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."

Comments

Re:you can do this with drugs too

[Doc Ruby]

Which drugs? Plenty of drugs taken in moderation can be sustained throughout a natural lifespan without damage. Very few drugs, especially those used longer than the last few generations, "burn out neurons" or cause any neuropathy of any kind, at active doses that aren't toxic. Alcohol is an exception. But heroin is not. All drugs temporarily "lower the potential" of neurons or raise them: otherwise they'd have no effect whatsoever. But so does eating too much food (or not enough), or habitual running, or having sex.

Blanket statements about drugs are rarely meaningful enough to take as useful advice.

Oldnews

[durrr]

This phenomena is quite well studied, and seems to be producing relatively linear effects. It was discovered in the 70's or so. It's refered to as transcranial direct current stimulation and just a few months ago there was a study on visual memory about the same.
It's not really new and revolutionary, it's just that the previous studies haven't been able to be worded as "OMG BRAINOVERKLOCKING!" and thus haven't generated the same interest.
http://nextbigfuture.com/2010/08/direct-current-stimulation-more-than.html

Re:sweet !!

[lazarus corporation]

From the first sentence of the summary at the top of the page:

arshadk writes with this excerpt from the BBC about researchers at Oxford University who found that...

As an Englishman I may be biased, but I think the BBC counts as a major news company.