In a study involving 15 young adults, a very small electrical current delivered to the scalp above the right anterior temporal lobe significantly improved their memory for the names of famous people (by 11%). Memory for famous landmarks was not affected. The findings support the idea that the anterior temporal lobes are critically involved in the retrieval of people's names.
A pilot study involving 10 patients with moderate Alzheimer's disease, of whom half were randomly assigned to the treatment, has found that two weeks of receiving daily (25 minute) periods of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation to the prefrontal lobes produced a significant improvement in the patients’ ability to understand spoken language. Correct answers on a comprehension test rose from 66% to over 77%. Two further weeks of the treatment produced no further improvement, but the improvements were still evident eight weeks after the end of the treatment.