Zapping Brain With Precise Electrical Current Boosts Memory in Older Adults, BU Study Finds

A Boston University (BU) study published in Nature Neuroscience found firing electrical current into the brain for only 25 minutes reverses aging-related declines in working memory, reports the Boston Globe . According to BU's Robert Reinhart, by stimulating the brain in precise regions with alternating current, "we can bring back the superior working memory function you had when you were much younger." The study findings offer some of the strongest evidence yet of why working memory deteriorates among older adults, due to a functional disconnection of brain circuits that puts them out of sync. The BU team tested the working memories of 42 younger adults and 42 older ones, showing various images to assess retention. Older adults answered correctly about 80 percent of the time and younger ones 90 percent. Electroencephalographic monitoring revealed significantly less synchronization of oscillations in older adults. Older participants received electrical brain stimulation for 25 minutes, and almost immediately exhibited improvement, maintaining 90 percent working-memory accuracy for 50 minutes after cessation of stimulation. The study "adds important information about the causal relevance of alterations of brainwaves for age-dependent cognitive decline, and it shows that these alterations are reversible," said Michael Nitsche of Germany's University of Göttingen.