
Electrical jolts to brain restored memory of elderly to that of 20-year-old - evo_9
https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/04/brain-jolts-revive-memory-in-elderly-turning-clock-back-four-decades/
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ASalazarMX
> In a subsequent experiment, the researchers tried to reverse the finding:
> they used brain stimulation designed to desynchronize waves in young
> participants, which caused the subjects to do worse on the memory test

Now that's how you do mad science.

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jammygit
Who wants to co-found a new 'electric coffee' product?

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Fjolsvith
Simply called "Jolt!"

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leggomylibro
Huh, wow. I was expecting this to be about deep-brain stimulation, but it
looks like they used a non-invasive technique. And it sounds fascinating.

It looks like they analyzed peoples' theta and gamma waves in different
regions of their brain, and tried to 'nudge' them towards staying in sync.

Theta/gamma/whatever waves are defined by the frequency at which the signal
occurs, sort of like radio bands, and it sounds like this study presents the
brain as a bunch of analog circuits which eventually develop stuff like noise
and clock drift.

>Here we show that a core feature of cognitive decline may emerge from the
temporal decoupling of neural codes theorized to constitute a flexible
frontotemporal circuit for the monitoring and storage of memory contents of
real-world information. The work supports theories of neurocognitive aging
that propose cortical disconnection underlies age related cognitive decline...

Neat. Sounds like we need thicker wires.

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larkeith
If there's no side effects of long-term usage, I wonder how much power this
needs - could you make a hat of some sort to just constantly provide the jolts
to offset the limited duration of the benefits?

Perhaps the 90s dream of "space helmets" will come to fruition.

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Junk_Collector
Stimulation doesn't need a lot of power, transcranial has been a topic of
research for a long time. If you do it incorrectly, however your nervous
system will build up an immunity by learning to ignore the external signals.

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WalterGR
_If you do it incorrectly, however your nervous system will build up an
immunity by learning to ignore the external signals._

That sounds interesting. Where can I learn more?

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Junk_Collector
Sorry this is such a late reply. The best publications I've found on this
topic came from St. Jude Medical Research (The private medical device
manufacturer not to be confused with the Hospital Chain) and it related to
their line of neuro-stimulation devices back when they were still in
development. I'm having trouble finding it right now or I would link some
specific papers. The jist of it is that you need to use a psuedo-random
modulation or the nervous system will eventually learn to ignore the external
signals. Is applied at pretty much all levels of the nervous system from pain
receptors to the brain but not at the same rate of developing immunity.

The Army Human Factors group has published a lot of material specific to
various types of electrical/magnetic cranial stimulation. You can find some
excellent stuff on DTIC.

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zwieback
That messy ribbon cable in the picture suggests that signal integrity or power
isn't a big concern in this experiment. How hard would it be to replicate a
system like this?

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testpostpls
Re photo: the article's photo appears to be a stock photo.
[https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-
photo/epileptology-u...](https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-
photo/epileptology-unit-nice-france-patient-hospitalized-news-
photo/1041927180)

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mirimir
Damn, that is _lame_.

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hello2
Sounds like a lobotomy experiment. Successful at the time, but 50 years later
doesn't seem like such a good idea anymore.

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onetimemanytime
I guess as a last resort....kinda trying whatever for cancer after the doctors
send you home to die. Just as you can improve it, you can also fry it
(whatever is left anyway)

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seehafer
Here's a company using similar tech in a commercial product:
[https://www.haloneuro.com](https://www.haloneuro.com)

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dawhizkid
Don’t psychedelics do the same as far as increasing plasticity goes?

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hirundo
"You know you’ve got the brain of a four-year-old child, and I bet he was glad
to get rid of it." \-- Groucho Marx, Horse Feathers, 1932

So which 20-year-old's memories do they get? Can they pick one with good
memories? Where do I get in line?

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robbiep
It mentions it in the article - working (short term) memory

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0815test
The article title isn't clear - is it saying that the _state_ of the person's
memories was 'restored' to what it was when they were 20 years old?
Intuitively, that's just about what I would expect "electrical jolts to the
brain" to accomplish, at least in the best case!

