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Scientists Overclock People's Brains

arshadk writes with this excerpt from the BBC about researchers at Oxford University who found that inducing a small current in a subject's parietal lobe boosted their capacity for numerical learning: "The current could not be felt, and had no measurable effect on other brain functions. As it was turned on, the volunteers tried to learn a puzzle which involved substituting numbers for symbols. Those given the current from right to left across the parietal lobe did significantly better when given, compared to those who were given no electrical stimulation. The direction of the current was important — those given stimulation running in the opposite direction, left to right, did markedly worse at these puzzles than those given no current, with their ability matching that of an average six-year-old. The effects were not short-lived, either. When the volunteers whose performance improved was re-tested six months later, the benefits appear to have persisted. There was no wider effect on general maths ability in either group, just on the ability to complete the puzzles learned as the current was applied."

11 of 314 comments (clear)

  1. sweet !! by ckeo · · Score: 5, Funny

    K... I just cut the cord off a lamp... somerone talk me through this O.O

    1. Re:sweet !! by ckeo · · Score: 5, Funny

      hmmm... maybe I should just suck on a 9 volt battery while I am studying :/

    2. Re:sweet !! by Yvan256 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Luckily for you there is two flavors available: Duracell and Energizer!

    3. Re:sweet !! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      How do you know what cat piss tastes like?

    4. Re:sweet !! by Reapman · · Score: 3, Funny

      This reminds me of that time you tried to drill a hole in your head....

    5. Re:sweet !! by Ster · · Score: 3, Funny

      This reminds me of that time you tried to drill a hole in your head....

      That would have worked if you hadn't stopped me.

  2. Love the journal name... by lazlo · · Score: 4, Funny

    The findings are reported in the journal Current Biology.

    Awesome pun.

    --
    Pound! Bang! Bin! Bash! is this a shell script or a Batman comic?
  3. Re:My old boss used to do this too...no biggie. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    15 minutes for a Honda Civic? What is so hard about cutting a couple of zip-ties?

  4. Re:Uhhhh.... WHAT? by Yvan256 · · Score: 3, Funny

    The english-speaking participants then replied "Wakarimasen"?

  5. Re:Overclocking? by mehrotra.akash · · Score: 3, Funny

    How do you accidently overclock a PC??

  6. Re:My old boss used to do this too...no biggie. by quacking+duck · · Score: 4, Funny

    Reminds me of a Top Gear episode where they discovered that changing out an engine of a car took less time than a group of women getting ready to go out for the evening.