A study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has shown that a particular type of brain stimulation could enhance memory in older adults. The study, which was conducted by a team of researchers at the University of California, Irvine, involved the use of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), a non-invasive brain stimulation technique.
The researchers recruited a group of 42 healthy older adults, aged 60 to 76, and randomly assigned them to one of three groups: a group that received active tDCS, a group that received sham tDCS, and a control group that received no stimulation. The active tDCS group received 30 minutes of stimulation to the left prefrontal cortex, a region of the brain that is important for memory, while the sham group received only brief stimulation that was not expected to have any effect.
After the stimulation, all participants were given a memory task in which they were shown a series of pictures and asked to remember them. The researchers found that the group that received active tDCS performed significantly better on the memory task than the sham and control groups. In fact, the active tDCS group performed at a level that was comparable to that of younger adults in a previous study.
The researchers also conducted brain imaging scans on the participants to see if there were any changes in brain activity as a result of the tDCS. They found that the active tDCS group showed increased activity in the left prefrontal cortex during the memory task, indicating that the stimulation had successfully targeted that region of the brain.
The findings of this study have important implications for the treatment of age-related memory decline, which is a common problem among older adults. The use of non-invasive brain stimulation techniques like tDCS could provide a safe and effective way to enhance memory function in older adults.
However, the researchers caution that further studies are needed to determine the long-term effects of tDCS on memory function and to identify the optimal parameters for the stimulation. They also note that tDCS should only be used under the supervision of a trained professional.
In conclusion, this study provides promising evidence that tDCS could be a useful tool in the fight against age-related memory decline. As the world’s population continues to age, finding effective ways to maintain cognitive function in older adults will become increasingly important. Non-invasive brain stimulation techniques like tDCS may be a valuable addition to the toolkit of interventions available to clinicians and researchers in this area.
REFERENCE:
Reinhart, Robert M. G., and John A. Nguyen. “Working memory revived in older adults by synchronizing rhythmic brain circuits.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 118.17 (2021): e2021048118. https://www.pnas.org/content/118/17/e2021048118
