TimmyHBoost Your Brain Power
July 10th 2008 04:06
A little extra boost is something everyone’s brain could use once in a while. New research from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in the US has been studying whether or not a gentle electrical current to the scalp can improve learning. And the resounding response is yes!
Previous studies in the States and Europe have proven that a stream of current can improve motor function, verbal fluency and even language learning. Eric Wassermann, a Neuroscientist at the National Institute, has been using a process known as “Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (TDCS).” The approach passes an electrical current directly into the brain through the scalp and scull.
This technology has been used for decades and is remarkably simple. It began in the 1960’s when it was originally devised as a means of improving a person’s mood for psychiatric patients, but its effectiveness is still unproven. More successfully, it was provided for people undergoing electroconvulsive therapy, a seizure-inducing treatment for severe depression.
The device itself is also quite simple. A 9 volt battery that was originally approved by the Food and Drug Administration in Washington is connected to a large flat sponge that is moistened and applied to the patient’s head. It delivers a mild 2 to 2.5 milliamp current spread over an area of 20 to 50 millimetres for up to 15 minutes.
Only a very small charge actually ever reaches the brain, most quickly dissipates as it gets further from the scalp. Wassermann’s team has targeted a part of the brain known as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. This cortex is responsible for high-level organization and planning as well as much memory. Not unsurprisingly, this region predicts an individual’s ability to recall information. The idea behind the study was that giving this area a charge of electricity might enhance memory.
In the experiment a charge was applied to the patient’s brain before they were asked to recall a group of 12 words viewed earlier. The effect was significant in the early stages when testers used the same list of words repeatedly, but non-stimulated controls quickly caught up when they had been shown the list more than 4 times.
“Now we want to see if we can enhance recall, not just encoding,” says Wassermann. “Ultimately, you'd just want to do the stimulation during encoding.”
Wassermann hopes that the study will prove that the technology is practical. “We're beginning to think about whether this technology has a role in cognitive enhancement in healthy people--whether it's ethical, whether there is a need and a place for this,” he says.
But the process does have limitations are might not be able to restore lost memory, as was initially hoped. “It probably won't work in a badly damaged brain,” he says. So the research team has shifted its attention toward exploring transcranial stimulation as a learning tool in students.
The actual effects on the brain are not quite known to scientists. TDCS could prime neurons to fire when called upon for memory, as Warren Grill explains. “Presumably, it is polarizing neurons and making them more or less likely to respond to inputs,” says the neural engineer at Duke university. “But what's happening at the level of the synapse, where the business of learning really takes place, we don't know.”
Another process called “Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation” has also been proposed as a learning tool. This has been used as a therapy for stroke and other brain disorders, where an electric coil is placed over the head of a patient and generates a magnetic field that passes through the skull, exciting neurons in the brain. But the inherit risk of brain seizure associated with this has meant that it carries a significant risk.
Some cognitive enhancement with drugs like Ritalin for ADHD is also quite common, but TDCS has been preferred recently because of the incredibly small amount of current passed into the body.
Wassermann boasted a a conference recently that: "Half the people in this room could build this type of device with parts from RadioShack.”
Previous studies in the States and Europe have proven that a stream of current can improve motor function, verbal fluency and even language learning. Eric Wassermann, a Neuroscientist at the National Institute, has been using a process known as “Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (TDCS).” The approach passes an electrical current directly into the brain through the scalp and scull.
This technology has been used for decades and is remarkably simple. It began in the 1960’s when it was originally devised as a means of improving a person’s mood for psychiatric patients, but its effectiveness is still unproven. More successfully, it was provided for people undergoing electroconvulsive therapy, a seizure-inducing treatment for severe depression.
The device itself is also quite simple. A 9 volt battery that was originally approved by the Food and Drug Administration in Washington is connected to a large flat sponge that is moistened and applied to the patient’s head. It delivers a mild 2 to 2.5 milliamp current spread over an area of 20 to 50 millimetres for up to 15 minutes.
Only a very small charge actually ever reaches the brain, most quickly dissipates as it gets further from the scalp. Wassermann’s team has targeted a part of the brain known as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. This cortex is responsible for high-level organization and planning as well as much memory. Not unsurprisingly, this region predicts an individual’s ability to recall information. The idea behind the study was that giving this area a charge of electricity might enhance memory.
In the experiment a charge was applied to the patient’s brain before they were asked to recall a group of 12 words viewed earlier. The effect was significant in the early stages when testers used the same list of words repeatedly, but non-stimulated controls quickly caught up when they had been shown the list more than 4 times.
“Now we want to see if we can enhance recall, not just encoding,” says Wassermann. “Ultimately, you'd just want to do the stimulation during encoding.”
Wassermann hopes that the study will prove that the technology is practical. “We're beginning to think about whether this technology has a role in cognitive enhancement in healthy people--whether it's ethical, whether there is a need and a place for this,” he says.
But the process does have limitations are might not be able to restore lost memory, as was initially hoped. “It probably won't work in a badly damaged brain,” he says. So the research team has shifted its attention toward exploring transcranial stimulation as a learning tool in students.
The actual effects on the brain are not quite known to scientists. TDCS could prime neurons to fire when called upon for memory, as Warren Grill explains. “Presumably, it is polarizing neurons and making them more or less likely to respond to inputs,” says the neural engineer at Duke university. “But what's happening at the level of the synapse, where the business of learning really takes place, we don't know.”
Another process called “Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation” has also been proposed as a learning tool. This has been used as a therapy for stroke and other brain disorders, where an electric coil is placed over the head of a patient and generates a magnetic field that passes through the skull, exciting neurons in the brain. But the inherit risk of brain seizure associated with this has meant that it carries a significant risk.
Some cognitive enhancement with drugs like Ritalin for ADHD is also quite common, but TDCS has been preferred recently because of the incredibly small amount of current passed into the body.
Wassermann boasted a a conference recently that: "Half the people in this room could build this type of device with parts from RadioShack.”
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