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Researchers boost human mental function with brain stimulation:
In a pilot human study, researchers from the University of Minnesota Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital show it is possible to improve specific human brain functions related to self-control and mental flexibility by merging artificial intelligence with targeted electrical brain stimulation.
[...] The findings come from a human study conducted at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston among 12 patients undergoing brain surgery for epilepsy — a procedure that places hundreds of tiny electrodes throughout the brain to record its activity and identify where seizures originate.
In this study, Widge collaborated with Massachusetts General Hospital's Sydney Cash, MD, PhD, an expert in epilepsy research; and Darin Dougherty, MD, an expert in clinical brain stimulation. Together, they identified a brain region — the internal capsule — that improved patients' mental function when stimulated with small amounts of electrical energy. That part of the brain is responsible for cognitive control — the process of shifting from one thought pattern or behavior to another, which is impaired in most mental illnesses.
"An example might include a person with depression who just can't get out of a 'stuck' negative thought. Because it is so central to mental illness, finding a way to improve it could be a powerful new way to treat those illnesses," Widge said.
Journal Reference:
Ishita Basu, Ali Yousefi, Britni Crocker, et al. Closed-loop enhancement and neural decoding of cognitive control in humans, Nature Biomedical Engineering (DOI: 10.1038/s41551-021-00804-y)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 24 2021, @07:41AM (6 children)
In 3..2..1..
Otherwise, the perfect worker slave. How long till courts mandate someone to this against their will?
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 24 2021, @08:28AM (3 children)
I'm sure most readers will think you are being facetious.
I lost a loved one as I knew him to institutionally forced brain experimentation. We didn't give consent and they never showed evidence he gave any kind of consent, not that he could legally have at that moment. This isn't just living memory; I'm not that old. It boiled down to one person - a stranger to us - unilaterally deciding to experiment. Afterwards, he was breathing and so on, but one would not call him the same person as before, at all.
He was, however, compliant and docile, capable of doing menial work for minimal pay, having minimal control of his life nor impact on the world.
Before, he'd been brilliant, though a bit cantankerous.
After, he couldn't read. If there were deep thought processes, he chose to never again convey them.
When we buried him many years later, I thought to myself how this was a second death among the inhabitants of this body.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 24 2021, @08:33AM
Cool story bro.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 24 2021, @03:24PM
There are some among the mentally ill whose illness prevents them from being able to give informed consent. In the 1960's my mother was given treatments for schizophrenia that were later outlawed, e.g. Thorazine, shock therapy. She wasn't capable of making an informed decision, so the the family consented out of desperation. We were only as well informed as a working class family can be when doctors explain things. I don't know whether her condition was made any worse by such treatments. I saw no evidence that they made her any better. But I do know that her condition before the treatments was so deplorable, that given the opportunity to make the same decision again, to try something experimental, I'd have said try it.
(Score: 4, Funny) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday November 24 2021, @04:33PM
Yeah, it's damn shame what they did to Runaway1956!
(just kidding bro)
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 24 2021, @02:25PM (1 child)
Please give a link when referencing ancient B movies that half the readers have never heard of https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072267/ [imdb.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 24 2021, @03:21PM
You mean the Michael Crichton novel I was referring to, which is excellent sci-fi?
Movies? TV? HEATHENS!