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Scientists Reverse Memory Decline Using Electrical Pulses (theguardian.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the working-memory dept.

A new study has found that electrical brain stimulation can temporarily reverse a decline in memory as a result of aging. An anonymous Slashdot reader shares the findings via a report from The Guardian: The study focused on a part of cognition called working memory, the brain system that holds information for short periods while we are making decisions or performing calculations. Working memory is crucial for a wide variety of tasks, such as recognizing faces, doing arithmetic and navigating a new environment. Working memory is known to steadily decline with age, even in the absence of any form of dementia. One factor in this decline is thought to be a disconnection between two brain networks, known as the prefrontal and temporal regions. In young people, the electrical brain activity in these two regions tends to be rhythmically synchronized, which scientists think allows information to be exchanged between the two brain areas. However, in older people the activity tends to be less tightly synchronized. This may be as result of deterioration of the long-range nerve connections that link up the different parts of the brain.

In the study, published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, 42 people aged 20 -- 29 and 42 people aged 60 -- 76 were assessed in a working memory task. The older group were slower and less accurate on the tests. The scientists then subjected them all to 25 minutes of non-invasive brain stimulation. This aimed to synchronize the two target brain regions by passing gentle pulses of electricity through the scalp and into the brain. After the intervention, working memory in the older adults improved to match the younger group and the effect appeared to last for 50 minutes after the stimulation. Those who had scored worst to start with showed the largest improvements.

23 of 47 comments (clear)

  1. Tip of my tongue by PopeRatzo · · Score: 5, Funny

    I had a really insightful comment to make about this article, but it slipped my mind. But trust me, it would have definitely been +5 Insightful. It has something to do with...nah, it's gone.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
    1. Re:Tip of my tongue by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      Hello, you seem to be asleep. Do you need a shock to the brain to wake you up? Strictly speaking, it's non-invasive!

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    2. Re:Tip of my tongue by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      Hello, you seem to be asleep. Do you need a shock to the brain to wake you up? Strictly speaking, it's non-invasive!

      Hook me up, brother.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
  2. They old people were asleep by phantomfive · · Score: 4, Funny

    The shocks just woke them up.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    1. Re: They old people were asleep by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      Strictly speaking, those are grammatical errors. I meant to type it that way.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  3. Sounds good to me by SuperKendall · · Score: 2

    Turns out the Matrixies got it backwards; we are not batteries, we *need* batteries to stay human!

    I've got a bag of old 9-volts in the fridge, and a feeling I may have forgot something important.

    Let's go!

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  4. DRAM by Gabest · · Score: 4, Funny

    Not very surprising. That's exactly how DRAM works. You have to keep refreshing it with electricity, or else it forgets everything.

  5. regression to the mean by epine · · Score: 1

    Those who had scored worst to start with showed the largest improvements.

    Definitional frame of regression to the mean.

    If it had been the other way around—older adults with the best scores improved the most relative to their younger controls—then we would know for sure this was a real thing, because that result would have run entirely counter to the pear-shaped grain of mediocrity restoration.

  6. Why? by SpaghettiPattern · · Score: 1

    ... did I click this link again?

    --

    I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)
  7. Waiting for Duplicate Post by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 4, Funny

    If ever a story deserved a duplicate post tomorrow morning, this would be the one.

    --
    My God, it's Full of Source!
    OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
  8. It correlates with decline in eyesight ... by Qbertino · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ... and I can't shake the suspicion that there is a direct link here. I'm closing in on 50 and can observe the described decline in working memory first hand. It moves back and forth between being mildly annoying/funny and flat out scary. 45+ and your cognitive ability will decline in ways you yourself will start noticing. Prepare for that.

    However I also observe that my thinking and perception of my environment has changed notably simply due to the fact that my eyes have gotten worse. And to the effect that the performance of each Eye has moved apart, with one eye being notably worse than another - *that* would explain the decline in synchronicity of brain hemispheres that appears to be the the direct cause in working memory decline as the article explains.

    IMHO scientist should look into this particular link.

    My 2 cents.

    --
    We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
    1. Re:It correlates with decline in eyesight ... by blackest_k · · Score: 2

      It's certainly true that you can stimulate the brain to perform better.

      I had a procedure where i was put under with propofol and coming round was incredible. I have never felt sharper, the kind of things that you know vaguely say the name of an actor in a film instantly recalled rather than on the tip of your tongue.

      Of course propofol has killed a few people and electrical simulation can be dangerous. It would be interesting to see if a safe application of this treatment will be developed.

      --
      Blarney Quality Restaurant, Plants
    2. Re:It correlates with decline in eyesight ... by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      ... and I can't shake the suspicion that there is a direct link here. I'm closing in on 50 and can observe the described decline in working memory first hand. It moves back and forth between being mildly annoying/funny and flat out scary.

      What they have done is kind of like brainwaves on overdrive here. From perusing the article, I pick up on "theta".

      Okay, here's a trick for you to try. Go to youtube and find theta waves. Here's one https://www.youtube.com/watch?... .

      Note that all of the cosmic bullshit is bullshitty. But the effect isn't. The main different "brainwaves" are alpha, beta, and theta. There are other minor ones. Now wearing headphones - you have to wear headphones - you listen to the sound. A very simple one will have two sine waves at different frequencies that create a heterodyne. Theta is around 6-7 Hz. There are ones with music or ambient sounds as well.

      I use it to relax - at least for theta. Alpha waves make me irritable. I don't have memory issues, but you might try it and see if you notice anything.

      Anyhow, some new agers have co-opted a very interesting thing. This is no crystal harmonies or astral projection hoohaw. it is a way to relax. To me, a state of relaxed concentration is awesome.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    3. Re:It correlates with decline in eyesight ... by Anubis+IV · · Score: 1

      Eh, as someone who—like many of us here—was routinely at the top of his class and then went on to pursue a "thinking" career, but who also has had natural monovision since junior high (i.e. one eye can see far better than the other, to the point that during college a new-to-me optometrist saw the difference in the prescription for my eyes and immediately asked with a great deal of concern in his voice whether I suffered migraines, vomiting, seizures, blackouts, or falls on a regular basis; I don't, for the record), I'm not so convinced there's a link. That your eyes are declining as you notice a cognitive decline strikes me as a correlation without causation sort of thing, though I could see how it might psychologically contribute to a sense of confusion or feeling like things are out of joint, even if the two aren't necessarily physiologically linked.

  9. Re:I had something to say but I forgot what it was by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 1

    I had something to say but I forgot what it was

    I'm sure we can find a scientist to electrocute you if you want to be able to remember.

    --
    "That's the way to do it" - Punch
  10. Substantial prior art by freelunch · · Score: 2

    No credit to the Lectroids and Dr. Emilio Lizardo?

  11. Electroconvulsive Therapy by SpankiMonki · · Score: 2

    "ECT" is what you mean. One of the side effects of ECT is memory loss, not memory enhancement, so this new procedure is somehow different.

  12. Re:So it doesn't last by Shaitan · · Score: 2

    A 20-25 minute session is pretty standard protocol for transcranial stimulation techniques which this may be (article is behind a paywall). The effects are usually temporary but a couple studies I know of have continued the protocol over the course of time (daily treatments not a continuous session!) and shown results still lasting a year later.

    For most of these the results last longer and longer. So it may well be that this preliminary result shows a temporary benefit and subsequent results will show that regular sessions produce an increasing long duration of effect.

  13. And then ... by PPH · · Score: 2

    ... you can join the Foreign legion to forget.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  14. Re:So it doesn't last by Shaitan · · Score: 1

    I still don't have the study but based on the supplemental they are using HD-tACS transcranial alternating current stimulation and phase locking to the regions in question with inphase bringing benefits and outphase causing detriment. Their study didn't go beyond two days from what I can see so there may well be longer lasting benefits if they continued daily treatment over time.

    Here is the supplemental.
    https://www.pnas.org/content/suppl/2017/10/03/1710257114.DCSupplemental/pnas.1710257114.sapp.pdf

  15. and by doom · · Score: 1

    And so, all you kids studying for exams should try my new Thinking Cap (TM [1]) just to make sure you have all the bases covered. Only $29.99.

    [1] I'm sure this is trademarked, but probably by someone else.

  16. What could go wrong? by invertedflyboy · · Score: 1

    I think I'll glue my TENS unit to my scalp tonight, and give it go. Wish me luck.

  17. Caution: by senileoldfart · · Score: 1

    Don't use quarters for electrodes . . . and don't ask me how I know.