Study finds laser therapy effective for improving short-term memory problems

According to researchers, short-term memory has been found to benefit from laser light therapy. The findings of the study were published in Science Advances. Scientists at the University of Birmingham in the UK and Beijing Normal University in China, demonstrated that the therapy, which is non-invasive, could improve short term, or working memory in people by up to 25 per cent. The treatment, called transcranial photobiomodulation (tPBM), is applied to an area of the brain known as the right prefrontal cortex. This area is widely recognised as important for working memory. In their experiment, the team showed how working memory improved among research participants after several minutes of treatment. They were also able to track the changes in brain activity using electroencephalogram (EEG) monitoring during treatment and testing.