Electrical Currents To The Brain Improve Memory For Older Adults

Pulsing electrical currents through the brain for 20 minutes (known as transcranial alternating current stimulation, or tACS) can boost memory for older adults for at least a month, based on a study using a word-list memory task. Short-term memory was found to be improved through stimulation of the brain's inferior parietal lobule at a frequency of four hertz (4 Hz). Long-term memory was found to be improved through stimulation of the brain's dorsolateral prefrontal cortex at a frequency of 60 Hz.

Scientists used the tACS system to deliver oscillating electrical currents through electrodes placed on . . .