Magnetism Prevents Memory Loss?

Mon Jul 11 2011 15:15


Learning new skills or facts in quick succession could become less challenging with the help of magnetism, according to new research by American neurologists.

Dr. Edwin Robertson and Dr. Daniel Cohen from the Harvard Medical School's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston investigated whether it is possible to prevent interference between memory tasks.

“For the last 100 years, it has been appreciated that trying to learn facts and skills in quick succession can be a frustrating exercise,” said Robertson in a press release.

“Because no sooner has a new memory been acquired than its retention is jeopardized by learning another fact or skill.”

Robertson and Cohen recruited 88 students to learn a simple motor skill task and then a word list rapidly after. The following day, the students were tested and had already forgotten some of their new skills.

“As predicted, their recall for either the word list or the motor-skill task had decreased when they were re-tested,” Robertson said.

Next, half the subjects received transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) just after learning, and the other half received sham stimulation. TMS creates a magnetic field that can stimulate a current to flow in the brain.

{etRelated 58893}The researchers found that those students who received TMS to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (associated with “word-memory”) and the primary motor cortex (associated with “motor skill memory”) could remember much more the next day.

“Because brain cells communicate through a process of chemical and electrical signals, applying a mild electrical current to the brain can influence the signals,” Robertson said.

“Our observations suggest that distinct mechanisms support the communication between different types of memory processing,” he added. “This provides a more dynamic and flexible account of memory organization than was previously believed.”

“We've demonstrated that the interference between memories is actively mediated by brain areas and so may serve an important function that has previously been overlooked."

The authors hope to use their findings to enhance learning and help patients who suffer from memory problems and learning disabilities.

The results were published in Nature Neuroscience on June 26.

http://beforeitsnews.com/story/804/902/Magnetism_Prevents_Memory_Loss.html