(But don't try this at home)
Posted 04.15.2011 at 2:57 pm
9-Volt Battery Wikimedia Commons
We’ve already seen how magnets hovering close to a person’s head can affect speech, behavior and learning patterns. Now it appears zapping your brain with a 9-volt battery will make you better at video games, at least according to one researcher. Don’t try this yourself, though.
Neuroscientists at the University of New Mexico asked volunteers to play a video game called “DARWARS Ambush!”, developed to help train American military personnel. Half of the players received 2 milliamps of electricity to the scalp, using a device powered by a simple 9-volt battery, and they played twice as well as those receiving a much tinier jolt. The DARPA-funded study suggests direct current applied to the brain could improve learning.
This type of brain stimulation, called transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), is controversial but could show promise for treatment of various neurological disorders and cognitive impairments. Click through to Nature News for a thorough overview.
It’s different from transcranial magnetic stimulation, in which a magnetic coil running at high voltage is positioned close to the head. The magnets stimulate electrical responses in the brain. Transcranial direct current stimulation is just what it sounds, applying the current directly to the brain.
We’ve been hearing quite a lot about these methods lately, and the scientific literature indicates the fields — tDCS in particular — are experiencing a revival, Nature News points out. Scientists hope the methods could be used to treat depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, stroke and autism, as well as to improve learning by increasing the brain’s plasticity.
Researchers are beginning to understand how an external electrical current affects brain function, including by inducing changes to the flow of electricity across neurons and increasing the expression of certain synapse proteins.
Apparently, it takes very little electricity to do all this. But please, don’t start hooking up 9-volt batteries to your brain — leave that to the scientific studies.
Counting the fact, that this has only been proven once by one scientist doesnt put me on his/ her side at all. Although thinking that there is a way to help our fellow soldiers who come home with post-traumaric stress disorder draws my attention to the fact that this has no been looked into even more than it has been, with all the people who care about our soldiers. It would scare me to have the unknown done to me, but i think it be very cool to learn more about, even though having a battery stuck to your head could attract some who love to play video games, it doesnt attract me unless it can help others in areas that actually matter to our society, and video games does not come close to top priority,
ReplyDeleteI think this brain stimulation could be great for society. It can improve learning, train military personnel and cure disorders like autism. However, before we put this into use regularly, we must make sure it is safe. If this is proven to be safe, I am fine with it being used for the various reasons I listed before.
ReplyDeleteThis is kinda amazing. It's amazing that you can use this to help people with depression ,stress, and autism. However we should make sure this is safe ,and that the side effects are not so bad that they outweigh the good.
ReplyDeleteI think it's cool that this has been discovered. However, what are the short and long term effects? Do people need to do this regularly or is this a one time thing? These are the questions researchers need to address next before everyone starts hopping on the bandwagon. This is especially true if they are thinking about possibly using transcranial direct stimulation on soldiers.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Liz what are negative side effects that people have to deal with due to this.And they need to research what it could do to your brain b/c what if something unexpected happens to your brain then no one will know how to deal with it.And I think that if soldiers have the desire to be where they are they shouldn't need this to learn or perform better and doesn't that kinda defeat the point of trying to make something of yourself and trying to show your skills to perform a simple task like learning stuff that your military instructor tells u to learn and get a better understanding of.I think before jumping to conclusion as how this might be the next amazing discovery and start using it we should get better understanding of it and learn more bout this.
DeleteI don't think this is safe, at least currently. This needs a lot more research to be more than "hooking up a 9-volt battery" to your brain. I do think that if this can work to help with mental problems, it will be a huge leap forward in caring for our bodies.
ReplyDeleteI believe this isnt worth the risk of what this could potentially do to your brain. I dont think this is safe or proved enough to actually try. I think this could really help in brain disorders but i wouldnt want it hooked up to mine as a test. I believe this could be a huge advance in medical training but it may not work either.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion this study is really intersting, but also seems extremely dangerous. There is a chance that the battery being hooked up to a person's brain can make them be smarter and treat mental and physical diseases, but there is also a chance that is can mess a persons brain up. To know that only one scientist has studied this, it makes me question if this study can actually work or not. If it did start helping more than just making people do better at video games, this would be a really cool thing to experience.
ReplyDeleteThis experiment was cool in my opinion and I like how they use the technique for more than just entertainment. The treatment of neurological disorders is an on going process so this may help in achieving something more. I would like to try it, if there weren't any side effects, that is because I love to play video games and to experience them in a new way would be great.
ReplyDeleteI personally don't think this is safe at all. I wouldn't take the chance of hooking that up to my brain and it messing up just to make me better at playing video games. It's great to see that it could help people with certain brain diseases. I think it would only be great in the future if it was safer.
ReplyDeleteI think that this is more dangerous than beneficial. Scientist is trying to change the electric currents in your brain, hoping it will cure the effects of what you have. It can easily go wrong and they can give you more or less miliamps than what they were supposed to. It should wait a while so we can learn more about the brain.
ReplyDeletePersonally I don't believe this experiment is worth the risks. Yea it says it could,key word could, help mental illnesses and it also does effect video gaming experience. For something as dangerous as hooking up a 9 volt battery to your head, I don't believe it's worth the risk just for some extra video game experience or something that might work. What if the scientist messes up with the electric currents,one wrong move and the results could be deadly. I believe we should've released this experiment information out once we knew more of the long term effects. Some people might take this into their own hands regardless to the fact it says dont try at home. If one of those people knew the long term effects then maybe it'd stop at least one of them from doing it.
ReplyDeleteI dont think this experiment is worth it. You could possibly diev from this. I would homestly rather live how i am then get this done. This could damage your health forever.
ReplyDeleteI mean some gamers forsure would do this and I'm sure it would go over well. Yet, the health of the people matter and what if during it all something goes wrong? I mean sure it'd be cool and all but wouldn't you rather be able to be healthy and stay the way you are than taking a risk that could hurt you forever.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion this is dumb research project that will ruin your brain. Video games aren't that important to society. Someone shouldn't damage their body just to play video games. In conclusion this research has no evidence that its true. why ruin your brain just to ruin it more since playing video games in general does that for you.
ReplyDeleteI feel like many serious gamers would probably take this risk just to improve their, but I personally would not. I play video games myself but I don't believe it is that serious to where you have to put your health at risk. Its still a very impressive discovery, but its not the end of the world if your high score doesn't go up a couple points.
ReplyDeleteAs a gamer I find this very interesting. And it raises the question of what else could be done with this.
ReplyDeleteI think that this discovery is very incredible. However, I don't feel that the discovery is safe. I highly disagree to attaching a 9 volt battery to your brain. The study has only been proven once and should not be taken into action until it is guaranteed to be safe. This could severely damage your brain. I don't recommend it.
ReplyDeleteTo begin, I think this research project is really dumb and that they should stop it right now. They don't know if it will cause any long term effects. plus, they aren't even for sure if it will help depression or autism. This could project could be really dangerous.
ReplyDeleteI think that this expirement should be stopped because there could be long term effects that the scientist are not yet aware of. But if this exiperment didnt have a long term effect, i think that it would a great temporary fix to learning problem. Other than to help with minor learning issues, i would personally not let any person try expirement.
ReplyDeleteI'm a gamer but I don't think I'd be first in line in the 9 volt to brain club. However, I think this experiment is a great. This can help us test other questions on what these batteries can do for us. The only down side I see would be we don't know of any long lasting affects.
ReplyDeleteI think the research project is interesting and did show some result, so it could possibly lead to much bigger things. It seems really dangerous though and i feel like some random person will try it one day and cause damage to their brain. If all the details can be worked out then hopefully it really will help to cure depression and autism and other related issues.
ReplyDelete