Supervised by: Minha Lee, Rens Brankaert, Wijnand IJsselsteijn

Intertemporal reflection, the ability to think flexibly across time, is crucial for future planning but can be difficult when considering challenging futures like dementia. This study explored how chatbot interactions shape attitudes toward dementia. Participants engaged with a chatbot presented as either neurotypical or simulating dementia symptoms, framed as their future selves or a stranger. While the changes in attitudes toward dementia were statistically insignificant, the chatbot interaction influenced experiences. A future-self chatbot fostered emotional connection and reflection on aging, especially when simulating dementia. When framed as a stranger, the chatbot’s cognitive decline frustrated task-oriented participants. Thus, chatbots can aid reflection on difficult futures, but their effectiveness depends on tensions between simulated cognitive decline and expectations for effective communication.

Assistive technology today is largely designed for the measurable aspect of time, thus not addressing flexible, subjective experiences and cultural needs. In this paper, we first briefly look at the landscape of assistive technologies for dementia. Then, we visualise the experience of time in dementia and the mismatch between technology and people through two scenarios. We briefly dive into the evolution of timekeeping and time of various cultures to look at the lost perspectives of time and make the modern-day dependency on clocks explicit. Finally, the paper nudges the reader to re-think the future of technology design through a multi-temporal lens that is inclusive of the flexible and intuitive perspectives of time to look beyond the technological impositions of commoditised time.