A study says that stimulating the brain boosts memory for a month

Scientists have discovered that they can boost people’s memory for at least a month by stimulating parts of the brain with electricity without causing harm.

The study volunteers performed better in word memorization games, which tested both their “working” memory (the temporary storage of information of limited capacity) and their long-term memory.

However, it is still not clear what exactly the results mean for everyday life.

But ideas range from helping older adults deal with memory decline, to treating illness and helping to prepare for a test.

Robert Reinhart of Boston University in the US described the stimulation technology as “a completely different way of isolating and turbocharging parts of the brain” that offers “a whole new field of possible treatment options”.

The people who took part in the study wore a hat filled with electrodes. A controlled electric current, similar to an itch or a tingle, was then used to precisely alter brain waves in specific areas of the brain.

The volunteers underwent 20 minutes of stimulation per day for four consecutive days. During the study period, they had to memorize lists of words – and were asked to remember them again a month later.

The treatment “may cause an improvement in selective memory that lasts for at least a month,” Reinhart said.

The results, published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, showed that volunteers who had difficulty with memory games at the start of the experiment had the most improvements in their memory.

How does memory work?

The electrical signals altered the rhythm of brain activity – brain waves – in the target areas.

Scientists believe that the four rounds of stimulation reinforced these patterns and led to lasting improvements as the brain adapted and rewired itself – what is known as neuroplasticity.

“It’s a kind of connection with what’s called the language of the brain, which talks to itself and communicates with itself through electrical impulses,” says Reinhart.
However, different types of stimulation are needed to increase different types of memory:

• Working memory here and now. It’s the way you keep information in your mind—like taking notes in class—and it’s vital to problem-solving and decision-making.
• To enhance it requires low-frequency stimulation of the prefrontal cortex, in the front part of the brain.
• Long-term memory is where we store information; It’s how we remember our first day at school or a wedding.
• To enhance it requires high-frequency stimulation of the parietal cortex in the back of the brain.
• In word games – recall of that given initially results in a test of long-term memory, while recall after a month of tests of working memory.

All 150 people who took part in the study were healthy, without cognitive impairment, and between the ages of 65 and 88.

Forgetting is often a sign of aging, but it remains to be seen if this type of stimulation can help the aging of the brain in the real world after wordplay.

Dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, results from a diseased brain with dying brain cells – leading to memory problems.

Researchers are studying whether the technology can be used in Alzheimer’s disease to stimulate remaining brain cells, as well as in schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

“We don’t know if brain stimulation techniques have the potential to help people with dementia, but research is ongoing in this area,” says Susan Koolhaas, director of research at Alzheimer’s Research UK.
Currently, this method of stimulation – transcranial alternating current stimulation – is possible only in research laboratories.

So, if you’re considering using this cognitive enhancement technique to pass a test, for example, scientists say using it at home is for the distant future.

But researcher Shree Grover says he believes it can be used in conjunction with traditional methods to keep your mind sharp, such as crossword puzzles and sudoku.

“Any effort to stay cognitively engaged is always welcome, this kind of approach is probably something that can be added to the things people are already doing,” he says.