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Magnetic Stimulation Boosts Memory In Humans

Posted by Soulskill on from the better-learning-through-fridge-magnets dept.

sciencehabit writes: Our memories are annoyingly glitchy. Names, dates, birthdays, and the locations of car keys fall through the cracks, losses that accelerate at an alarming pace with age and in neurodegenerative diseases. Now, by applying electromagnetic pulses through the skull to carefully targeted brain regions, researchers have found a way to boost memory performance in healthy people. The new study (abstract) sheds light on the neural networks that support memories and may lead to therapies for people with memory deficits, researchers say. Similar studies have been performed using electric current.

15 of 74 comments (clear)

  1. "Carefully targetted" by i+kan+reed · · Score: 3, Informative

    Somehow, I think I'll be seeing bullshit products on infomercials that are "proven" to enhance memory that won't actually do anything besides "be magnets that cost $100".(5 easy payments of $19.99)

    1. Re:"Carefully targetted" by FatdogHaiku · · Score: 3, Funny

      Instead of a magnetic arm bracelet, it will be a magnetic halo for your head in order to give you god-like memory abilities. (only 5 easy payments of $19.99)

      Bah! I've been doing this for years... people just couldn't see it because of the aluminum foil!

      --
      You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
    2. Re: "Carefully targetted" by nospam007 · · Score: 2

      "Strong magnetic fields have also been linked to brain tumors."

      No.

    3. Re: "Carefully targetted" by LduN · · Score: 2

      It's not a tumahh! It's a memory bundle

  2. Let's get this out of the way... by jeffb+(2.718) · · Score: 4, Informative

    These are magnetic pulses. No, strapping magnets to your wrist/ankle/belly/tinfoil-hat still won't accomplish anything.

    1. Re:Let's get this out of the way... by timrod · · Score: 3, Funny

      Oh great, NOW you tell me. I already stole all the magnets from the company kitchen and made a hat out of them. Oh well, if nothing else it'll be a great conversation starter.

    2. Re:Let's get this out of the way... by jeffb+(2.718) · · Score: 5, Funny

      It's the rate of change of magnetic flux that does the trick. You get changing flux from a changing electrical current, or from a moving magnet. So maybe if you loaded the magnets into a shotgun, then fired them through your brain, you'd notice an effect.

    3. Re:Let's get this out of the way... by jenningsthecat · · Score: 3, Funny

      subwoofers ...causing headaches and annoying bystanders.

      Subwoofers - causing annoying bystanders for over 50 years!

      Don't you just love the playful ambiguities of the English language?

      --
      'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
    4. Re:Let's get this out of the way... by KingOfBLASH · · Score: 2

      No silly. If you blast magnets through your brain you'll destroy your brain tissue.

      Much better to go put your head on the track of a mag lev train. Your brain tissue will be fine and you'll get super magnetic field strength

  3. Re:CHIROPRACTIC by kruach+aum · · Score: 2

    Hmm, your belief in chiropraxy seems to be a symptom of a transfinite nth-dimensional neurotronic gluocyte infestation. You're lucky I read your post when I did; continued belief could have caused severe cognitive limitation and/or deficiency, but, out of the goodness of my heart, for only 49,99$ a month, I will make sure to safeguard you from continued influence by daily astral projection sessions.

    (tl;dr: chiropractic subluxation is a thing that does not exist)

  4. Did you notice in the article by frog_strat · · Score: 2

    That the wild ass speculation at the end is given equal footing with a formal study ? Having had a couple of mini-strokes, and having a job that mostly involves concentration, this topic is of interest to me. I can say that adderall (took it a couple of times) and my nootropic cocktail definitely help.

    It is annoying how many fundamentalists.there are on here. Intelligent only in the cognitive domain. Science requires agnosticism. Engineering requires pessimism.

  5. Memory decline by Bengie · · Score: 2

    I have actually found my memory has been getting better with age, but I had a horrible memory as a child. I've been finding that the more I learn, the more ways I have to associate knowledge, allowing me to better recall or learn new knowledge.

  6. Re:Wait, he thought, this was a poor life choice.. by roc97007 · · Score: 2

    It's the rate of change of magnetic flux that does the trick.

    So, in theory, standing near a nuclear explosion to get a direct cranial hit from the EMP it generates should do wonders for your mental capacity....

    For some definition of "wonders", yes.

    --
    Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
  7. Re:pulsing by jeffb+(2.718) · · Score: 4, Funny

    "How long" isn't the question, but "how fast". You should be accelerating it to a few kilometers/sec, then reversing its velocity when it's a few millimeters from your scalp. You should probably do this in a vacuum, to avoid confounding influences from shockwaves.

  8. MRI did have some effect with my wife by Frans+Faase · · Score: 2

    In 2006 my wife reported that her memory improved after she had an MRI taken of her head when she was suffering from memory problems. A few months later, also based on lumbal puncture, she was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimers disease. She reported that her thinking became much more clear. The effect only lasted for half a day. When I told her neurologists, she laughed it away.