by Fight with math? A gentle jerk with the brain could help.
A new study published on Tuesday in PLOS biology suggests that a slight electrical stimulation can increase arithmetic performance – and offers a new insight into the brain mechanisms behind mathematical skills and a possible way to optimize learning.
Finally, the results could help narrow down cognitive gaps and build up an intellectually fair society, the authors argue.
“Different people have different brains, and their brain controls a lot in their lives,” said Roi Cohen Kadosh, a neuroscientist at the University of Surrey, who led research.
“We are thinking about the environment – if you go to the right school when you have the right teacher – but it is also our biology.”
Cohen Kadosh and colleagues recruited 72 students from the University of Oxford and scanned their brain to measure the connectivity between three key regions.
The participants then addressed mathematical problems in which either answers were calculated or memorized solutions had to be called up.
They found that stronger connections between the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which regulates the executive function and predicted a better calculation performance to the Posteriors Parietal Kortex involved in the memory.
When the researchers use a painless form of brain stimulation using electrode-related caps-a technology, which is known as transcranial random intoxication-the low actors rose by 25 to 29 percent.
The team believes that stimulation improves the excitability of neurons and interacts with GABA, a brain chemical that inhibits excessive activity – and effectively compensate for the weak neural connectivity for some participants.
In fact, stimulation to the underperformers helped to achieve or even surpass the scores of colleagues with naturally stronger brain cabling. But those who have already played well saw no benefit.
“Some people struggle with things, and if we can help their brain to exploit their potential, we open up many opportunities that would otherwise be closed,” said Cohen Kadosh and called it an “exciting time” for the area of brain stimulation research.
Nevertheless, he marked an essential ethical concern: the risk that such technologies could be available to those with financial means, and not to close access.
He also asked the public not to try this at home. “Some people struggle with learning, and if our research is successful beyond the laboratory, we could help you to fulfill your ambitions and unlock opportunities that could otherwise remain unreachable.”
Cha-i/st
