title: Older adults get episodic memory boosting from noninvasive stimulation of prefrontal cortex during learning.
abstract: Episodic memory displays the largest degree of age-related decline, a process that is accelerated in pathological conditions such as amnestic mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease. Previous studies have shown that the left lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) contributes to the encoding of episodic memories along the life span. The aim of this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study was to test the hypothesis that anodal trascranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the left lateral PFC during the learning phase would enhance delayed recall of verbal episodic memories in elderly individuals. Older adults learned a list of words while receiving anodal or placebo (sham) tDCS. Memory recall was tested 48 hours and 1 month later. The results showed that anodal tDCS strengthened episodic memories, an effect indicated by enhanced delayed recall (48 hours) compared to placebo stimulation (Cohen's d effect size = 1.01). The observation that PFC-tDCS during learning can boost verbal episodic memory in the elderly opens up the possibility to design-specific neurorehabilitation protocols targeted to conditions that affect episodic memory such as mild cognitive impairment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Roehampton, London, UK.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sandrini
authors.affiliation: Neuropsychology Unit, IRCCS Istituto Centro San Giovanni di Dio Fatebenefratelli, Brescia, Italy.
authors.forename: Rosa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Manenti
authors.affiliation: Neuropsychology Unit, IRCCS Istituto Centro San Giovanni di Dio Fatebenefratelli, Brescia, Italy.
authors.forename: Michela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brambilla
authors.affiliation: Neuropsychology Unit, IRCCS Istituto Centro San Giovanni di Dio Fatebenefratelli, Brescia, Italy.
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cobelli
authors.affiliation: Human Cortical Physiology and Neurorehabilitation Section, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, USA.
authors.forename: Leonardo G
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.affiliation: Neuropsychology Unit, IRCCS Istituto Centro San Giovanni di Dio Fatebenefratelli, Brescia, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cotelli
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D061212:Memory, Episodic; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D065908:Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation / Q000379:methods*
keywords: Aging; Encoding; Episodic memory; Prefrontal cortex; tDCS