Stanford scientists have administered electric jolts to mice in response to a pattern of brain activity in the nucleus accumbens that occurs just before "impulsive behavior" (in this study, overeating). This reportedly disrupts the impulse and the impulsive behavior, but not normal behavior. The lead author of the study says the research could lead to a brain implant that could "predict and prevent a suicide attempt, a heroin injection, a burst of binge eating or alcohol intake, or a sudden bout of uncontrolled rage":
Just imagine if you could predict and prevent a burst of binge eating or alcohol intake, a heroin injection, a sudden bout of uncontrolled rage or a suicide attempt. The world would be a better place.
Long journeys start with first steps. In a study [open, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1712214114] [DX] published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Stanford researchers led by neurosurgeon Casey Halpern, MD, have identified, both in mice and in a human subject, a signature pattern of electrical activity in a small but important deep-brain region called the nucleus accumbens just a second or two before a burst of impulsive behavior.
The nucleus accumbens is the hub of the brain's reward circuitry, which evolution has engineered to reinforce survival-promoting actions by inducing pleasure in anticipation or performance of those actions. The researchers showed in mice that supplying a small electrical jolt to the nucleus accumbens as soon as the electrical signature manifested there stopped the mice from overindulging in fatty food — without messing up the rest of their natural activities.
"Impulses are normal and absolutely necessary for survival," Halpern said when I interviewed him for our news release on the new study. "They convert our feelings about what's rewarding into concrete action to obtain food, sex, sleep and defenses against rivals or predators."
Which dystopian novel do you want to compare it to?
Also at NPR.
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Electrical brain stimulation may help reduce violent crime in future – study
It could be a shocking way to treat future criminals. Scientists have found that a session of electrical brain stimulation can reduce people's intentions to commit assaults, and raise their moral awareness.
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore explored the potential for brain stimulation to combat crime after noting that impairment in a part of the brain called the prefrontal cortex has been linked to violent acts.
They recruited 86 healthy adults and gave half of them 20 minutes of brain stimulation before asking the whole group to read two hypothetical scenarios, one describing a physical assault, the other a sexual assault. Immediately afterwards, the participants were asked to rate the likelihood that they might behave as the protagonist had in the stories.
For those who had their brains zapped, the expressed likelihood of carrying out the physical and sexual assaults was 47% and 70% lower respectively than those who did not have brain stimulation. In the first scenario, Chris smashes a bottle over Joe's head for chatting up his girlfriend, and in the second, a night of intimate foreplay leads to date rape.
[...] Using a procedure called transcranial direct current stimulation, or tDCS, [Prof. Olivia] Choy and her colleagues Adrian Raine and Roy Hamilton at the University of Pennsylvania, delivered a 2 milliAmp current to the prefrontal cortex of volunteers to boost the region's activity.
Stimulation of the Prefrontal Cortex Reduces Intentions to Commit Aggression: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Stratified, Parallel-Group Trial (DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3317-17.2018) (DX)
Related: How Brain Implants (and Other Technology) Could Make the Death Penalty Obsolete
Study Uses Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation to Improve Piloting Abilities
Transcranial Direct-Current Stimulation Could Speed Learning by 40%
Stanford Scientists Use Electric Jolts to Prevent Impulsive Behavior
Washington State Fusion Center Accidentally Releases Records on Remote Mind Control
(Score: 2) by looorg on Tuesday December 19 2017, @03:20PM (6 children)
Last century called and they want their ECT back ... Seriously we have been trying to use electricity or jolts and shocks of various kinds for quite a long time now. So how is this different? Perhaps all that is changed is what it claims to cure -- Ben Franklin wrote about curing "female hysteria" and it's been used on pretty much everything under the sun since then as a potential "cure" or just a disruption of various urges.
(Score: 4, Informative) by takyon on Tuesday December 19 2017, @03:28PM (3 children)
It was refined, targeted to specific areas of the brain with lower intensity, and combined with real time data from the brain.
I'm not telling you to RTFA, but surely you have heard of stuff like this [ucsf.edu] or this [scientificamerican.com]?
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 4, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday December 19 2017, @04:26PM (2 children)
Yeah, they're half-assing it. Use tiny jolts of electricity and you inhibit the impulses for an unknown quantity of time. Use a tesla coil and you inhibit them permanently.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 19 2017, @04:37PM
Tesla coils are sissy - use a 50-capacitor Marx bank ( no, not Karl ) !
(Score: 3, Funny) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday December 19 2017, @08:39PM
I'm trying, dammit, but you keep moving. Freaking plasma cells are expensive, you know! They're not just lying around on the ground, at least not on this map.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by requerdanos on Tuesday December 19 2017, @05:23PM (1 child)
ECT is safe, and effective in the majority of cases, according to trusted sources such as the American Psychiatric Association [psychiatry.org] and the Mayo Clinic [mayoclinic.org].
It's not without stigma, but the stigma isn't a result of any lack of effectiveness or side effects coming from current ECT treatments.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Tuesday December 19 2017, @06:56PM
You can believe them if you want to. On many issues I trust those sources. But not on this one.
A source I trust more (don't remember which, but it's because they did a study that looked reliable) said that ECT often had horrendous side effects, but sometimes it was worth it because it alleviated a depression severe enough that if people started to come out of it they'd kill themselves...to prevent a relapse.
Numerous sources have cited demonstrable undesirable effects from ECT. To deny that is to render yourself untrustable. This doesn't mean it isn't sometimes the best available treatment. It just means you not only have to try nearly everything else first, you also need to decide if you want to risk the process. Many refuse.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 3, Funny) by dexcheque on Tuesday December 19 2017, @03:33PM (6 children)
A university in California can alter behavior. What could possibly go wrong...?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by takyon on Tuesday December 19 2017, @03:41PM (1 child)
They make it all work flawlessly.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1) by dexcheque on Wednesday December 20 2017, @01:25PM
Yay...
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday December 19 2017, @04:35PM (3 children)
Our current Vice President believes that being gay can be cured with electric shocks.1 This research would seem to support his position. I wonder if anyone has suggested to Mr. Pence that perhaps all sexual behavior could be cured with electrical impulses? It seems like a scientific investigation worthy of the administration's attention. For the greater public good.
1unless he has publicly announced otherwise and I missed it
Thank goodness the 1st amendment forces people to listen to you and agree with you.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday December 19 2017, @06:59PM
I wonder if anyone has suggested to Mr. Pence that perhaps all sexual behavior could be cured with electrical impulses?
First do no harm.
I'm opposed to any treatment that would allow Mike pence to be alone in a room with a woman.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Tuesday December 19 2017, @09:10PM
Speaking of politicians … does it also help against compulsive use of Twitter? :-)
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 1) by dexcheque on Wednesday December 20 2017, @01:13AM
We're looking at a crossfire of epic proportions here.
Between those hard-right fundamentalists (but no one ever points a camera at them anymore), feminist-postmodernists (who believe sexual preference, along with everything else, is social construction in its entirety), and LBGTQRSVP (who believe they were born that way), the whole of western civilization'll be lit up.
Wouldn't it be so much easier if they all just walked into a bar with a rabbi?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 19 2017, @03:43PM (4 children)
I often begin working on hobby projects impulsively. Perhaps that's unhealthy and I should develop better time management skills than suddenly binge working for 5+ hours, but nonetheless hundreds of hours of work otherwise wouldn't have occurred.
This doesn't matter in the case of voluntary use, where one can easily disable it should it cause problems, but would be an utter disaster should it be mandated for parolees/felons/domestic abusers/drug addicts as part of mandatory treatment/&c.
This kind of device was an early premise of Zootopia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkJGLCleFmI [youtube.com]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnnVhvhHeNs [youtube.com]
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday December 19 2017, @03:54PM (3 children)
This method used by the Stanford researchers could be very broad now but end up refined later.
For example, if you want an implant that stops people from eating too much, but not prevent drug abuse, violent outbursts, or creative moments. Is it going to be that hard to detect that the impulse is related to overeating? Sure, it will likely be more complicated than if (user_is_shoveling_food_in_mouth) {checkForImpulsiveOvereating();}. But this is just a proof of concept.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 19 2017, @04:08PM
But is such a tempting target for politicians who mean well that extreme wariness is warranted.
(Score: 2) by requerdanos on Tuesday December 19 2017, @05:25PM (1 child)
Or, say, keep the creativity but give up the road rage, drug addiction, and being fat?
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday December 19 2017, @05:49PM
Initial versions will be prescribed for the specific problem someone faces. So if they have an eating disorder, or heroin addiction, they get it tuned for just that. I wouldn't expect them to be used to control a wide variety of behaviors simultaneously.
When will it be made mandatory?
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by idiot_king on Tuesday December 19 2017, @04:00PM (5 children)
It only works for impulsiveness, so unfortunately it looks like Trump supporters can't be controlled after all... Sad.
However it does mean that mass shootings could be culled without Trumpweenies screaming like the children they are about their beloved and all-sacred and somehow Christian second amendment.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by DannyB on Tuesday December 19 2017, @04:18PM
Question: is tweeting at 3 AM from a solid gold toilet considered impulsive behavior?
What about: "I can't help myself! I grab them by the covfefe. With a mouth full of tic tacs."
Or asking for Diet Coke #5 of 12 for today?
Or a McDonald's order of: 2 Big Macs, 2 Filet O Fish, and Chocolate Shake. (Yuk! Gross!)
Is starting a nuclear war impulsive behavior? Especially if one has already publicly expressed the idea that nuclear war is perfectly acceptable.
Just wondering.
Help me Obi Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope.
Thank goodness the 1st amendment forces people to listen to you and agree with you.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by DannyB on Tuesday December 19 2017, @04:31PM (3 children)
As for that 2nd amendment thing you mention.
Crazy people should not have guns. Yet there seems to be resistance to the very idea of trying to prevent crazy people from obtaining or possessing guns. Maybe it's just me, but I seem to have this absurd idea that it would be quite reasonable to have regulation of firearms that prevented crazy people from obtaining firearms.
The regulation would need to define "crazy". But then someone would try to define crazy as: anyone wanting to own a firearm.
With this electrical jolt impulse control, maybe the jolt could be administered whenever a finger is inserted into the trigger area. But that could lead to an undesirable outcome if it induces muscle twitches.
Please remember this holiday season that firearms make excellent gifts for the entire family. Family packs available at participating retailers. Check out the new Starter Guns sized just right for the little ones. Please use firearms responsibly when drinking. The NRA offers discounts to those who can show proof of mental impairment or illness.
Thank goodness the 1st amendment forces people to listen to you and agree with you.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday December 19 2017, @08:02PM (2 children)
Because such rules aren't argued in good faith. You may be sincere, but there are way too many who aren't. After all, it's not that hard to argue that people who have lots of guns are crazy people and hence, shouldn't be allowed to obtain firearms.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday December 19 2017, @08:14PM (1 child)
Yep. As I pointed out. That is exactly the problem. How do you define crazy.
I strongly suspect that there are sane people who own firearms. They don't go drinking and shooting. They don't brag about their weapons. Etc.
Thank goodness the 1st amendment forces people to listen to you and agree with you.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 19 2017, @10:12PM
I''ll let this [azlyrics.com] here and slowly back away.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 19 2017, @04:03PM (6 children)
— H. L. Mencken
(Score: 1, Troll) by DannyB on Tuesday December 19 2017, @04:24PM (5 children)
I wouldn't defend pedophiles.
They need treatment. Not defense.
This treatment seems perfect. An impulse of electricity to prevent impulsive behavior. I would suggest a dosage of 11 KV at 600 A.
And not just for pedophiles. But also for cereal killers.
Thank goodness the 1st amendment forces people to listen to you and agree with you.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 19 2017, @04:35PM (1 child)
You seem to be confusing pedophiles with child molesters. A pedophile is simply someone who has a sexual attraction to prepubescent children, while a child molester has actually molested children and isn't even necessarily a pedophile since it could have just been an opportunistic rape. Having a sexual attraction to a particular group of people does not mean you also want to rape members of that group, which is a notion that would be completely uncontroversial in every other situation. As such, the idea that all--or even most--pedophiles need treatment is flawed.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday December 19 2017, @04:36PM
You are correct. I should be more precise as you point out.
Thank goodness the 1st amendment forces people to listen to you and agree with you.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 19 2017, @04:53PM
It's defending the others who'll later be targeted by the same tactics, only superficially is it defence of paedophiles.
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Tuesday December 19 2017, @05:58PM
Oh may God...I just killed a bowl of oatmeal this very morning!! I didn't mean to be a cereal killer.
The Musk/Trump interview appears to have been hacked, but not a DDOS hack...more like A Distributed Denial of Reality.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday December 19 2017, @08:00PM
Only a matter of time till such out-groups are expanded to the point where you'll care. Authoritarians are notorious for continually expanding the reach of their power. Something that can "fix" pedophiles now, can fix dissidents later.
That bowl of cereal was coming right for me. I had to use my spoon!
(Score: 2) by nobu_the_bard on Tuesday December 19 2017, @07:52PM
Now we need to use this to reanimate dead tissue, then build a sort of zombie-like creature and bring to life with a lightning bolt, then abandon it and see if it starts reading John Milton voluntarily.
I guess at that point we'd have to decide if voluntarily reading John Milton is something we want to encourage, but we have a few steps before we have to decide that. I'm sure we can put it off.
(Score: 1) by trimtab on Friday December 29 2017, @08:12PM
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072267/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 [imdb.com]
or "Flowers for Algernon" as the story was originally titled:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flowers_for_Algernon [wikipedia.org]