Enhancing cognition and memory via mobile brain stimulation

Cognitive impairment in normally ageing individuals strongly impacts the quality of life in an increasingly large percentage of the UK population. Those who transition from healthy to unhealthy ageing, such as Alzheimer's disease, have found themselves at the top of the at-risk ladder, recently overtaking heart disease and stroke as the number one cause of death. Recent advances in safe, non-invasive electrical stimulation combined with cognitive training show tremendous promise as a means of slowing cognitive decline in both healthy and non-healthy ageing populations. Indeed, early intervention can dramatically reduce health care costs while at the same time improving quality of life and independence of people normally ageing and those starting to acquire dementia.
Our proposed project will investigate the beneficial effects of 'online' and 'offline' brain stimulation on working memory and long-term memory, two key pillars of human cognition. First, we will use simultaneous brain stimulation in combination with cognitive training ('online' stimulation) to systematically enhance working memory capacity in participants. Cognitive training is a form of non-pharmaceutical intervention, useful to preserve cognitive function during healthy aging. Second, we will employ brain stimulation during natural sleep ('offline' stimulation) in an effort to amplify particular brain rhythms hallmarking healthy sleep (e.g., 'slow waves' or 'sleep spindles'). Beyond improving restorative sleep quality, a key goal is to improve long-term memory, known to benefit from sleep and showing a dramatic decline both in healthy ageing and in patients suffering from neurodegenerative diseases.
Both working memory and long-term memory changes require brain plasticity, i.e., the ability of the brain to undergo functional and structural changes to adapt to new needs. Transcranial Current Stimulation (tCS) is a non-invasive, safe and easily administered technique that is believed to modify cortical excitability, in turn enabling brain plasticity. However, cognitive training and sleep interventions both typically require multiple experimental sessions in laboratory environments. Not only does this put high demands participants' flexibility and mobility (which is a particular concern for the elderly), but unfamiliar laboratory environments put extra strains on efforts to sleep, thereby rendering laboratory sleep interventions particularly challenging.
At the core of our proposed project is a collaboration with Neuroelectrics (NE), a leading company that produces devices to stimulate and treat the brain. Critically, NE has created 'telemedicine' wireless platforms, which combine multichannel tCS with recording of brain waves. Thus, we will be in the unique position to apply brain stimulation remotely in the comfort of participants' homes. Indeed, NE products have been used to help patients recovering their brain health in pathologies such as chronic pain and stroke rehabilitation. Prof. Shapiro has maintained a successful collaboration with NE for the last two years (working on the Cognitive Skills and Needs Training (COGNISANT) toolkit), and the company is keen on further supporting our efforts to apply tCS for cognitive training and sleep improvement.
Over the tenure of their PhD, the successful candidate will first employ tCS during cognitive training and sleep in healthy volunteers in our sleep and cognition laboratories at the University of Birmingham, establishing the beneficial effect of brain stimulation on working memory and long-term memory. In phase 2, the stimulation protocols will be adapted for translation to patient groups and healthy volunteers in their home environments