Exploring memories of everyday life: a validation study of L-RECAP

In six studies of healthy individuals, we examined the feasibility, validity, and reliability of L-RECAP, a new ecological measure of memory functioning based on the sampling of everyday experiences.

Participants received five notifications per day for 7 days via a mobile app, asking about their ongoing activities. Two days after the last notification, the accuracy, richness, specificity, and phenomenology of their memory for five of these activities were assessed with verbal recall. L-RECAP's feasibility and acceptability were examined through the notifications response rate and explicit feedback (n = 135; S1). Correlations with traditional neuropsychological assessments (n = 79; S2) and participants' memories of a previous session (n = 20; S3) were used to document convergent and divergent validity. Predictive validity was assessed using self-report memory questionnaires (n = 135; S4) and discriminant validity was tested by comparing individuals who were satisfied vs. dissatisfied with their memory functioning (n = 56; S5). Finally, test-retest reliability over 6 weeks was examined (n = 30; S6).

Participants reported good acceptability for L-RECAP. It correlated moderately with standard memory tests (r from 0.29 to 0.50) and self-report memory measures (r from 0.19 to 0.38). The specificity score correlated strongly with recall of a previous session (r = 0.54). The accuracy score distinguished between satisfied from dissatisfied participants (d = 0.34) and the task showed satisfactory test-retest reliability.

Although further validation in clinical populations is needed, L-RECAP appears to be a feasible, reliable, and ecologically valid measure of everyday memory functioning.