Electrical brain stimulation ‘can help treat memory disorders’

A new study has shown for the first time that it may be possible to treat memory disorders using noninvasive electrical brain stimulation devices.

The Northwestern Medicine research noted that stimulating a particular region in the brain via non-invasive delivery of electrical current using magnetic pulses – a technique called transcranial magnetic stimulation – can help to improve memory.

Patients involved in the study were shown to perform better on memory tests as a result of the brain stimulation, with three days of therapy required before they improved. These changes could potentially bolster learning long after treatment has concluded.

This could be hugely useful in addressing memory impairments caused by conditions such as stroke, early-stage Alzheimer's disease, traumatic brain injury and cardiac arrest, as well as the memory problems that occur in healthy ageing.

Senior author Joel Voss, assistant professor of medical social sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, 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."