Category Archives: Article

Scientists Use Brain Stimulation to Boost Creativity

Posted on by
Reply

Flavio Frohlich photo Donn Young

Sounds like some kind of tACS. Will try to follow-up with more info.
See Also: Your Brain on Electricity

For the Cortex study, Frohlich’s team enrolled 20 healthy adults. Researchers placed electrodes on each side of each participant’s frontal scalp and a third electrode toward the back of the scalp. This way, the 10-Hertz alpha oscillation stimulation for each side of the cortex would be in unison. This is a key difference in Frohlich’s method as compared to other brain stimulation techniques.
Each participant underwent two sessions. During one session, researchers used a 10-Hertz sham stimulation for just five minutes. Participants felt a little tingle at the start of the five minutes. For the next 25 minutes, each participant continued to take the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking, a comprehensive and commonly used test of creativity. In one task, each participant was shown a small fraction of an illustration – sometimes just a bent line on a piece of paper. Participants used the line to complete an illustration, and they wrote a title when they finished.
In the other session each participant underwent the same protocol, except they were stimulated at 10 Hertz for the entire 30 minutes while doing the Torrance test. The tingling sensation only occurred at the start of the stimulation, ensuring that each participant did not know which session was the control session.
Because rating creativity or scoring a test can involve subjectivity, Frohlich sent each participant’s work to the company that created the test. “We didn’t even tell the company what we were doing,” Frohlich said. “We just asked them to score the tests.
”Then Frohlich’s team compared each participant’s creativity score for each session. He found that during the 30-minute stimulation sessions, participants scored an average 7.4 percentage points higher than they did during the control sessions.

via Scientists Use Brain Stimulation to Boost Creativity.
link to paper: (paywall) http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0010945215001033

My brain on electricity: A 130 day tDCS experiment

Posted on by
Reply

Reddit user ADifferentDrum posted the results of his informal long term dual n back/tDCS training research project. Links below to full article.

In an informal experiment aimed at improving memory and attention, I stimulated various regions of my brain using tDCS therapy for 130 sessions over 135 days while simultaneously completing the working memory task dual n back. Each session lasted about 30 minutes. I found that my scores significantly improved both during “live” tDCS treatment and also during intermittent “off” stimulation memory task sessions. I had previously done the dual n back task thousands of trials over the course of two years so the improvement in performance cannot be attributed to practice effects alone. Just as some of the literature suggests, I found that tDCS can improve a very specific skill (in this case “brain game” performance), but the jury is still out as to what benefits, if any does tDCS have in improving other skills outside of training…

130 day stimulation schedule

EEG Position Description Duration
P4 Right Parietal 15 days
P3 Left Parietal 15 days
F3 Left Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex 30 days
FP2 Right Frontal Pole 15 days
FP1 Left Frontal Pole 15 days
F3/FP1 (revisiting regions) Left DLPFC/Left Poles 10 days
T4 Right Temporal Lobe 15 days
T3 Left Temporal Lobe 15 days

via My brain on electricity: A 130 day tDCS experiment.

A look at the foc.us V2 | Signal to Noise

Posted on by
Reply

Fantastic to have a resource in the community like Nathan who has the background and technical expertise to do a deep dive into assessing a device like the new Foc.us v2.  The entire review is a must read but here I’m quoting his analysis of the safety issues.

nathanFocus

The foc.us also includes some new safety features designed to reduce the risk of high-current-density induced injuries. The most interesting is a soft voltage limit; while the device can technically output voltages out to 60V, users can specify a lower limit to not exceed. This provides protection if the connection between electrodes and the head starts to fail (due to electrode drying or drift, for instance); rather than increase voltage to the absolute maximum in an attempt to drive the target current over the failing connection (which can result in very high current density through a small patch of skin), the device can be configured to simply allow the current to drop using this limit. Unfortunately, there’s no actual alert that the connection is failing (although this can be deduced from looking at the current monitor during operation) but this still provides a good way to avoid many of the safety issues that the high maximum operating voltage would otherwise entail.

Another important area of safety is the ability of the current regulator to maintain its specified current and voltage outputs under varying conditions. Here I tested the device under two conditions: with relatively stable impedance at varying levels (simulating a typical use case in a person sitting still) and in an “impulse” condition, where impedance changes instantly from very high to very low or vice versa. The purpose of this testing method is to measure the device’s response to temporary very sharp changes in impedance caused by disconnection and reconnection of the electrodes as might occur in the Edge device when used during athletic performance.

Here the foc.us performed perfectly; neither current nor voltage ever significantly exceeded their specified maximums under varying conditions. The response to impulses was particularly impressive, with no significant “overshoot” even at the maximum voltage output.

via: http://quicktotheratcave.tumblr.com/post/114989398773/a-look-at-the-foc-us-v2

Adventures in Transcranial Direct-Current Stimulation | The New Yorker

Posted on by
2

Adventures in Transcranial Direct-Current Stimulation author Elif BatumanElifBatuman
Excellent! We met Jim Fugedy in podcast episode #2

It is the rare human who doesn’t wish to change something about his or her brain. In my case, it’s depression, which runs on both sides of my family. I’ve been taking antidepressants for almost twenty years, and they help a lot. But every couple of years the effects wear off, and I have to either up the dose or switch to a different drug—neither process can be repeated indefinitely without the risk of liver or kidney damage. So although my symptoms are under control for now, I worry, depressively, about what will happen when I exhaust the meds. As I was researching this piece, my attention was caught by a number of randomized controlled trials showing a benefit from tDCS for depression. (The data are insufficient to allow definitive conclusions, but larger trials are in progress.) I was almost embarrassed by how excited I felt. What if it was possible to feel less sad—to escape the deterministic cycle of sadness? What if you could do the treatment yourself, at home, without the humiliation and expense of doctors’ visits? I asked Vince Clark whether any private physicians use tDCS outside of a research setting.

via Adventures in Transcranial Direct-Current Stimulation – The New Yorker.

Inside the Mind of a ‘Brain Hacker’ | A Modern Monk

Posted on by
Reply

Furthermore, from the article, it may be misinterpreted that I starting using tDCS to treat my vision, but this is not true. I have always been interested in self-improvement, and wanted to try new things to become a better person and live my life in the right way. A few months before stumbling upon tDCS, I had started to spend more time in meditation and exercising regularly, as well as taking nutritional supplements and becoming vegetarian. So tDCS seemed like one more thing to try to see if it made a difference for me, and I did not expect that it would affect my vision at all. However, after using it one evening, I noticed that I was able to see better in low light. It was a strange feeling at first, but after trying it for several nights in a row, it was very evident that I could perceive things that I simply couldn’t see before, such as the upper floors of tall buildings, and traffic from more than a few meters away. While my visual acuity remains the same, my contrast perception and ability to notice small objects have noticeably improved.

via Inside the Mind of a ‘Brain Hacker’ — tDCS and Neurodynamics — Medium.

Electroceuticals: the Shocking Future of Brain Zapping | Motherboard

Posted on by
1

Okay, I think we’re on the edge of a shift in thinking. Here’s prof. Bikson referring to 2mA as ‘baby aspirin’ and pointing out that ‘the dose  hasn’t increased in 15 years’. Combine this with the revelation (previous post to the blog) that the Thync device is using up to 10mA (pulsed current) and that much of the experiments that went on with the Thync device were conducted by Bikson and you can’t help but conclude that researchers are ready to up the dosage. But that was one of my very first questions and I asked it far and wide, ‘Why 2mA?’.

“There’s already technology available today that can, with limited discomfort or no discomfort, deliver much higher intensities than people are using. And there’s no theoretical—not even real—reason to think that this might be hazardous,” Bikson says. “We’re at baby aspirin levels right now. [Researchers] are going really slow with this stuff.”

So why not ramp up the experiments? Researchers have to be especially cautious because of how new the science of tDCS is—and perhaps to avoid the horrors that have been observed to coincide with ECT.

“Part of the reason why people are on the fence is because the effects are small, [but] of course they’re small. The dose has not increased in 15 years,” Bikson says.

But Bikson says that might be keeping them from making real headway—and from having the sort of impact on test subjects that would get the medical community engaged with this stuff.

via Electroceuticals: the Shocking Future of Brain Zapping | Motherboard.

Coming Soon—Electronic Mood Control | MIT Technology Review

Posted on by
1

 

If Tyler is right, it could explain why tDCS results have been so hard to replicate. Researchers position tDCS electrodes based on the assumption that they affect the areas of the brain directly below. But sometimes they may be accidentally stimulating the cranial nerves instead, leading to inconsistent results. Based on his new hypothesis, Tyler changed where he placed the electrodes, targeting these nerves specifically.

Early experiments showed enough of an effect to suggest the hypothesis was right, Tyler says. But the effects weren’t huge. The next step was to amplify the effect by increasing current levels without causing pain or skin damage. Researchers at Thync, which was founded in 2011, did this in part by using pulses of electricity, rather than steady current, and operating at frequencies that don’t stimulate pain receptors.

I experienced the difference that these measures make when I tried out a conventional tDCS device side-by-side with Thync’s technology. At three or four milliamps of electrical current, conventional tDCS was quite painful. That’s why most experiments are done at around one milliamp. In contrast, I couldn’t even feel the pulses from Thync’s device at 10 milliamps.

via Coming Soon—Electronic Mood Control | MIT Technology Review.

Tapping into the power of Thync | TechRepublic

Posted on by
Reply

Very well-written and detailed article on the upcoming Thync device. Links to full article below.

I set the vibe level to 60, and felt a slight pressure on my forehead as the vibe commenced. It wasn’t painful but I did note an almost immediate change as the calming electrical signals began to enter my brain. This wasn’t a placebo and it wasn’t suggestion: it was real.

“Think about a stressful situation,” Sumon advised. “Then focus on it a bit later to see how you react to it.”

Naturally, I thought about the hike back to my car and the exodus from Boston before rush hour commenced. Already the apprehension that previously seemed to be looming was a mere thought, nothing more. Just a few moments after starting the demo I felt a steady flow of relaxation coursing through my body. It was a bit like tubing down a lazy river at a water park; pleasant and entertaining, yet not too intense. I continued to take notes on my reactions as Sumon worked on his computer. It was like a comfortable visit with a colleague I’d known for a while.

“You may feel some euphoria,” Sumon stated. I agreed; the experience was like the buzz of a couple of beers, minus the “belly glow” that goes with it.

I raised the intensity level to 62, then 64 and finally 68. I noticed when I increased the threshold I felt a slight twist of pressure in my temple as the sensor responded, but it wasn’t uncomfortable or distracting. However, 68 represented a euphoric flow a bit higher than I seemed to need, so I dialed back down to 62.

I reflected on my upcoming drive home and felt nothing other than confidence. The car would be fine where I had parked it and the drive would be okay too. Even if things got sticky, I had the radio to listen to and no particular demands on my schedule for the evening. There were far worse things than sitting in Boston traffic, I reflected absently.

via Tapping into the power of Thync – TechRepublic.

Brain injury allows man to visualize the world Matrix-style | TechGenMag

Posted on by
Reply

The fMRI scan revealed increased activity in the left hemisphere of Padgett’s brain, which is where mathematical skills are thought to originate. Another area in Padgett’s brain that lit up was the left parietal cortex, a region responsible for integrating information coming from different senses. Brogaard’s team also used a transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) as a way to pinpoint the exact location of Padgett’s synesthesia. The TMS involves directing a magnetic pulse at a desired part of the brain, which either activates or inhibits a specific region. The results of the TMS experiment showed that when zapping Padgett’s parietal cortex, his synesthesia could be turned on and off.

via Brain injury allows man to visualize the world Matrix-style.

Three things to know before trying tDCS — tDCS and Neurodynamics — A Modern Monk

Posted on by
Reply

Again, the takeaway message for me being, ‘your mileage may vary’ and, ‘are you sure it’s doing what you think it is?’.

In my experience, the best way to determine whether tDCS was effective was through stimulating the visual cortex and playing a vision training game called Ultimeyes for the iPad. I came across this study (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18491714) when I first started reading about tDCS and thought I would try it myself. After just one session, I could clearly see the difference in my ability to perceive low contrast objects in the app, and this carried over to recognizing features and objects outside as well, and especially in low light conditions.

via Three things to know before trying tDCS — tDCS and Neurodynamics — Medium.

Neurostimulation: Hacking your brain | The Economist

Posted on by
Reply

Very well researched and well-balanced article from Mark Harris at The Economist.

Hardly surprising, then, that DIY brain hackers want in on the action. Christopher Zobrist, a 36-year-old entrepreneur based in Vietnam, is one of them. With little vision he has been registered as blind since birth due to an hereditary condition of his optic nerve that has no established medical treatment. Mr Zobrist read a study of a different kind of transcranial stimulation (using alternating current) that had helped some glaucoma patients in Germany recover part of their vision. Despite neither the condition nor the treatment matching his own situation, Mr Zobrist decided to try tDCS in combination with a visual training app on his tablet computer. He quickly noticed improvements in his distance vision and perception of contrast. “After six months, I can see oncoming traffic two to three times farther away than before, which is very helpful when crossing busy streets,” he says.
…

Equally troublesome is a meta-analysis of the cognitive and behavioural effects on healthy adults that Mr Horvath subsequently carried out. As before, he included only the most reliable studies: those with a sham control group and replicated by other researchers. It left 200 studies claiming to have discovered beneficial effects on over 100 activities such as problem solving, learning, mental arithmetic, working memory and motor tasks. After his meta-analysis, however, tDCS was found to have had no significant effect on any of them.

If tDCS alters neither the physiology of the brain nor how it performs, thinks Mr Horvath, then evidence suggests it is not doing anything at all. Marom Bikson, a professor of biomedical engineering at City University of New York, disagrees. “I can literally make you fall on your butt using the ‘wrong’ type of tDCS,” he says. Dr Bikson thinks the biggest challenge for tDCS is optimising techniques, such as the dose.

via Neurostimulation: Hacking your brain | The Economist.

Foc.us Firmware – Still to Come…

Posted on by
Reply

A string of Foc.us news and updates over the last few days warrants our attention. Again, I’m very impressed with these announcements. Someone sat down and got very serious about creating a device/software that would fulfill everyone’s home use tDCS wish list. (Note: Have yet to see feedback from anyone actually using or having tested the Foc.us vs2 firmware upgrade yet. Will report when I do.) From the Foc.us blog. Upcoming features:

Here is an outline list of the features we will be adding to the foc.us firmware over the next few weeks

  • Calibrate – find your current and voltage for each mode
  • Save, share and download new programs
  • Motion sensor – activity tracking capability
  • Customisations – device name, pin, lock mode
  • Games – nback, dual n-back, arrow game
  • Bluetooth Low Energy support for new iOS and Android apps
  • Realtime Clock – ability to set session start time in the future
  • Vibro buzzer feedback
  • Multilingual translations

Amrex-type electrode support:
focusAmrexAdaptor

And a detailed description of the thoughts around security and what goes into their firmware updates. Impressed!

via FOC.US — foc.us firmware – still to come….

Will 2015 Be The Year Our Smartphones Link Up To Our Brains? | Popular Science

Posted on by
Reply

As executive director Sumon Pal fixes two small electrodes to my head he waxes poetic about that science. Writing vibes, he says, is like writing songs. “You figure out the pieces you want, but things change over time.” Over the next 16 minutes, things do change. My head and neck become accustomed to the warm vibrations imparted by the electrodes. My breathing slows noticeably, my thoughts cease their usual ricocheting off one another and zero in on the moment, and the familiar knot of tension between my shoulder blades begins to soften. By the time the Calm Vibe has run its course, the feeling feeling of warm relaxation running through me is somewhat analogous to the sensation one feels after a short bout of meditative yoga—or perhaps a healthy snort of bourbon.

The company is confident that before the end of the year it will be selling a consumer-friendly piece of wearable tech that actively alters users’ biology. Users will enhance their mental state with the swipe of a finger. It’s not science fiction anymore, Tyler says. It’s just science.

via Will 2015 Be The Year Our Smartphones Link Up To Our Brains? | Popular Science.

How the first brain-altering wearable is being tested | TheDailyDot

Posted on by
Reply

Here we go. The Thync device isn’t tDCS after all.
From the study:

Abstract
We have developed a neuromodulation approach that targets peripheral nerves and utilizes their afferents as signaling conduits to influence brain function. We investigated the effects of this transdermal electrical neurosignaling (TEN) approach on physiological responses to acute stress induction. TEN was targeted to the ophthalmic and maxillary divisions of the right trigeminal nerve and cervical spinal nerve afferents (C2/C3) using high-frequency, pulse-modulated electrical currents. Compared to active sham stimulation, TEN significantly suppressed sympathetic activity in response to acute stress without impeding cognitive performance. This sympatholytic action of TEN was indicated by significant suppression of heart rate variability changes, galvanic skin responses, and salivary α-amylase levels in response to stress. These observations are consistent with the hypothesis that TEN acted partially by modulating activity in the locus coeruleus and subsequent noradrenergic signaling. Dampening sympathetic tone using TEN in such a manner represents a promising approach to managing daily stress and improving brain health.

And as reported by Daily Dot

While I had only 30 minutes of time with Thync, the team told me that it’s been doing in-depth beta testing for a while. Now, Thync is starting to release some of its findings. In a press release this morning, Thync announced a study showing that its device reduces stress without chemicals. Here’s a quick look at how it worked:

In the study, researchers experimentally induced stress in subjects by exposing them to various environmental stimuli causing fear or cognitive pressure. When Thync scientists examined stress biomarkers in the saliva of subjects at different time points throughout the study, they observed something interesting. They found the levels of salivary α-amylase, an enzyme that increases with stress, as well as noradrenergic and sympathetic activity, significantly dropped for the subjects that received electrical neurosignaling compared to the subjects that received the sham.

The results are exactly what Thync has been saying: That it can de-stress us without putting anything into our bodies. It’s an interesting (though admittedly, very academic) look at how Thync works. But the company also helped me understand its testing and offered an anecdotal look at how the device is being used.

via How the first brain-altering wearable is being tested.