Zapping the brain can improve your spatial memory

The findings,published in the New England Journal of Medicine,could lead to a new method for boosting memory inn patients with early Alzheimer’s disease,they said.

Lead researcher Dr Itzhak Fried said: “Losing our ability to remember recent events and form new memories is one of the most dreaded afflictions of the human condition.”

“Our preliminary results provide evidence supporting a possible mechanism for enhancing memory,particularly as people age or suffer from early dementia,” Prof Fried was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail.

“At the same time,we studied a small sample of patients,so our results should be interpreted with caution,”

In the study,Dr Fried and his team focused on a brain site called the entorhinal cortex. Considered the doorway to the hippocampus,which helps form and store memories,the entorhinal cortex plays a crucial role in transforming daily

experience into lasting memories.

The team followed seven epilepsy patients who already had electrodes implanted in their brains to pinpoint the origin of their seizures. They monitored the electrodes to record neuron activity as memories were being formed.

Using a video game featuring a taxi,virtual passengers and a cyber city,the researchers tested whether deep-brain stimulation of the entorhinal cortex or the hippocampus altered recall.

Patients played the role of cab drivers who picked up passengers and travelled across town to deliver them to one of six requested shops.

Prof Fried said: “When we stimulated the nerve fibbers in the patients’ entorhinal cortex during learning,they later recognised landmarks and navigated the routes more quickly.”

“They even learned to take shortcuts,reflecting improved spatial memory. Critically,it was the stimulation at the gateway into the hippocampus and not the hippocampus itself The use of stimulation only during the learning phase suggests that patients need not undergo continuous stimulation to boost their memory,but only when they are trying to learn important information.

This may lead the way to neuro-prosthetic devices that can switch on during specific stages of information processing or daily tasks,the researchers said.

Future studies,they said,will determine if deep-brain stimulation can enhance other types of recall,such as verbal and autobiographical memories. No adverse effects of the stimulation were reported by the seven patients,they added.