NEW YORK (AP) — People over age 60 whose brains were zapped with a mild electrical current showed improvements in a form of memory in a new study. In fact, they began performing as well as people in their 20s.
The study focused on working memory, which is the ability to hold information in mind for a matter of seconds as you perform a task. Scientists say it’s crucial for things like taking medications and planning. Results were reported Monday in the journal Nature Neuroscience.
In the study, participants had to remember a detailed image of an object for three seconds in order to judge whether another image was identical or slightly different. They did that repeatedly.
The electrical current was sent through the scalp to improve communication between two areas of the brain.