A 9V Battery To Your Brain Can Improve Your Gaming 167
autospa writes with an intriguing story found at Nature about direct electrical stimulation's effect on the brain. By applying low levels of electrical current to different parts of the brain via electrodes placed on the scalp, University of New Mexico researchers claim to have documented some significant changes in brain activity, which vary depending on the part of the brain targeted. Gamers, take note: in one experiment in which volunteers were recorded while playing a video war game, "those receiving 2 milliamps to the scalp (about one-five-hundredth the amount drawn by a 100-watt light bulb) showed twice as much improvement in the game after a short amount of training as those receiving one-twentieth the amount of current." The idea of affecting the brain by electric stimulation isn't new; but the battery-powered, non-invasive variety naturally leads some people to consider rolling their own.
Not just for gaming (Score:4, Interesting)
Sod computer gaming. My first through when reading this was "can I fit it inside my race helmet and improve my performance in real life?"
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Re:Not just for gaming (Score:5, Informative)
Very little is known about how TDCS works. Scientists theorize that the mild current primes the neurons for action but does not trigger the voltage spikes that neurons use to communicate. "Presumably, it is polarizing neurons and making them more or less likely to respond to inputs," says Warren Grill, a neural engineer at Duke University, in Durham, NC. "But what's happening at the level of the synapse, where the business of learning really takes place, we don't know."
Of course, given the opening sentence to that paragraph, it's probably not something you'd want to play with at home...
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or, if you do the most elementary research, you will find out that clarke, after claiming these 'zappers' will cure everything including cancer and hiv, died of cancer.
all the 'zappers' are are cheap square wave generators. i also for many years did not have to go to a doctor. that doesn't mean my lifestyle is the solution to everyone else's illnesses.
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Sod computer gaming. My first through when reading this was "can I fit it inside my race helmet and improve my performance in real life?"
Wouldn't it be easier to just use the unlimited-blue-shells cheat code?
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Well, there is a lot of crappy equipment that has faulty grounding, are they saying now, that it's a feature?
one-five-hundredth (0.2%), one-twentieth (5%) (Score:1)
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Is that the preferred way of saying percentages in the US?
No, it's not.
Re:one-five-hundredth (0.2%), one-twentieth (5%) (Score:5, Funny)
They're called fractions. Believe it or not, other countries have them too.
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in some fractions of society they base line with the lowest common denominator.
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No, in the US they would be called one twentieth and one fifth, respectively.
Re:one-five-hundredth (0.2%), one-twentieth (5%) (Score:4, Insightful)
good old electroshock (Score:1)
I think that the good old electroshock is seeing a renaissance these days.
Maybe smaller, more targeted currents will be helpful for depression.
I don't care about improving my "gaming", but I would not mind some help with my depression that would not involve fucking up my brain chemistry.
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9V? (Score:2, Funny)
If 9V is good, 90V must be ten times as good!
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Just use a car battery witht a reverse transformer. High portability, high performance and fraction of its cost (as compare with capacity, not per unit. Car batteries capacity per dollar is much greater than 9V batteries, as lead acid battery is cheaper than alkaline.)
2ma doubles your score? (Score:5, Funny)
An alligator clip on each ear and plug into the wall! Score x1000!
Wear gloves, though. You don't want any of the juice to leak into your computer.
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that wont work, its AC. youll get 1 half period of smarts and then 1 half of stupid.
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The corners of his mouth would be in amazing shape, though!
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or better yet, a bridge rectifier turns the stupid into smarts!
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Oh Gawd (Score:2)
Guess we will start seeing this along with the prescription spam emails... And stories of some kid with seizures because they actually made/used such a contraption.
virtual war (Score:1)
I've found having a loaded gun and the potential for someone shooting you improves real world performance.
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The CIA has been applying electricity to improve memory for years. They usually use higher voltages tho.
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the state penitentiary has been applying even higher voltages to help people forget for years.
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It must work well!
I can't remember the name of a single person that had the electric chair.
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fortunately I requested the prison guard as my last meal.
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20-life or the chair, 20-life or the chair... life shit, fuck it the chair.
Gah, Mixed Units! (Score:1)
500 times 2mA is 1A. 100W is only ~1A because US line current is around 110-120 volts (W = V X A). 2mA could be any number of watts, depending on the voltage. In order for 2mA to be 1/500 of 100W, it assumes a 1V signal (1V x 2mA = 2mW). If they're using 10V, it would be a 20mW, or 1/50th of a 100W bulb.
Bad science reporting strikes again! How big are those electrodes, measured in school bues?
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No assumptions necessary. 9V is not enough to pass through skin, so the headline is obviously a throwaway line added later.
We know the power: 1/500 of 100W is 0.2W
We know the current: 0.002A
The voltage can be calculated as E = P/I = 0.2/0.002 = 100V
100V is enough to pass through some skin, especially that of the scalp.
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9V is not enough to pass through skin,
Well, any amount of voltage will "pass" through any amount of skin. The question is, how much current will flow.
Grab a couple of ohmmeter probes and squeeze as hard as you can, and you can probably get the reading down to about 20K ohms from one hand to the other. With saltwater-moistened electrodes a few inches apart, I could imagine 5K-10K would be achievable. At 9K ohms, 9 volts will cause a 1 mA current to flow, which is the same amount being discussed here.
So no
Battery-shortage due to Koreans (Score:3, Funny)
Maybe they'll reach 400 Actions Per Minute with this.
Feng shui mentalist cables required... (Score:1)
The benefit of these mental stimulation devices will be maximized if you use my special synergistic low oxygen pure copper cables, which ensure that the feng shui energy flow in the yin direction and will not cause eddies in the yang.
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that's good news. i for one refuse to allow that pesky oxygen anywhere near my brain. put me down for a few sets, just in case.
Sounds Interesting (Score:3)
Let me get my thinking cap.
ZZZZZzzzzzzzap!
Obligatory Ringworld reference (Score:5, Interesting)
http://wireheading.com/wirehead.html [wireheading.com]
Hook up the house electricity to the gamer's balls (Score:2)
You want a hyped up, aggressive gamer? Take that approach instead . . . he will vanquish everyone in every game . . . but he might kill you, as well.
9 volts to the scalp? What a puny plan! Go for the full stuff, out of the socket in the wall, right on the family jewels!
It might even work to get that son out of the basement . . .
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At least you're less likely to have grandkids in the basement after that trick.
Electrolysis? (Score:1)
Compatibility? (Score:4, Funny)
Can I plug the battery in to my tin foil hat directly, or will I need some sort of adapter?
Re:Compatibility? (Score:5, Funny)
Can I plug the battery in to my tin foil hat directly, or will I need some sort of adapter?
This would seem to be a classic call for duct tape.
Rifts Crazy! (Score:2)
I'm sorry, but that's just Crazy [wikia.com]!
Isn't that just electroshock therapy? (Score:3)
Oops, typo! (Score:3)
Re:Isn't that just electroshock therapy? (Score:4, Informative)
Overclocking the brain (Score:1)
Directly inducing electrical current makes it "easier" for the neurons to fire.
The long-term effects of this would likely dampen normal experiences.
Hackers! (Score:3, Insightful)
A fiond this article quite.. (Score:2)
Put that in your FSB and smoke it (Score:4, Funny)
DUH! It's common knowledge that bumping up vCore allows for higher clocks :)
Ughh (Score:3, Informative)
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Talking about something that is dangerous or illegal and offering a warning is a far cry from doing something that is dangerous or illegal and offering a warning. The former is likely foolish but not harmful in and of items, whereas the latter is both foolish and harmful. I agree with your general point, but using BP as your example was a poor choice.
Re:Ughh (Score:5, Informative)
A quick lesson in electrical safety:
Current is what will kill you, not voltage. Greater current causes greater voltage gradients inside of you, which will disrupt neurons more and increase power dissipation, burning things. Higher voltage is more dangerous because it increases current. Decreasing resistance also increases the current. Your skin is a pretty good insulator, but if you poke wires in deep enough that they reach the wet bits that protection is lost and the current will spike way up.
Here are some measurements on myself:
2.5M ohm Probes pinched in my fingers of left and right hands
500K ohm After licking fingertips
1M ohm Across my scalp
50K ohm Across my tongue
A 9V battery isn't going to come anywhere near 2mA with any of those contacts. For anyone who wants to try wiring up their brain, though, I suggest putting a 4.7K resistor in series with the 9V battery - the added resistance is insignificant next to your skin, but when you accidentally stab the electrodes straight through your skull and into your brain it'll limit the current to safe levels.
I also suggest that a 9V battery is worthless because of the resistance of your skin. If you want this to actually work you should use a much higher voltage (such as stepping that 9V up with an oscillator driving a transformer) and a much larger value of protection resistor (Ohm's Law [wikipedia.org]), to better approximate a constant-current source. A constant-current power supply is even better. Note that above 300V you're running a risk of dielectric breakdown [wikipedia.org] in your skin - IE, the resistance suddenly drops - and the current will surge. You'd better have a protection resistor that can save you from the highest possible open circuit voltage of whatever power supply you use.
Start low and work your way up. 1mA is enough to put you in v-fib [wikipedia.org] if it's direct to the heart. Of course, anything applied to the skin will spread out considerably before it reaches your heart - it's more like 50mA to the skin directly across the chest to induce v-fib - but it's best to have a healthy respect for what you're doing.
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Fortunately I have a thick skull. Wait...
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Voltage != Current. Voltage * Current = Energy. Total energy kills, due to reasons you stated.
To be pedantic, Voltage * Current = Power. Energy is Voltage * Current * Time. Regardless, I understand the point you're making: that current alone isn't a good measure of damage being done.
Here's the thing: Watts aren't a good way to measure what's being done to your body either. Since your body's resistance is fairly even inside: Current = Voltage / path length - the voltage gradient - which determines how many nerves will fire; and Current ** 2 = Power / path length - the power density - which deter
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Maybe with a massive amount of autotransformation to get it up to 20 volts and running it through your brain directly, but come on.
Like one of the misinformed people who are afraid to work on their cars 12v system because it can push "1000 amps OMG!". Just a clear misunderstanding of how electricity works.
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Maybe...if you drive it directly into your skull?
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Re:Ughh (Score:4, Informative)
A 9V battery is <40V and no one mentioned actually piercing the skin or actually removing your skin (what?) so I really don't think a 9V battery is a danger here.
Also, how are you going to ensure all the current from 2 electrodes placed ANYWHERE on the outside of the body go through your heart?
Anyways, if we were talking about higher voltages I might agree, but anyone touching themselves with a 9V battery ANYWHERE is probably a safe thing to do. Hell putting one on your tongue does not even generate enough current to make the muscle go into any kind of serious contraction, and that is about as close and low resistance as you can get.
Again, if you don't step the voltage up, or start driving nails into your skull/chest cavity and hook batteries up to them, i posit that 9V batteries can generally be considered safe, even to the uninformed.
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With nails driven through you skull 99.999% of the current will NOT go through your hea
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Just wanted to drive the point home that 9v batteries are not dangerous and no one should consider them so.
Remember the OP's point was that 9v on your skin can "KILL YOU". Absurd claim.
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Resistance is Futile
1999 Darwin Award Nominee
Unconfirmed by Darwin
http://www.darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin1999-50.html [darwinawards.com]
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I don't know what you think, but that car battery is VERY dangerous. You are right at 12-14vdc its unlikely you are going to get allot of current across your body but you COULD under the right conditions, like say if you were cut or your skin has lots of a very conductive fluid like um gasoline for instance. Theses are things that certainly can happen working on a car.
No its not as dangerous as the AC lines in your house but its not safe.
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It is all well and good if you don't know, but please don't try to inform others.
Hydrogen explosions are a real possibility on the other hand, but this is not to what I'm referring.
This is old news (Score:1)
This is old news ( ref. Donald Duck pocket books )
http://duckman.pettho.com/characters/gyro.html [pettho.com]
Obligatory. (Score:1)
Drill Sergeants take note (Score:2)
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No but it will be fucking hilarious in the duty hut...
AC/DC (Score:2)
If 9 volts is good... (Score:2)
.
I do not see all this ending up in a good place.
I seriously wonder why it is being suggested to apply voltage to one's brain?
Wrong math. (Score:2)
rolling their own (Score:2)
Am I the only one that was expecting to see this after clicking that link?
http://www.superblogettes.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/doc-brown-back-to-the-future-1985.jpg [superblogettes.com]
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Good point. I don't think we understand enough about the electrical operation of the brain to be jumping for this. If I had to make a comparison, we can turn up the clock rate on an oscillator, but it doesn't mean that the device relying on the clock can handle it without some strange, sudden and premature failure.
Re:It's all fun (Score:5, Insightful)
If anything, this seems quite hazardous. Our bodies are designed (ahem -- naturally selected) to defend themselves from much of what's found in nature, which probably doesn't include running even very small amounts of current through our brains. The fact that the brain is encased in a solid shell in mammals should give an idea of how vulnerable it really is. This experiment bypasses that defense and introduces stimuli that you almost certainly won't find in nature. We already know that introducing a tiny amount of arsenic into the bloodstream will kill most (almost all) living things, so we're weary of chemical experimentation, but we haven't been messing around with the brain long enough to know what the effects of electrical stimulation will be.
It could induce brain cancer for all we know. I personally wouldn't go volunteering for this type of experimentation.
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In one study done in a prison, none of the inmates in the test group developed brain cancer after having their heads exposed to a high voltage.
No, but it did seriously mess up their hairstyles....
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Also, the terms we're talking about here are an oversimplification. I'm guessing (hoping) that they didn't just try DC cur
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but it doesn't mean that the device relying on the clock can handle it without some strange, sudden and premature failure.
You're assuming that most people haven't already had strange, premature brain failures.
Actually, that explains an awful lot about society....
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It's just overclocking for your brain...some people get away with it for years, others get blue screens
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Well, not... (Score:1)
I'm shocked.
Not at this voltage.
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Wow, that almost makes Doug Moon (http://dougmoon.com) look sane.
Okay, not really, but at least he doesn't seem to be fleecing people for the big bucks with his particular brand of lunacy, like "alternative medicine" freaks or $cientologists do. He just believes that to cure yourself, you just need to eat peaches. Lots and lots and lots of peaches.