Post by Admin on Aug 23, 2022 10:03:51 GMT
Brain-zapping cap appears to boost memory for at least 1 month, early research finds
Researchers say the technology could one day be used at home and enhance memory function in people at risk for dementia.
www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/brain-zapping-cap-appears-boost-memory-least-1-month-early-research-fi-rcna43949
Aug. 22, 2022, 4:02 PM BST
By Berkeley Lovelace Jr.
A cap embedded with electrodes that deliver small electric zaps to the brain appeared to boost memory in a group of older adults for at least one month, according to a new study.
The researchers say the technology, the results of which were published Monday in the journal Nature Neuroscience, could one day be used as an at-home intervention for people at risk of dementia to improve memory, when diet and other lifestyle changes alone aren’t enough.
Though both the study's authors and outside experts say that more work is needed before people could go out and use such a device, there's an air of excitement around the results.
The findings are “quite remarkable,” said Dr. Gregory Worrell, a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, who was not involved in the research.
“Memory dysfunction is such a common comorbidity of neurologic and psychiatric disease, so these kinds of results could have really wide-ranging applications,” he said.
As people begin to live longer, the approach could become an important tool to protect or even enhance memory in older adults, said senior study author Robert Reinhart, a neuroscientist at Boston University.
More than 16 million people in the U.S., many over the age of 65, have some form of cognitive impairment, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“It’s an unfortunate fact of life that as we age we all become a little more forgetful,” Reinhart said. “Memory deficits impair our activities of daily living, planning, decision making, cognition, learning, and that can generally have a negative effect of diminishing quality of life.”
A brain-zapping cap
The new study included 150 people ages 65 to 88 who did not have a diagnosed neurological disorder.
Using the cap, the researchers delivered a weak electrical current to participants’ brains while asking them to recall five lists of 20 words. The process was done for 20 minutes on four consecutive days. Forty people in the study received a placebo treatment — they wore the cap but didn't receive the electrical stimulation.
The study found that memory performance improved by approximately 50% to 65% in participants who received the four-day intervention. That translated to participants recalling four to six more words, on average, as compared to the group of people receiving the placebo stimulation, according to the researchers.
“This is not a small effect,” Worrell said.
The study also found that the intervention was capable of boosting both working memory and long-term memory. Both types of memory are important — the former helps store information for seconds and minutes, like when you need to remember a phone number. Long-term memory is important for storing information over days, months or years.
The people with the worst cognitive function coming into the experiment showed the most improvement during the intervention and one month later, the researchers said, adding that that may lay the groundwork for a clinical trial for people with Alzheimer’s disease.
Reinhart noted that the research is still in its early stages. Additional studies are still needed to determine whether these effects can last beyond one month, as well as whether these methods can enhance memory performance in people with impaired cognition due to neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer's.
Researchers say the technology could one day be used at home and enhance memory function in people at risk for dementia.
www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/brain-zapping-cap-appears-boost-memory-least-1-month-early-research-fi-rcna43949
Aug. 22, 2022, 4:02 PM BST
By Berkeley Lovelace Jr.
A cap embedded with electrodes that deliver small electric zaps to the brain appeared to boost memory in a group of older adults for at least one month, according to a new study.
The researchers say the technology, the results of which were published Monday in the journal Nature Neuroscience, could one day be used as an at-home intervention for people at risk of dementia to improve memory, when diet and other lifestyle changes alone aren’t enough.
Though both the study's authors and outside experts say that more work is needed before people could go out and use such a device, there's an air of excitement around the results.
The findings are “quite remarkable,” said Dr. Gregory Worrell, a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, who was not involved in the research.
“Memory dysfunction is such a common comorbidity of neurologic and psychiatric disease, so these kinds of results could have really wide-ranging applications,” he said.
As people begin to live longer, the approach could become an important tool to protect or even enhance memory in older adults, said senior study author Robert Reinhart, a neuroscientist at Boston University.
More than 16 million people in the U.S., many over the age of 65, have some form of cognitive impairment, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“It’s an unfortunate fact of life that as we age we all become a little more forgetful,” Reinhart said. “Memory deficits impair our activities of daily living, planning, decision making, cognition, learning, and that can generally have a negative effect of diminishing quality of life.”
A brain-zapping cap
The new study included 150 people ages 65 to 88 who did not have a diagnosed neurological disorder.
Using the cap, the researchers delivered a weak electrical current to participants’ brains while asking them to recall five lists of 20 words. The process was done for 20 minutes on four consecutive days. Forty people in the study received a placebo treatment — they wore the cap but didn't receive the electrical stimulation.
The study found that memory performance improved by approximately 50% to 65% in participants who received the four-day intervention. That translated to participants recalling four to six more words, on average, as compared to the group of people receiving the placebo stimulation, according to the researchers.
“This is not a small effect,” Worrell said.
The study also found that the intervention was capable of boosting both working memory and long-term memory. Both types of memory are important — the former helps store information for seconds and minutes, like when you need to remember a phone number. Long-term memory is important for storing information over days, months or years.
The people with the worst cognitive function coming into the experiment showed the most improvement during the intervention and one month later, the researchers said, adding that that may lay the groundwork for a clinical trial for people with Alzheimer’s disease.
Reinhart noted that the research is still in its early stages. Additional studies are still needed to determine whether these effects can last beyond one month, as well as whether these methods can enhance memory performance in people with impaired cognition due to neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer's.