{"id":16106,"date":"2014-09-01T02:45:44","date_gmt":"2014-09-01T02:45:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/electrical-stimulation-aids-memory\/"},"modified":"2014-09-01T02:46:54","modified_gmt":"2014-09-01T02:46:54","slug":"electrical-stimulation-aids-memory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/electrical-stimulation-aids-memory\/","title":{"rendered":"Electrical Stimulation ‘Aids Memory’"},"content":{"rendered":"

{{Exciting a specific part of the brain with electromagnetic pulses could boost our ability to remember certain facts, a study in Science suggests.}}<\/p>\n

The US trials involving 16 volunteers found they made 30% fewer mistakes in memory tests after the procedure.<\/p>\n

Scientists are now investigating whether the technique could help people with memory disorders and reduce memory loss in later life.<\/p>\n

Independent researchers describe the method as “ingenious”.<\/p>\n

{{‘Naming faces’}}<\/p>\n

Researchers at Northwestern University in the US targeted a particular nerve hub known as the hippocampus.<\/p>\n

This area of the brain has a central role in basic memory processes that tie unrelated facts together – such as remembering someone’s name or the contents of last night’s dinner.<\/p>\n

Scientists pinpointed this region in each of their 16 volunteers using detailed scans and then assessed their baseline memory.<\/p>\n

Participants were presented with pictures of faces while hearing unrelated words and asked to learn and remember the face-word pair.<\/p>\n

A device was then used to apply short bursts of electromagnetic stimulation to the area of the head directly above the hippocampus hub.<\/p>\n

The sessions lasted 20 minutes a day for five consecutive days.<\/p>\n

Volunteers scored significantly better on similar memory tests after this procedure – even 24 hours after sessions were completed.<\/p>\n

The study revealed they made 30% fewer mistakes at this point, compared with scores before they had the procedure.<\/p>\n

And they showed no signs of improvement when exposed to a dummy, placebo version of the device.<\/p>\n

{{‘Closer synchrony’}}<\/p>\n

Prof Joel Voss, who led the study, said: “We show for the first time that you can specifically change memory functions of the brain in adults without surgery or drugs, which have not proven effective.”<\/p>\n

He added: “This non-invasive stimulation improves the ability to learn new things.<\/p>\n

“It has tremendous potential for treating memory disorders.”<\/p>\n

Researchers are now investigating how memory changes in older age, and hope to start trials on people with early signs of dementia.<\/p>\n

Dr Nick Davis, who was not involved in the study, said: “The method used to stimulate the hippocampus is quite ingenious. It is very smart work.<\/p>\n

“The work is exciting as most of our knowledge about memory circuits comes from animal studies or people with memory impairments.”<\/p>\n

Scientists say the device works by emitting a strong electromagnetic field in rapid pulses.<\/p>\n

This then generates an electrical current in nerve fibres – mimicking the usual electrical activity in the brain.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

{{Exciting a specific part of the brain with electromagnetic pulses could boost our ability to remember certain facts, a study in Science suggests.}} The US trials involving 16 volunteers found they made 30% fewer mistakes in memory tests after the procedure. Scientists are now investigating whether the technique could help people with memory disorders and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2000053769,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[75],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-16106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science-technology","tag-homenews","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":{"id":2000053769,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton16106.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton16106.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton16106.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton16106.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton16106.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton16106.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000053769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16106"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=16106"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=16106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}