Alzheimer's Research UK has created an app for Facebook called FaceDementia, which provides users an experience replicating symptoms of dementia.
Symptoms of dementia include difficulty communicating, confusion and memory loss, according to CNET.
"Facebook's appeal is that it can gather your friends and family and keep them close, with memories and contacts all contained within one space," said Rebecca Wood, chief executive of Alzheimer's Research UK. "It also develops a diary of your life since you joined the site and documents your thoughts and musings during time."
FaceDementia takes the user's information, such as location and photos of family and friends, and uses it for an interactive presentation. When an image flashes on the screen, the app will point out information that a person with dementia might not remember.
The app does not store any data or mix up users' real timeline or information, BBC News reported.
"We wanted to use these Facebook features to illustrate how those thoughts and memories can be confused, or forgotten altogether, as experienced by some of the hundreds of thousands of people across the UK living with dementia," Wood said.
FaceDementia also provides short videos of people explaining how they have been impacted by the disease, CNET reported.
Viv Hill, whose mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease when she was 61 years old, has been campaigning for dementia. Hill has also been raising money for Alzheimer's Research UK by running marathons.
"At the end, I couldn't remember the last time my mum said, 'I love you' or the last time she said my name or even looked at me with any recognition on her face and that is really, really hard," she said in a video.
Wood urged people to get involved with FaceDementia and share the app on Facebook with family and friends, BBC News reported.
"Stigma around dementia is due in part to a lack of public awareness and understanding, so FaceDementia will be invaluable in helping people better understand the condition," she stated.
