Researchers in Li Juan's research group at the Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, conducted a series of studies to investigate the effects of noninvasive brain stimulation on cognitive performance and cardiovascular health in older adults and their mechanisms of action. This included a tDCS meta-analysis study, a tDCS intervention study, and an rTMS intervention study. Given the inconsistent findings on whether tDCS enhances episodic memory in older adults, the investigators first conducted a meta-analysis study designed to provide a quantitative assessment of the efficacy of tDCS on episodic memory function in older adults. Based on the meta-analysis showing that tDCS improves memory decline in older adults, the study further explored the mechanism of action behind it by functional magnetic resonance (fMRI). It was found that tDCS did not improve executive function performance in healthy older adults compared to sham stimulation, but brain activation levels in tDCS-stimulated areas (i.e., prefrontal cortex regions) during the memory extraction phase were elevated post-stimulation and extended to bilateral anterior cingulate cortex (e.g., Figure 1), along with elevated memory (item memory) performance in older adults, and more importantly, neural changes in prefrontal cortex were associated with memory gain was significantly correlated. This suggests that tDCS can improve memory in older adults by enhancing the level of neural activation during the extraction phase. In summary, a series of studies by Li Juan's group showed that non-invasive brain stimulation can "rejuvenate" the brains of healthy older adults, and can be an effective means to improve memory and lipid metabolism, as well as to enhance the cognitive and physical health of older adults. This series of studies provides an important basis for the application of non-invasive brain stimulation in healthy elderly people.

图1 项目记忆提取期间tDCS相关活动改变示意图

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