Electromagnetic learning
July 14th, 2009 by rbanks
Magnetic ‘Thinking Cap’ Improves Learning
“Boyd put 30 people into a machine that sent electromagnetic waves into their premotor cortexes, a brain region associated with learning motor skills. Afterwards, test subjects used a joystick to track a moving target. Sometimes its movements were random, and sometimes they were repeated. After four days of tests, subjects who received a full dose of brain stimulation were better at tracking repeated patterns than those who received a low dose, or none at all. Each group fared equally poorly at random tracking, suggesting that improvements could be explained by enhanced learning abilities, rather than changes in overall motor skills. Boyd suspects that stimulation helps neurons in the premotor cortex form connections, allowing motor memories to form rapidly.” 
Wired.com
