Shooting a Light Laser at Your Brain can Improve Your Short-Term Memory

Highlights:

Laser light therapy can activate cognitive function and improve short-term memory
Transcranial photobiomodulation is used to activate the right prefrontal cortex, which is the designated area for working memory //
The mechanism of laser therapy and its effects on working memory require further investigation

Laser light therapy has been shown to be effective in improving short-term memory.

Lasers are paving their way in all fields of medicine, and recently it has been proven that shooting laser light on your brain can improve short-term memory by up to 25 per cent.

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‘A breakthrough study conducted for the first time on human beings demonstrates that there is a link between transcranial photobiomodulation and working memory in humans.’

Scientists at the University of Birmingham in the UK and Beijing Normal University in China, demonstrated that the therapy, called 'transcranial photobiomodulation (tPBM),' is applied to an area of the brain known as the right prefrontal cortex. This area is commonly acknowledged to be vital for working memory. The team demonstrated that working memory improved among research participants after several minutes of therapy in their trial. They were also able to track changes in brain activity during therapy and assessment by employing electroencephalogram (EEG) monitoring ().

Earlier, it was demonstrated that laser light treatment can improve working memory in an animal model, and human studies have shown tPBM treatment can improve accuracy, speed up reaction time, and improve high-order functions such as attention and emotion ().

Dongwei Li, a visiting PhD student in the University of Birmingham’s Center for Human Brain Health, is a co-author on the paper. He said: "People with conditions like ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) or other attention-related conditions could benefit from this type of treatment, which is safe, simple, and non-invasive, with no side-effects."

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Researchers from Beijing Normal University conducted trials on 90 male and female subjects aged 18 to 25 years. Participants were given laser light treatments to the right prefrontal brain at wavelengths of 1064 nm, while others received treatments at a lesser wavelength or to the left prefrontal cortex. To rule out the placebo effect, each subject was also given a sham, or inactive, tPBM.

Following a 12-minute tPBM treatment, participants were asked to recall the orientations or colors of a series of items exhibited on a screen. Participants who received laser light at 1064 nm to the right prefrontal cortex improved their memory significantly more than those who received the other treatments.

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Participants getting alternative treatment variations could recall between 3 and 4 of the test objects, whereas those receiving the targeted treatment could recall between 4 and 5 objects. Data from the trial, including electroencephalogram (EEG) monitoring, was analyzed at the University of Birmingham and revealed changes in the brain’s activity that indicated gains in memory function.

Why do we Need More Research on Laser Light Therapy and its Link to Memory?

There are still some dots that need to be connected. The researchers are still in the gray area and are trying to decode why the therapy improves working memory and how long the effect of the therapy will last. Further research on these elements is planned and will be done soon.

Professor Ole Jensen, also at the Centre for Human Brain Health, said: "We need further research to understand exactly why the tPBM is having this positive effect, but it’s possible that the light is stimulating the astrocytes—the powerplants—in the nerve cells within the prefrontal cortex, and this has a positive effect on the cells’ efficiency. We will also be investigating how long the effects might last. Clearly, if these experiments are to lead to a clinical intervention, we will need to see long-lasting benefits."

Laser Therapy's Success in the Cognitive Field

Earlier, it was shown that cold laser therapy can improve cognitive function. Photobiomodulation was used in low-level laser therapy (LLLT), and ever since then, it has been tested as a new technique to optimize the recovery of patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI).

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This system was successful in terms of being a safe and effective technique for significantly improving memory, attention, and mood performance in healthy and neurologic patients ().

In addition to previous research, laser light therapy is proving to be an effective, low-cost, non-invasive therapy for improving short-term memory.

References:

Transcranial photobiomodulation enhances visual working memory capacity in humans - (https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.02.24.481703v2)
Transcranial low-level laser therapy enhances learning, memory, and neuroprogenitor cells after traumatic brain injury in mice - (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25292167/)
Photobiomodulation using low-level laser therapy (LLLT) for patients with chronic traumatic brain injury: a randomized controlled trial study protocol - (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29310710/)

Source-Medindia