Tuesday, March 31, 2015

The uncertain promise of electro-braining

Adventures in Transcranial Direct-Current Stimulation - The New Yorker

A pretty good summary here of the uncertain position science is at regarding mild direct current electrical stimulation of the brain.

I should look around for the "do it yourself" versions of the devices which are apparently on the 'net.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Steve,

Do you think the device would help resolve your heterosexual/ homosexual conflict?

Steve said...

Says the man who lives at a blog where gay marriage is fretted over in comments at least 20 times a day.

Steve said...

By the way, JC, the next post is all about homosexuality in America at the start of the 20th century.

An interesting topic, I'm sure you'll agree.

John said...

So The Cat is still populated by those terrified of gay marriage?

These electro and pulsed magnetic field issues are quite interesting but no-one understands why the benefits exist. My *guess* is that it is simply the provision of kinetic energy.

These therapies have promise but I would be wary of invoking the same all the time because the brain has a rather sensitive excitation-inhibition balance and pushing it too far either way can create a number of problems.