Electrical Thinking Cap Will Help You Think Better ~ DepoTech

We've heard it more than once in elementary school: "Time to put your thinking caps on." One day, students might just do that. According to Vanderbilt University psychologist Geoffrey Woodman, scientists are now equipped with ever more tools to better understand the brain, and now they can even eavesdrop on individual neurons.

Woodman approached NSF, and with their support, Woodman and his team at the university's Visual Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory tested their theory that electrical stimulation of the brain's medial-frontal cortex can boost learning and improve decision-making.

The duo decided to check out if it is possible to be able to control the electrophysiological response of brain to mistakes. The part of these tests was to check out if these responses can be decreased or improved with the help of directional current application. The end result was a cap that consists an elastic headband along with a bunch of electrodes to get connected with the cheek and head’s crown.

A transcranial direct current stimulation is provided via these electrodes for 20 minutes. Afterwards, an EEG cap is worn around the head to record readings from brain while the user performs activities. According to the initial trials, 75% of the test subjects exhibited quite an amazing improvement in learning and decision making while wearing this amazing thinking cap.

G.W.: We ran a couple of experiments to determine how long this improved accuracy and learning. We initially hoped that it would last a day or more. However, we found that the effects one day were gone the following day. To determine when the effects disappear, we kept people around the lab for two days, with the second day lasting about eight hours. We collected measurements of baseline activity on the first day. On the next day we stimulated their brains and measured activity for about three hours. After an hour break, we measured their performance and brain activity for another three hours. We found that 20 minutes of brain stimulation resulted in significant influences on behavior and neural activity that lasted up to five hours.