| Title | US Military Successfully Tests Electrical Brain Stimulation to Enhance Staff Skills | |
| Date | Wednesday November 09 2016, @10:57PM | |
| Author | martyb | |
| Topic | ||
| from the enhancing-staff-as-weapon dept. | ||
"Study paves way for personnel such as drone operators to have electrical pulses sent into their brains to improve effectiveness in high pressure situations"
US military scientists have used electrical brain stimulators to enhance mental skills of staff, in research that aims to boost the performance of air crews, drone operators and others in the armed forces' most demanding roles.
The successful tests of the devices pave the way for servicemen and women to be wired up at critical times of duty, so that electrical pulses can be beamed into their brains to improve their effectiveness in high pressure situations.
The brain stimulation kits use five electrodes to send weak electric currents through the skull and into specific parts of the cortex. Previous studies have found evidence that by helping neurons to fire, these minor brain zaps can boost cognitive ability.
The technology is seen as a safer alternative to prescription drugs, such as modafinil and ritalin, both of which have been used off-label as performance enhancing drugs in the armed forces.
But while electrical brain stimulation appears to have no harmful side effects, some experts say its long-term safety is unknown, and raise concerns about staff being forced to use the equipment if it is approved for military operations.
Others are worried about the broader implications of the science on the general workforce because of the advance of an unregulated technology.
[...] In 2014 another Oxford scientist, Roi Cohen Kadosh, warned that while brain stimulation could improve performance at some tasks, it made people worse at others. In light of the work, Kadosh urged people not to use brain stimulators at home.
Article:
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/nov/07/us-military-successfully-tests-electrical-brain-stimulation-to-enhance-staff-skills
https://web.archive.org/web/20161107205930/https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/nov/07/us-military-successfully-tests-electrical-brain-stimulation-to-enhance-staff-skills
Research Article:
http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnhum.2016.00589/abstract
https://web.archive.org/web/20161108040752/http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnhum.2016.00589/abstract
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