Magnetic field improves memory

Study: Magnetic field improves memory

09/10/2014

Scientists have shown that stimulating selected cortex regions with magnetic fields improves the memory performance of healthy volunteers. Now you want to check if even patients with memory problems benefit from it.

For the first time scientists from Chicago have been able to influence the associative memory performance with the aid of magnetic fields. This is particularly noteworthy because the hippocampus responsible for memory formation is out of range of the electric fields achieved in repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS).

However, the researchers found regions in the parietal cortex below the calvarium that interact with the hippocampus.

Therefore, the scientists applied magnetic coils to these regions and stimulated them for five minutes each for five consecutive days. Therapy cycles were repeated once with the true rTMS and a second as a dummy treatment. Before, in the middle and after the end of the cycles, the subjects were subjected to a memory test. After rTMS treatment, memory performance was 30% better than before treatment. The dummy treatment had no effect on the memory.

The researchers want to investigate this in the future on patients with impaired memory. Find the study here. (Pm)

Picture: Gerd Altmann