{"id":77350,"date":"2018-04-02T15:28:13","date_gmt":"2018-04-02T22:28:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2018\/04\/research-trend-combining-brain-stimulation-with-cognitive-training-to-enhance-attention-and-memory"},"modified":"2018-04-04T09:06:51","modified_gmt":"2018-04-04T16:06:51","slug":"research-trend-combining-brain-stimulation-with-cognitive-training-to-enhance-attention-and-memory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2018\/04\/research-trend-combining-brain-stimulation-with-cognitive-training-to-enhance-attention-and-memory","title":{"rendered":"Research trend: Combining brain stimulation with cognitive training to enhance attention and memory"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

In summary \u2014 \u201cI am cautiously optimistic about the promise of tDCS; cognitive training paired with tDCS specifically could lead to improvements in attention and memory for people of all ages and make some huge changes in society. Maybe we could help to stave off cognitive decline in older adults or enhance cognitive skills, such as focus, in people such as airline pilots or soldiers, who need it the most. Still, I am happy to report that we have at least moved on from torpedo fish\u201d smile<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n

In 47 CE, Scri\u00adbo\u00adnius Largus, court physi\u00adcian to the Roman emper\u00ador Claudius, described in his Com\u00adpo\u00adsi\u00adtiones<\/em> a method for treat\u00ading chron\u00adic migraines: place tor\u00adpe\u00addo fish on the scalps of patients to ease their pain with elec\u00adtric shocks. Largus was on the right path; our brains are com\u00adprised of elec\u00adtri\u00adcal sig\u00adnals that influ\u00adence how brain cells com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adcate with each oth\u00ader and in turn affect cog\u00adni\u00adtive process\u00ades such as mem\u00ado\u00adry, emo\u00adtion and attention.<\/p>\n

The sci\u00adence of brain stim\u00adu\u00adla\u00adtion \u2013 alter\u00ading elec\u00adtri\u00adcal sig\u00adnals in the brain \u2013 has, need\u00adless to say, changed in the past 2,000 years. Today we have a hand\u00adful of tran\u00adscra\u00adnial direct cur\u00adrent stim\u00adu\u00adla\u00adtion (tDCS) devices<\/a> that deliv\u00ader con\u00adstant, low cur\u00adrent to spe\u00adcif\u00adic regions of the brain through elec\u00adtrodes on the scalp, for users rang\u00ading from online video-gamers to pro\u00adfes\u00adsion\u00adal ath\u00adletes and peo\u00adple with depres\u00adsion. Yet cog\u00adni\u00adtive neu\u00adro\u00adsci\u00aden\u00adtists are still work\u00ading to under\u00adstand just how much we can influ\u00adence brain sig\u00adnals and improve cog\u00adni\u00adtion with these techniques.<\/p>\n

Brain stim\u00adu\u00adla\u00adtion by tDCS is non-inva\u00adsive and inex\u00adpen\u00adsive. Some sci\u00aden\u00adtists think it increas\u00ades the like\u00adli\u00adhood that neu\u00adrons will fire, alter\u00ading neur\u00adal con\u00adnec\u00adtions and poten\u00adtial\u00adly improv\u00ading the cog\u00adni\u00adtive skills asso\u00adci\u00adat\u00aded with spe\u00adcif\u00adic brain regions. Neur\u00adal net\u00adworks asso\u00adci\u00adat\u00aded with atten\u00adtion con\u00adtrol can be tar\u00adget\u00aded to improve focus in peo\u00adple with atten\u00adtion deficit-hyper\u00adac\u00adtiv\u00adi\u00adty dis\u00ador\u00adder (ADHD). Or peo\u00adple who have a hard time remem\u00adber\u00ading shop\u00adping lists and phone num\u00adbers might like to tar\u00adget brain areas asso\u00adci\u00adat\u00aded with short-term (also known as work\u00ading) mem\u00ado\u00adry in order to enhance this cog\u00adni\u00adtive process. How\u00adev\u00ader, the effects<\/a> of tDCS are incon\u00adclu\u00adsive across a wide body of peer-reviewed stud\u00adies, par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly after a sin\u00adgle ses\u00adsion. In fact, some experts ques\u00adtion whether enough elec\u00adtri\u00adcal stim\u00adu\u00adla\u00adtion from the tech\u00adnique is pass\u00ading through the scalp into the brain to alter con\u00adnec\u00adtions between brain cells at all.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In summary \u2014 \u201cI am cautiously optimistic about the promise of tDCS; cognitive training paired with tDCS specifically could lead to improvements in attention and memory for people of all ages and make some huge changes in society. Maybe we could help to stave off cognitive decline in older adults or enhance cognitive skills, such [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":469,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,9,1512,47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biotech-medical","category-military","category-mobile-phones","category-neuroscience"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/469"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77350"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77350\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77393,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77350\/revisions\/77393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}