Comments on: A Bit of Harmless Brain Stimulation

By: Eric Thomson

Eric Thomson — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 03:06:39 +0000

Cool, but caution is needed before we all run out and by a TCMS machine.

One of the main animal models of epilepsy is the ‘kindling’ model in which epilepsy is induced in rats by stimulating for just one second (yes, second) a day with a single electrode.

Just sayin’, stimulating your brain should be done with some caution, especially if the stimulus produces a lot of synchronous activity that the brain isn’t used to. It may maladaptively respond to the stimulus by becoming a permanently epileptic brain.

Long shot, yes, just urging caution just like we show with alternative medicines.

By: Calli Arcale

Calli Arcale — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 15:44:13 +0000

Smaller, faster, and more energy efficient processors will be helpful – especially energy efficiency, not only because of the need for an energy supply, but also to minimize waste heat.

This immediately put me in mind of a person with wing-like vanes sticking out of their head as radiators.

By: Xplodyncow

Xplodyncow — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 22:45:18 +0000

Maybe?

Stagg CJ, Jayaram G, Pastor D, Kincses ZT, Matthews PM, Johansen-Berg H. Polarity and timing-dependent effects of transcranial direct current stimulation in explicit motor learning. Neuropsychologia. 2011 Apr;49(5):800-4. Epub 2011 Feb 16.

By: tmac57

tmac57 — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 13:39:40 +0000

BillyJoe7- Great! Now I have ‘Ode To Joy’ stuck in my head!
But seriously,I think I’ll give it a try. I really love music,but the only way I have found to avoid this is to go a week or more without hearing anything even remotely ‘catchy’. Even a TV jingle can set off a bout of this that can last a week or more.
Maybe some Phillip Glass…?

By: BillyJoe7

BillyJoe7 — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 11:46:27 +0000

tmac,

An old friend has that problem which she resolves by listening only to classical music. Classical music is too complex to keep running in her brain. And she avoids the radio like the plague.

By: tmac57

tmac57 — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 00:48:42 +0000

SARA- That’s an interesting self observation about having OCD like
behavior regarding depression. Someone close to me also obsesses about things that she cannot change,but finds it difficult to change her train of thought,and this is causing a long term depression.
I personally have a kind of OCD thing which involves a nearly perpetual case of having different pieces of music run through my head at all times,(and I mean always).It’s bad enough just having the music there all the time,I can’t imagine how much worse it would be if it were depressive thoughts or mood.
They do treat patients in my area using TMS,but I have not heard anything about what kind of efficacy it has.

By: SARA

SARA — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 21:15:32 +0000

I find this idea fascinating. Mostly because I suffer from depression and have never found a medication that works with any real effectiveness. My docs have tried all the obvious and a lot of the not obvious choices.

I often think that my depression is similar to OCD. Its like my brain is stuck in a “depression state” mode and repeating a circular set of connections uselessly, rather than obeying my intentions of moving out the depressive behavior. I often imagine that if I could just reroute the current connections in my head to a new path I could move to a productive and healthy life.

Perhaps this type of research will lead to that kind of help for people with depression, anxiety, OCD, etc.

By: robm

robm — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 20:48:24 +0000

I can’t help wondering if the first place this would be used outside of medicine would be in sports to improve coordination and technique, brain doping essentially. There would always be some athletes who would be willing to take the risk, just like with current doping, and it would be harder to test for.

As for brain implants, I can’t help but wonder about the risks (besides the obvious, like brain surgery), like what would happen in the event of a car crash or concussion, as well as exposure to electromagnetic fields and radiation.

Not saying brain implants can’t be a useful treatment for injury or disease, only general brain enhancement might be the equivalent of using a pacemaker for heart overclocking.

By: locutusbrg

locutusbrg — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 20:20:46 +0000

Steve
I am no Neurologist, but I think you kind of indicated the idea’s future usefulness with damning praise.. You went from ” might be plausible” to “It’s not clear why this would be the case, but it is not implausible. ” In two paragraphs.
I think it would be better to say that this is an interesting idea that is not scientifically impossible but suspect. Very interesting to you personally. Could be you know this group does very good work and you are giving them the benefit of the doubt. Sound a little like electrical NLP to me.

By: elmer mccurdy

elmer mccurdy — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 18:54:26 +0000

Anyways, here’s the 1st article about it from my google search:
http://wireheading.com/brainstim/savant.html