Designing Virtual Interactive Environments for Autobiographical Memory Recall

The ability to recall our past is essential to who we are. We use our past memories as a basis to inform what we do, and how we behave, the events we remember tell us about what and who is important to us, and help us to make our decisions about the future. Traditionally we use medias such as diaries, photos, film, and mementos as cues which help us recall memories. However traditional media are limited to the level of detail, and cues they provide to trigger memory recall. As our own recollection of the event fades with time, the cues can become less effective for recall. This project investigates if more immersive forms of media such as virtual environments provide more efficient means to trigger memory recall, compared to more traditional forms of memory preservation.