Magnetic brain stimulation treatment shown to boost memory

Memory can be boosted by using a magnetic field to stimulate part of the brain, a study has shown.

Scientists believe the discovery could lead to new treatments for loss of memory function caused by ageing, strokes, head injuries and early Alzheimer's disease, The Guardian reports.

The scientists focused on associative memory, the ability to learn and remember relationships between unrelated items. An example of associative memory would be linking someone to a particular restaurant where you both once dined. It involves a network of different brain regions working in concert with a key memory structure called the hippocampus, which has been compared to an "orchestra conductor" directing brain activity. Stimulating the hippocampus caused the "musicians" – the brain regions – to "play" more in time, thereby tightening up their performance.

A total of 16 volunteers aged 21-40 took part in the study, agreeing to undergo 20 minutes of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) every day for five days.

At the start of a series of tests, participants were shown 20 photos of human faces while at the same time hearing words being read aloud. After either undergoing TMS or receiving no stimulation (placebo condition) they were later shown the photos again and asked to recall which words were associated with them.

Scans confirmed that the stimulation caused the brain regions to become more synchronised with each other and the hippocampus. Greater improvement in synchronicity or connectivity led to better memory performance.

The results are published in the latest edition of the journal Science.

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