Brain Feedback May Improve Memory

Jan. 27, 2003 -- Learning to tap into your brain's own energy may be a potent memory booster. A new study shows mastering a process known as neurofeedback could help people focus and improve their working memory.

Neurofeedback is a process that allows a person to influence electrical activity in the brain as monitored through sensors attached to the scalp.This activity is displayed in the form of brain waves on a video game monitor, allowing the patient to learn to control certain brain waves to correct or improve certain activities.

Researchers say the treatment has been used in treating disorders such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ( ADHD), epilepsy, and alcoholism, but this is the first time a study has shown a link between the use of neurofeedback and memory improvement.

The results appear in the January issue of the International Journal of Psychophysiology.

In the study, 40 healthy adult volunteers participated in eight neurofeedback sessions that required them to enhance the performance of brain activity associated with memory function while stopping other brain wave activity. Researchers wanted to see if this type of neurofeedback training would affect working memory, which is the type of memory needed to retain and manipulate information while performing a task, like remembering a phone number for later use.

To measure this effect, participants were tested before and after the training sessions on their ability to remember words that were presented to them from a specific category.

Those who received the memory training -- neurofeedback -- were able to improve their recall from 70% to 81%, while recall in the other group only rose from 72% to 75%.

Researcher David Vernon, MD, of the department of neuroscience and behavior at the Imperial College London, in England, and colleagues say the -trained group was also able to focus their attention better on the task at hand.

Although more research is needed to confirm these results, researchers say neurofeedback treatment may not only improve the memory of healthy individuals, but also prove beneficial for people who suffer from memory problems.