Cutting-edge experiments show an electrical zap improves memory in older adults

Quirks & Quarks Mild electrical stimulation gives older adults the memory performance of 20-year olds An older adult receiving transcranial magnetic stimulation to improve his memory in Dr. Joel Voss’s study (Joel Voss) Two complementary studies recently found that noninvasive and extremely mild brain stimulation could be used to improve episodic and working memory in older adults. "We can make these 60 and 70-year-olds look strikingly like our 20-year-old participants," researcher Robert Reinhart told Quirks & Quarks host Bob McDonald. As we age many aspects of our memory deteriorate. The effects can range from irritating, when we can’t remember where we left the car keys, to embarrassment when we forget names in a conversation, to tragedy, in pathological conditions like dementia. This new research suggests, though, that we we might be able to boost memory in the future with just a simple zap to the brain, and the therapeutic potential of this technology could be huge. Using magnetic induction to boost neural signals The first study used a technique called transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to induce mild neural firing in the brain. The researchers hoped this stimulation would increase communication between the hippocampus, the region deep within the brain that’s critically responsible for episodic or long-term memory, and the cortical network connected to the hippocampus on the outer surface of the brain. Joel Voss , an associate professor in the Department of Neurology at Northwestern University, led the 15-person pilot study which looked at adults between the age of 64 and 82 with typical memory deficits. "What we did in our study was try to influence the network of the hippocampus," explained Voss. In part this was because these areas on the outer part of the brain were ones their TMS system could accurately target. An older adult receiving […]

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