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Advancements in neuroscience, technology, and psychology have led to developments with various brain stimulation techniques for modulating memory. Findings from diverse methodologies are reviewed with a focus on transcranial magnetic or electrical stimulation. These offer numerous non-invasive approaches to target and modulate neurocognitive processes and brain networks that support memory encoding, consolidation, and retrieval. Research has shown enhancements, impairments, and null effects on memory in both healthy individuals and those with memory-related disorders. Methodological considerations are discussed to enhance research rigor and clinical applicability. Elucidating the impact of brain stimulation on memory provides valuable insights into cognition and neurological function, and will help shape future research and clinical practices. 

Age-related differences in working memory (WM) can be large, but the exact sources are unclear. We hypothesized that young adults outperform older adults on WM tasks because they use controlled attention processes to prioritize the maintenance of relevant information in WM in a proactive mode, whereas older adults tend to rely on the strength of familiarity signals to make memory decisions in a reactive mode. We used a WM task that cued participants to prioritize one item over others and presented repeated lure probes that cause errors when one is engaged in a reactive mode. Results showed that, relative to young adults with full attention available to use proactive control during the delays, older adults with full attention (and young adults with divided attention) during the delays had exaggerated error rates to repeated lure probes compared to control probes. When the amount of proactive interference was increased (by repeating stimuli across trials), older adults were able to engage in proactive control, and this eliminated their exaggerated error rate (while young adults with divided attention could not). These results provide evidence for a dual mechanisms of control account of age differences in WM.