tACS Brain Stimulation Boosts Working Memory

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NHE
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tACS Brain Stimulation Boosts Working Memory

Post by NHE »

tACS is transcranial alternating current stimulation. Transcranial is through the skull so it's noninvasive.

Scientists Fixed People's Working Memory With Simple Electrical 'Zaps' to The Brain
https://www.sciencealert.com/brain-zap- ... der-people
Scientists have used a noninvasive form of electrostimulation to boost working memory in older people, effectively giving 70-year-olds the thinking abilities of their 20-year-old selves, at least temporarily.

Working memory is the cognitive resource responsible for decision-making at any given moment, letting us retain and access useful and relevant information, such as names, phone numbers, and where we've put things.

Unfortunately, this resource declines with age, and not just in those with significant cognitive deterioration, such as dementia, but in healthy people too experiencing the normal neurocognitive effects of ageing.

The good news is, this decline in working memory doesn't seem to be permanent.

"Age-related changes are not unchangeable," neuroscientist Robert Reinhart from Boston University told The Guardian.

"We can bring back the superior working memory function that you had when you were much younger."
See also: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/08/heal ... emory.html
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CureOrBust
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Re: tACS Brain Stimulation Boosts Working Memory

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And their working memory remained sharp for as long as the researchers continued testing it, for 50 minutes.
I remember (without stimulation) reading a similar article on the event, and I was certain that in the source I had read, the effects were transitory.
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Re: tACS Brain Stimulation Boosts Working Memory

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CureOrBust wrote: Thu Apr 11, 2019 10:49 pm
And their working memory remained sharp for as long as the researchers continued testing it, for 50 minutes.
I remember (without stimulation) reading a similar article on the event, and I was certain that in the source I had read, the effects were transitory.
I think their statement should be interpreted as saying that the effects lasted at least 50 minutes. They did not determine how long they actually last. Still, it would be great to plug in and charge up your brain a couple times per day.
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Re: tACS Brain Stimulation Boosts Working Memory

Post by CureOrBust »

Yes, one should never read anything into a scientific journal beyond what is actually stated. However, the article referenced above, as written, implied that they saw no end (ie all while they measured, for 50min). On the other hand, the article I read said there was a definite measurable end. A big difference. I am guessing this journalist took poetic license on the difference between no changes for 50min, and the effect lasting for a period of 50min, only

As for plugging in for a boost, maybe when your about to sit a 50min examination or job interview. Calculators are commonly banned in some exams, maybe brain simulators should be as well.
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