Scientists, already adept at using magnets to screw with the brain’s ability to generate speech, are now sending direct current into people’s brain matter to help them master video games.
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.
DARPA! Of course! What aren’t they doing in the mind control field these days, amiright?
While controversial and even a bit dangerous, this manipulation, called transcranial direct current stimulation, could actually be used to treat certain neurological disorders in the future, should it prove safe over long periods of time. [Nature News via PopSci]