Our memory tends to get worse as we age, and with a global population that's rapidly skewing older, scientists are trying to address that to keep us functioning for longer and to ward off diseases such as Alzheimer's.
A new study suggests that mild, non-invasive electrical stimulation, applied through a cap with electrodes attached, could be enough to combat the effects of getting older.
It's called transcranial alternating current stimulation, or tACS, and it's thought to work by keeping our brain waves synchronized.
The researchers at Boston University found that just 20 minutes of stimulation a day was enough to make a difference in two different types of memory function.
With more research, it's possible to find ways to keep our minds sharp as we get older, as well as treat memory problems.
The researchers wrote in their paper that their findings show that the aging brain can be manipulated using repetitive and highly focalized neuroscience.
150 people between the ages of 65 and 88 were given 20 minutes of electrical brain stimulation a day for four days. They were told to listen to and recall 20 words each.
Two parts of the brain were targeted with different frequencies.
Stimulating the brain's inferior parietal lobule was shown to improve the recall of words at the end of the lists.
Stimulating the brain's dorsolateral prefrontal cortex was shown to help the participants remember words from the beginning of the lists. It is possible to remember where you parked your car at the airport after a week's vacation.
The people who had the larger and longer improvements in memory recall were those who showed the worst levels of cognitive performance before the stimulation treatment.
Tara Spires-Jones, a neuroscientist at the University of Edinburgh, said that the work shows how flexible the brain is.
The word-list task may not be representative of everyday activities.
We don't know if people with a brain disorder can be helped through stimulation and brain training.
It's something that researchers can look into next, as well as possibly analyzing how the treatment might work for those at risk of dementia, a syndrome that currently affects around 55 million people worldwide.
The technology is non-invasive, can be applied quickly, and lasts for a minimum of a month, as well as working on both short- and long-term types of memory recall.
Shrey Grover, a Boston University cognitive neuroscientist, told Nature that they hope to extend the work in meaningful ways.
The research has appeared in a journal.
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