Interesting new discovery: magnetic stimulation of the brain can improve episodic memory

Based on the current understanding of the effects of brain and transcranial magnetic stimulation, researchers hypothesize that they can improve episodic memory, and in the process, create targets for future memory-related treatments

The researchers first analyzed the past data of 40 college students who were asked to memorize word lists

The analysis of these two sets of data shows that when the left prefrontal cortex is stimulated, the performance of memorizing words is better

Since slow transcranial magnetic stimulation inhibits brain activity, and the prefrontal cortex inhibits the area of ​​the back of the brain, Van der Plass and his co-authors concluded that slow transcranial magnetic stimulation relieved the inhibition of parietal area activity.

Van der Plas pointed out: "Our electrophysiological results show that frontal lobe stimulation affects a wider network by inhibiting the parietal region and improves memory formation

Hanslmayr added: “We were very surprised when we saw these effects in the first study, which was to investigate a different question

Journal Reference :

1. Mircea van der Plas, Verena Braun, Benjamin Johannes Stauch, Simon Hanslmayr.