Nature Neuroscience
According to a study published in Nature Neuroscience, electrical brain stimulation for 20 minutes on four consecutive days can enhance two separate forms of memory in people 65 and older for at least one month. As the world's population gradually ages, this non-invasive memory enhancement technique might help to improve daily activities.
While recalling where you parked your car after a vacation is an example of long-term memory, working memory is needed to remember information for a little amount of time, like the platform number when boarding a train. The effectiveness of different types of memory varies widely amongst people, and it tends to deteriorate with age.
In 150 people between the ages of 65 and 88, Robert Reinhart and colleagues sought to enhance both forms of memory. Participants wore a hat with electrodes placed in it as they listened and promptly remembered five sets of twenty words from the writers. The authors chose two specific brain areas to stimulate using two different stimulation frequencies based on prior studies. Targeting the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex at 60 Hz enhanced recall of words at the beginning of the list, reflecting storage in long-term memory, while targeting the inferior parietal lobule at 4 Hz improved recall of items from the end of the list, indicative of storage in working memory. For participants who started out with the worst cognitive performance Brain stimulation was most effective at the beginning of the research.
More investigation is required to establish whether these effects can continue longer than a month and whether these particular techniques can help improve memory function in people whose cognition is compromised owing to brain illnesses and in those who are at risk for dementia.
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