Immediate effect of frontal head cooling on working memory performance and auditory reaction time among young adults: a randomized controlled trial

Forehead cooling have been shown to be involved in the thermoregulation (cooling) of the brain. Head-cooling has been proposed to enhance cognitive function both during and after exercise. Selective head cooling on the surface can be used to cool the grey matter of the brain, as shown by biomedical engineering models. In individuals with insomnia, frontal cerebral thermal treatment decreased frontal cerebral metabolism during sleep. Cooling the forehead simulates a combination of the two mechanisms thought to cool the brain, one being cooling of venous blood by the skin which in turn cools the arterial (carotid) blood supply to the brain. The other major brain cooling mechanism is the dissipation of heat through facial emissary veins or heat loss through the skull. Working memory is the minuscule quantity of information that can be kept in the mind and used for completing cognitive activities, as opposed to long-term memory, which is the vast amount of knowledge maintained during a person’s life. It has been regularly connected to or associated with learning, executive function, intelligence, information processing, understanding, and learning in people of all ages and simplifies thinking, planning, comprehending, and solving problems. The impairment of working memory is thought to be a key cognitive characteristic that distinguishes Attention-Deficits/hyperactivity disorder from Non-attention deficit/ hyper activity disorder. Impaired working memory is a prevalent trait in people with schizophrenia and those at high risk of developing psychosis; it is also a prospective target for early intervention techniques.  Benefits of working memory include enhanced attention and processing speed, which can help the brain networks that mediate memory functions more effectively and result in quick reaction times. This study intends to assess the immediate effect of frontal head cooling on working memory performance and auditory reaction time among young adults and to evaluate the changes in cognitive levels following the application of frontal Head cooling.