Brain stimulation improves working memory in adults
May 15, 2019
Science Daily/Duke Department of Neurology
Magnetic stimulation of the brain improves working memory, offering a new potential avenue of therapy for individuals living with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia, according to new research from the Duke University School of Medicine.
Healthy younger and older adult participants who received a therapy called repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) performed better on a memory task than during an rTMS-like placebo in the study, which was published here in PLoS One.
"This study relies on highly individualized parameters, from the selection of the stimulated target, based on fMRI activation, to the selection of the difficulty, titrated according to subjects' performance. Now that we have shown that these specific parameters can improve performance in healthy subjects, we will be able to extend it to populations with memory deficits," said Lysianne Beynel, PhD, a postdoctoral associate in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.
Working memory is the process of recalling and then using relevant information while performing a task. It's a key component of day-to-day tasks like driving to a new location, making a recipe, or following instructions. Individuals with Alzheimer's disease, which will more than double by 2050, and other forms of dementia, experience progressive loss of working memory and other forms of cognition, leading to a greater risk of injury or death and reducing their ability to function without home care.
Twenty-nine young adults and 18 older adults completed the study, which involved trying to remember and then reproduce a series of letters in alphabetical order. The authors applied either online high-frequency (5Hz) rTMS, or a placebo-like sham over the left prefrontal cortex, an area on the brain responsible for higher executive function. Participants of all ages who received rTMS performed better than those who received the rTMS-like placebo.
"Interestingly, we only saw this effect during when participants were trying their hardest, suggesting a real use-it-or-lose it principle at work here," said co-author Simon W. Davis, PhD. "Contrary to much of what we hear, aging brains have a remarkable capability to remember past events and to use that information in a flexible manner. The brain stimulation applied in our study shows that older adults benefited just as much as the young."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/05/190515130256.htm
Overnight brain stimulation improves memory
Non-invasive technique enhances memory storage without disturbing sleep
July 23, 2018
Science Daily/Society for Neuroscience
New research in humans demonstrates the potential to improve memory with a non-invasive brain stimulation technique delivered during sleep. The results come from a project that aims to better understand the process of memory consolidation, which could translate into improved memory function in both healthy and patient populations.
The transfer of memories from the hippocampus to the neocortex for long-term storage is thought to be enabled by synchronization of these parts of the brain during sleep. Nicholas Ketz, Praveen Pilly, and colleagues at University of New Mexico sought to enhance this natural process of overnight reactivation or neural replay to improve memory with a closed-loop transcranial alternating current stimulation system matching the phase and frequency of ongoing slow-wave oscillations during sleep.
Participants were trained and tested on a realistic visual discrimination task in which they had to detect potentially threatening hidden objects and people such as explosive devices and enemy snipers. The researchers found that when participants received stimulation during overnight visits to their sleep laboratory, they showed improved performance in detecting targets in similar but novel situations the next day compared to when they did not receive the stimulation, suggesting an integration of recent experience into a more robust and general memory.
Overnight memory changes correlated with stimulation-induced neural changes, which could be used to optimize stimulation in future applications.
These findings provide a method for enhancing memory consolidation without disturbing sleep.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/07/180723142907.htm