Electrical Stimulation Makes Old Brains Act Young Again

MORE Credit: Shutterstock A short session of brain zapping can reverse some of the effects of aging in older adults, a new study suggests. The technique isn’t ready for non-experimental use yet, and it’s not clear how long the benefits last. But the study authors said they hope that their findings will set the stage for improving cognition in both healthy adults and in people experiencing Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia . "These findings are important because they not only give us new insights into the brain basis for age-related working-memory decline, but they also show us that the negative age-related changes are not unchangeable," said study leader Robert Reinhart, a neuroscientist at Boston University. [ Why You Forget: 5 Strange Facts About Memory ] The findings were published today (April 8) in the journal Nature Neuroscience . Working memory Reinhart and his co-author, doctoral student John Nguyen, focused their study on an aspect of cognition called working memory. This is the sketch pad of the brain, Reinhart said in a press briefing. It allows people to hold information in active use for a few seconds at a time, facilitating all sorts of important tasks, from performing mental math to reading to having a conversation. Research has shown that working memory is a key part of intelligence, Reinhart told reporters. But working memory declines over adulthood. The decline is not dramatic, but it is significant enough that older adults perform worse , on average, on working-memory tasks than younger adults. Reinhart and Nguyen wanted to see if they could figure out why — and perhaps change that trajectory. The researchers recruited 42 adults ages 20 to 29 and 42 older adults ages 60 to 76; the scientists asked the participants to complete a working-memory task while their brain […]

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