Stimulation

Memory is commonly affected following a traumatic brain injury and may be long-lasting or even permanent. A new study has found that AI-guided electrical brain stimulation in people with moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury may successfully treat their memory loss.Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is an injury to the brain, often resulting from a violent blow or jolt to the head or body. It’s commonly caused by motor vehicle accidents, contact sports, firearms, and falls. The severity of TBI depends on the nature of the…

Have you felt butterflies in your stomach or hunger pangs? Those “gut feelings” happen thanks to the vagus nerve, which is a superhighway that connects the brain and the gut. In recent years the vagus nerve has become an intriguing target for researchers looking to cure disorders of both the brain and the body. Vagus nerve stimulation—usually achieved with an electrode implanted in the neck to deliver electrical pulses directly to the nerve—is an approved treatment for epilepsy and some forms of depression. Scientists…

The researchers called this type of stimulation “synced.” They also tested another form of stimulation, called “mixed-phase,” where the electrode delivered pulses into the frontal lobe without regard to activity in the hippocampus.To see if these types of stimulation would affect memory, the scientists used a test in which the patients were introduced to pictures of famous people, paired with pictures of pets. Each patient subsequently spent one night in which stimulation was given while they were asleep, and one night…

A "bi-sensory" treatment combining precisely timed sound and touch has shown impressive results in reducing people's experience of tinnitus, a common and debilitating form of hearing damage that presents as an incessant ringing sound in the ears.That ringing sound can become incredibly penetrating and stressful, particularly in a silent room. It's not a real sound, it's believed to be generated in a brain region called the dorsal cochlear nucleus (DCN). The DCN is one of the first processing stops for audio signals in the…

Researchers from UCLA Health and Tel Aviv University have found evidence supporting the theory that the brain strengthens memory during sleep. The study used targeted deep-brain stimulation in epilepsy patients, resulting in enhanced memory consolidation. These findings could potentially help in the treatment of memory disorders.Researchers also report first direct evidence supporting main theory for how human memory is consolidated during sleep.While it’s known that sleep plays a crucial role in strengthening memory,…

After years of debate over whether non-invasively zapping the brain with electrical current can improve a person’s mental functioning, a massive analysis of past studies offers an answer: probably. But some question that conclusion, saying that the analysis spans experiments that are too disparate to offer a solid answer. In the past six years, the number of studies testing the therapeutic effects of a class of techniques called transcranial electrical stimulation has skyrocketed. These therapies deliver a painless, weak…

Figuring out how to enhance a person's mental capabilities has been of considerable interest to psychology and neuroscience researchers like me for decades. From improving attention in high-stakes environments, like air traffic management, to reviving memory in people with dementia, the ability to improve cognitive function can have far-reaching consequences.New research suggests that brain stimulation could help achieve the goal of boosting mental function.In the Reinhart Lab at Boston University, my colleagues and I…

By Washington University in St. Louis May 28, 2023A multidisciplinary team led by associate professor Hong Chen at Washington University in St. Louis has developed a novel, noninvasive method to induce a torpor-like state in mammals by targeting the central nervous system with ultrasound. The technique, which involves stimulating the hypothalamus preoptic area in the brain, was shown to effectively reduce body temperature and metabolic rate in mice, leading to a state of torpor, which is a natural mechanism used by some…

Stimulating the brain with magnetic fields can help relieve the symptoms of depression in some people, but scientists haven't been sure precisely why it works. A new study offers some insight: The process reverses brain signals going in the wrong direction.These neural streams of activity going in the wrong direction could also be used as a way of diagnosing depression in the future, according to the team behind the study.Officially known as Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), the treatment is non-invasive, can be…

Stanford scientists have discovered a major biological mechanism behind severe depression, and shown how to treat it. Signals between two key parts of the brain seem to flow the wrong way in people with depression, but magnetic stimulation reverses them, drastically improving symptoms.In recent decades scientists have developed a non-invasive method of inducing electrical activity in specific parts of the brain. Known as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), this process has been shown to have a wide range of benefits,…