippoCamera app. HippoCamera is a smartphone application that allows participants to record and replay important events in their daily lives. Based on principles from psychology and neuroscience, engaging in this daily practice may increase focus on memory-orientated practices in participants. |
| Delayed Intervention | Other | Behavioral: Memory replayDuring the first 12 weeks following enrollment, the Delayed Intervention group will serve as a control, receiving no intervention. After the initial 12 weeks, they will be entered into daily engagement with the HippoCamera app. |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 15 to 35 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Not accepted
- Age groups
- Child, Adult
Key inclusion criteria (9 listed)
- Diagnosis of Down syndrome
- Daily access to a smart phone
- The ability to create and replay memories using HippoCamera with limited support from a guardian
- Informed consent obtained from parent or guardian (or participant, if legally independent)
- Informed verbal assent obtained from participant
Key exclusion criteria (2 listed)
- Autism
- Non-native speaker of English (acquired after the age of 5)
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| Memory replayWithin 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. | Behavioural | Delayed Intervention, Immediate intervention |
Primary outcome
Internal detail
Time frame: Baseline memory appointment (immediately prior to intervention), immediate post-treatment appointment (within a week of terminating intervention), and follow-up appointment (6 weeks after terminating intervention).
All memory narratives will be transcribed and scored using the Autobiographical Interview protocol. Highly trained raters will score each autobiographical memory according to the number and proportion of episodic (internal) vs. semantic (external) details. Episodic details are specific to the time and place of the targeted event, whereas semantic details involve factual information or extended events that do not require recollection of a specific time and place. Memory for episodic details requires the hippocampus, whereas memory for semantic details is more resistant to hippocampal damage.
3 secondary outcomes
Positive memory content
Time frame: Baseline memory appointment (immediately prior to intervention), immediate post-treatment appointment (within a week of terminating intervention), and follow-up appointment (6 weeks after terminating intervention).
Independence
Time frame: Baseline memory appointment (immediately prior to intervention), immediate post-treatment appointment (within a week of terminating intervention), and follow-up appointment (6 weeks after terminating intervention).
Positive and Negative mood
Time frame: Baseline memory appointment (immediately prior to intervention), immediate post-treatment appointment (within a week of terminating intervention), and follow-up appointment (6 weeks after terminating intervention).
Results and safety
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 14 Jul 2026.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: Yes. All data will be anonymized prior to sharing. De-identified data from surveys will consist of tab-delimited output from the programs running the tasks. These data will be exported to a format that can be shared with researchers with either Macintosh or Windows platforms (e.g., .xls or .txt format). These files are small and should easily be able to be shared electronically with interested researchers, via email or secure servers. Videos and transcribed narratives of memories will not be shared, but scored data (e.g., detail and positivity scores) for each memory will be easily de-identified and saved as an excel file on a secure server. These de-identified scored data files will be small and should easily be able to be shared electronically with interested researchers, via email or secure servers.
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part.
Lauren Voso, BS contact
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Memory replay in people with Memory Replay and HippoCamera, run by Boston College at 1 site in United States.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 9 inclusion and 2 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: looking for participants now, as of the sponsor's last update on 14 Jul 2026. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 1 site in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
Contact Jaclyn Ford, PhD (617-312-4735, jaclyn.ford@bc.edu), or a site near the patient. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Internal detail (time frame: Baseline memory appointment (immediately prior to intervention), immediate post-treatment appointment (within a week of terminating intervention), and follow-up appointment (6 weeks after terminating intervention).). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 14 Jul 2026.