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Running Head : TMS ENHANCES WORKING MEMORY 1 Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation enhances working memory
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Austin, Rebecca Garland |
| Copyright Year | 2016 |
| Abstract | Cognitive decline associated with aging affects a large proportion of America’s progressively older population. To remedy this decline, various working memory (WM) training protocols are emerging, the most novel of which utilize Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) to excite neuronal activity, induce long-term potentiation, and enhance cognitive functioning. Ultimately aiming to remediate WM decline in aging adults by using TMS, this study first sought to establish ideal TMS parameters to induce WM improvements. Using a delayed match-to-sample (DMS) WM task with both maintenance and manipulation conditions, it was hypothesized that active TMS, relative to sham TMS, would differentially impact task performance depending on its timing of administration, either before encoding or at the end of the delay phases. Following screening and practice, subjects trained on the DMS task for 4 hours over 2 days, receiving 5s of either active 5Hz TMS at 100% of motor threshold to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) or sham TMS. The phase of active versus sham TMS stimulation was counterbalanced across participants. The results suggest that active TMS improved DMS reaction time and accuracy as compared to sham TMS. Specifically, maintenance task performance improved with TMS before encoding, while manipulation task performance was aided by TMS during the delay period. Although promising, these results should be bolstered by increased sample sizes and individualized fMRI-based DLPFC targeting before deciding on the optimal timing of TMS for each DMS task condition in aging adults. TMS ENHANCES WORKING MEMORY 3 We all have experienced the frustration of trying and failing to remember information, such as a telephone number, for short periods of time. However, imagine the feeling of debilitation involved in consistently loosing track of the topic during a conversation, forgetting where important objects like keys or medications were placed, or being unable to mentally compute basic calculations such as a tip in a restaurant. For a large proportion of America’s progressively aging population, this form of cognitive decline that particularly afflicts executive processing and working memory (WM) becomes a serious setback (Fiore et al., 2012; Salthouse, 1994). |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://dukespace.lib.duke.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/10161/11841/RGA_THESIS_GwD.pdf?sequence=1 |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
