TMS Linked With Reversal of Memory Loss in Older Adults

A study published in Neurology determined older adults who received five days of high-frequency transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) experienced an unprecedented reversal of age-related memory loss, reports Psychiatry & Behavioral Health Learning Network . "There is no previous evidence that the specific memory impairments and brain dysfunction seen in older adults can be rescued using brain stimulation or any other method," noted Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Professor Joel Voss. The study involved 15 participants between 64 and 80. At baseline, recall in the older subjects was significantly impaired, compared with younger controls. In a memory task that entailed learning arbitrary relations between paired objects, older adults were correct less than 40% of the time, compared with 55% accuracy for the controls. Following 20-minute TMS sessions focusing on hippocampal-cortical brain networks for five consecutive days, there was more visible neural activity on functional magnetic resonance imaging, compared with baseline, in the older cohort. One day after the last TMS session, older adults scored equal to young adults on a recollection task, while a placebo condition did not improve recollection. "Older people's memory got better up to the level that we could no longer tell them apart from younger people," Voss said. "They got substantially better."