Gentle electric shocks to brain boost maths ability
Five-day course results in 27 per cent improvement in mental arithmetic, opening possibility of non-invasive aid to help students who fall behind
People who struggle with maths fare better after a course of gentle electric shocks to the brain, British scientists have claimed.
If future studies prove that it works - and is safe - the cheap and non-invasive procedure might be used routinely to boost the cognitive power of those who fall behind in maths, the scientists said.
Researchers led by Roi Cohen Kadosh zapped students' brains with a technique called transcranial random noise stimulation (TRNS) while they performed simple calculations, or tried to remember mathematical facts by rote learning.
In the study, published in Current Biology, 25 students had electrical pulses fired across their brains, while 26 others had a sham treatment, in which they thought they had brain stimulation, but the equipment was turned off. In tests afterwards, the students whose brains were stimulated solved maths puzzles 27 per cent faster than the control group, suggesting their brains were working more efficiently.
"Our aim is to help those with poor numeracy, which is approximately 20 per cent of the population," said Cohen Kadosh.
"But we need to extend the results to the general population, and use more ecological settings, such as classrooms. There is of course more work to be done, but it is a promising direction."