An electrical thinking cap

Deep brain stimulation, where electrodes are implanted into specific areas of the brain, is shown to benefit patients with Parkinson’s disease (click here for study). There have also been reports of success in helping relieve treatment resistant depression (click here for study).
Now a non-invasive electrical zapping treatment has been developed for strengthening brain processes where there is no disease, including memory. Scientists say it 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. Senior study author, Robert Reinhart, a neuroscientist at Boston University, sees that it could become an important tool to protect or even enhance memory in older adults.

The results of the study were published in the journal Nature Neuroscience recently. ‘The findings are ‘quite remarkable,’ observed Dr Gregory Worrell, neurologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota., ‘Memory dysfunction is such a common comorbidity of neurologic and psychiatric disease, so these kinds of results could have really wide-ranging applications.’ (Dr Worrell was not involved in the research.)

The cap is embedded with electrodes that deliver small electrical zaps to the brain, and its use appeared to boost memory in a group of older adults for at least one month.

Dr Reinhart notes that most of us become a little more forgetful as we age. He said that memory deficits impair our daily lives, our planning, decision-making, cognition, and learning, and that generally has a negative effect of diminishing the quality-of-life.

The research included 150 people aged 65 to 88 who did not have a diagnosed neurological disorder: 40 people in the study received a placebo treatment – they wore the cap but didn’t receive the weak electrical stimulation that the cap delivered. 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. Participants’ memory improved by approximately 50 to 65% in those who received the four-day intervention.

‘This is not a small effect,’ said Dr Worrell.

The study also found that the intervention boosted both working memory and long-term memory. Working memory helps us ‘keep the plates’ spinning, holding information for seconds and minutes, whereas long-term memory stores information over days, months, or years.

Researchers found that participants with the worst cognitive function showed the most improvement both during the intervention and one month later. They say the results may lay the groundwork for a clinical trial for people with Alzheimer’s disease, who, unlike those in the study, already have impaired cognition. There are also limitations in the approach in that it cannot affect brain cells that have died.

Dr Michael Fox, Harvard Medical School neurologist not involved in the Boston University research, said the promise of being able to put on the 20 minutes a day and enhance cognitive function gets ‘people excited.’

The research is still in its early stages, and additional studies are needed to determine whether the effects can last beyond one month. Researchers are also looking for any adverse effects of the treatment, though the study’s authors said they did not observe any serious adverse effects over the course of the study.

The technology used in the Is relatively cheap and non-invasive, Dr Worrell said, meaning that people could one day possibly use the device at home. It could be widely used to help those experiencing cognitive impairment.

And aside from its potential clinical use, Dr Reinhart anticipated that if it becomes available to the wider public, he could see people using it the same way they use caffeine to stimulate the brain, seeing it as augmenting their ability to provide a kind of cutting-edge advantage.

It gives a whole new meaning to ‘putting on your thinking cap.’