Don’t worry. Gaisan’s blog hasn’t been taken over by one of those spamming bots promoting Human Growth Hormone, a larger appendage or a higher IQ. Still, I read some rather shocking (pardon the terrible pun) news from the US National Institute of Neurological Disorders & Stroke. The study investigates the effects of Functional Electrical Stimulation and wired has an article with soundbytes from key staff. It appears that a small (2 mA) current passed through electrodes attached to the surface of the forehead can increase a subjects’ verbal skills. In the study, volunteers were asked to think of as many words as possible that begin with a particular letter. The current was applied and the challenge was reissued. After the current was applied volunteers were able to come up with on average 20% more words. It is hoped that these findings could be used to create a new drugless treatment for neurological illnesses or used to repair brain trauma. The researchers are as yet unclear as to why the current effectively stimulates brain function but Eric Wasserman, a scientist at the institute proposed the following conjecture:
“What we think we’re doing is changing the electrical environment of neurons and causing them to change their activity,” said Wassermann.>
The only side effects observed so far are a “tingling senstation” around the area where the electrodes are applied. However “It’s unknown whether chronically overdriving an impaired system might cause it to burn out faster”