So, this is interesting news about a possible new way to stimulate memory in older people:
Pulsing electrical currents through the brain for 20 minutes can boost memory for older adults for at least a month, according to a new study.
Around 8 percent of people in the US get diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia as they get older — significantly impairing their memory — and an even larger group of older adults has some degree of age-related memory loss. This new study is only a first look at a potential solution. But easy, quick treatments like this one could become even more important as the world’s population rapidly ages — especially if future research shows that it can help with more serious cognitive conditions.
The brain stimulation done in this study, published Monday in Nature Neuroscience, came from a swim cap-like device studded with electrodes positioned to deliver the electric current to specific areas of the brain. The research team was interested in two main areas: one that’s linked with working memory (which holds information temporarily and overlaps with short-term memory) and another linked with long-term memory.
The research team divided 60 participants between the ages of 65 and 88 into three groups: one group wore the device but didn’t get any electrical stimulation; the second received stimulation in the region associated with working memory; and the third received stimulation in the area associated with long-term memory. For four consecutive days, the participants received the treatment (or fake treatment) while performing a memory task where they were read a list of 20 words and asked to recall them. The researchers looked to see how often they remembered the words at the beginning of the list (long-term memory) and the end of the list (working memory).
Both working and long-term memory improved over the course of the four days, the study found. “We watched the memory improvements accumulate over time with each passing day,” said study author Robert Reinhart, a professor in the department of psychological and brain sciences at Boston University, during a press briefing. And participants still had improved memory one month later.
And it might have applications to other neurodegenerative conditions.
Too early to tell, of course.
But if it’s in Nature Neuroscience, there’s a pretty good chance that some high-caliber reviewers thought it to be interesting enough to publish in that high-impact journal.
You can read the rest of the The Verge article at this link.