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Working memory revived in older adults by synchronizing rhythmic brain circuits

nature.com

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Re: Working memory revived in older adults by synchronizing rhythmic brain circuits

#21

Post by matt4077 »

andai wrote: post #9
hosh wrote: post #2

Huh, I wonder if there is something similar to be studied with autistic brains. (My step-daughter has HFA; difficulty with working memory and executive functioning is common for HFA females).

I was wondering if something like this might help with my ADHD... a thinking cap, if you will :)

Intuitively (I did some research in bioinformatics, including the brain, but mostly its genetics) I would think ADHD could quite possible respond to something like this, while for autism chances are lower. Reasoning being that rhythms are quite prominent in studying focus, while autism probably has a structural aspect.

But before you start attaching electrodes, do consider Ritalin. Among all psychiatric diseases, ADHD has pretty much the best claim to having seen meaningful therapeutic interventions.

Re: Working memory revived in older adults by synchronizing rhythmic brain circuits

#22

Post by matt4077 »

orasis wrote: post #20
iron0013 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it's lol myself, this guy's a good commenter who didn't pick up fast enough on the "politesse above all--even truth, decency and humanity" rules and norms that are in place here on HN. :\

Amen. HN hates any taboo thought crimes.

Thinking is fine, speaking can be problematic. And if you believe speech can do no harm, it can not possibly do good, either. Or we could just randomly generate text and improve the world.

Re: Working memory revived in older adults by synchronizing rhythmic brain circuits

#23

Post by etaioinshrdlu »

cabaalis wrote: post #18
modzu wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

lol! out of curiosity, how can u tell when their account was banned?

In your profile, enable showdead. The history goes back a way. Seeing all those unaddressed, never-seen comments causes me some personal existential self-examining on the value (or rather, potential non-value) of my own thoughts :)

So why can I see his comment then? if he's shadowbanned? because you commented?

Re: Working memory revived in older adults by synchronizing rhythmic brain circuits

#24

Post by sambroner »

fao_ wrote: post #11
throwawaymanbot wrote: post #4

Like this? https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3581515/

You have a long list of good comments, so it's worth telling you that you were shadow banned at least 6 months ago... I just vouched for this comment and I have showdead enabled.

If we can see the comment now, does that mean they're unbanned or that your "vouch" action undeaded that comment?

Re: Working memory revived in older adults by synchronizing rhythmic brain circuits

#25

Post by FakeComments »

matt4077 wrote: post #21
andai wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was wondering if something like this might help with my ADHD... a thinking cap, if you will :)

Intuitively (I did some research in bioinformatics, including the brain, but mostly its genetics) I would think ADHD could quite possible respond to something like this, while for autism chances are lower. Reasoning being that rhythms are quite prominent in studying focus, while autism probably has a structural aspect. But before you start attaching electrodes, do consider Ritalin. Among all psychiatric diseases, ADH…

Isn’t the structural signal of autism often an underconnection in the brain?

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21378114

I agree that it’s more likely ADHD would respond, but it doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t use overdriving to show an underconnected brain how to synchronize in a more neurotypical manner.

Re: Working memory revived in older adults by synchronizing rhythmic brain circuits

#26

Post by iron0013 »

sambroner wrote: post #24
fao_ wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have a long list of good comments, so it's worth telling you that you were shadow banned at least 6 months ago... I just vouched for this comment and I have showdead enabled.

If we can see the comment now, does that mean they're unbanned or that your "vouch" action undeaded that comment?

The latter.

Re: Working memory revived in older adults by synchronizing rhythmic brain circuits

#27

Post by toomuchtodo »

zwieback wrote: post #12

Seems amazing that currents < 2mA at frequencies in the low Hz do anything. That's practically DC, I guess the trick is all in synching the signals to what's going on in your head.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcranial_direct-current_st...

Re: Working memory revived in older adults by synchronizing rhythmic brain circuits

#28

Post by porpoisemonkey »

andai wrote: post #9
hosh wrote: post #2

Huh, I wonder if there is something similar to be studied with autistic brains. (My step-daughter has HFA; difficulty with working memory and executive functioning is common for HFA females).

I was wondering if something like this might help with my ADHD... a thinking cap, if you will :)

There are already treatments like this.

When I was in high school I started a minor computer repair business. One of my customers was a treatment service where they would place electrodes on the head of an individual to measure certain brainwave activity. The electrodes were connected through a device back to a laptop which was playing a video.

I'm explaining it very imprecisely (I'm an expert by no means) but the way it worked is that the video would only play when the measured brainwaves met the pattern(s) established for concentration. The idea being that the person would want the video to play continuously (without pausing or chopping) so badly that their brain would train itself to enter into the "concentrating" brainwave pattern.

I'm not sure what the efficacy of the solution is but the idea was interesting at the time.

UPDATE: Just looked it up and the term they use for this is "neurofeedback" training.

Looks like there are significant criticisms to the approach and study of this treatment so maybe it isn't a viable approach after all.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurofeedback

Re: Working memory revived in older adults by synchronizing rhythmic brain circuits

#29

Post by [deleted] »

porpoisemonkey wrote: post #28
andai wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was wondering if something like this might help with my ADHD... a thinking cap, if you will :)

There are already treatments like this. When I was in high school I started a minor computer repair business. One of my customers was a treatment service where they would place electrodes on the head of an individual to measure certain brainwave activity. The electrodes were connected through a device back to a laptop which was playing a video. I'm explaining it very imprecisely (I'm an expert by no means) but the wa…

[deleted]

Re: Working memory revived in older adults by synchronizing rhythmic brain circuits

#30

Post by arthurcolle »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #27
zwieback wrote: post #12

Seems amazing that currents < 2mA at frequencies in the low Hz do anything. That's practically DC, I guess the trick is all in synching the signals to what's going on in your head.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcranial_direct-current_st...

I really recommend Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation: A Neurochronometrics of Mind (A Bradford Book) by Vincent Walsh for anyone who wants a really concise view of one aspect of the field. I was super interested in this when I was in my first few years of college but the fear of electrocution pretty much dissuaded me from trying anything like building an apparatus myself.
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