About
Responsible Researcher: Diego Pinal
This project was intended to Boost Executive Functions in the Elderly using non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS); thus, promoting cognitive integrity in old adults so they remain highly functioning and able to maintain productive and independent lifestyles.
Healthy cognitive aging is characterized by downturns, especially regarding executive functions (EFs). These EFs have been consistently associated with oscillatory brain activity in the Theta frequency (4-8 Hz) stemming from the medial prefrontal cortex (FM-theta). Therefore, it was hypothesized that increasing FM-theta activity might lead to enhanced executive control of information processing in the brain. NIBS modulates neuronal firing patterns and brain activation of targeted brain regions via the induction of safe and painless weak currents into the scalp. Hence, it holds the promise to boost EFs in older adults. However, at the project start, NIBS setups developed to specifically modulate FM-theta activity had yet to be used in aged populations, and there had been no attempt to study such intervention effects on EFs and their associated EEG indices.
Consequently, in a novel multi-method approach, this project used a NIBS setup to modulate FM-theta activity while simultaneously recording EEG in older adults. Specifically, transcranial electric current stimulation (tES) has been applied before (offline) or during (online) older adults' execution of a cognitive task in two sessions. Its effects on behavioural performance, as well as on EEG indices recorded during task execution, are being analysed and contrasted with those of offline and online sham stimulation. Further, tES effects are being compared between its offline and its online application and between the first and the second session to determine which stimulation protocol produces the best outcomes. Hence, the project results will provide valuable insights into assessing tES as a potential tool to overcome age-related cognitive declines.