The Amnesia Atlas VR. A photographic media interface as memory-prosthesis

The Amnesia Atlas constitutes a pilot study for a photographic media interface as memory prosthesis. It utilises the wearable lifelogging camera SenseCam to shed light on the importance of photographic imagery and place for memory retrieval. It investigates the relationships of spatiotemporal context on memory encoding and retrieval, utilising immersive 3D visualisation. It is doing so by locating geo-tagged SenseCam image sequences within a virtual representation of the place they were captured at. Using an interactive map as a navigational interface, visitors are able to engage with the imagery in their spatial context, and retrace individual journeys by freely explore this virtual representation. The capacity of a viewer to experience ‘presence’ in relation to a place is known to be beneficial to memory encoding and retrieval, and so is the stimulation with multiple cues. The Amnesia Atlas provides users with a rich audio-visual context to view and interact with SenseCam recordings, and has the potential to be a valuable tool in memory research.