The Illusion of the Perfect Brain Enhancer

Overview

Journal Cerebrum

Date 2018 Sep 14

PMID 30210662

Authors

Emiliano Santarnecchi

Alvaro Pascual-Leone

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Many questions loom over transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), a non-invasive form of neurostimulation in which constant, low current is delivered directly to areas of the brain using small electrodes. It was first established in neuroscience research in the 1950s and 60s, but has seen rapid growth, particularly in the last five years. Originally developed to help patients with brain injuries such as strokes, tDCS is now also used to enhance language and mathematical ability, attention span, problem solving, memory, coordination, and even gaming skills. The authors examine its potential and pitfalls.

References

Knoch D, Pascual-Leone A, Meyer K, Treyer V, Fehr E . Diminishing reciprocal fairness by disrupting the right prefrontal cortex. Science. 2006; 314(5800):829-32. DOI: 10.1126/science.1129156. View

Maslen H, Douglas T, Cohen Kadosh R, Levy N, Savulescu J . Do-it-yourself brain stimulation: a regulatory model. J Med Ethics. 2013; 41(5):413-4. DOI: 10.1136/medethics-2013-101692. View

Fox M, Halko M, Eldaief M, Pascual-Leone A . Measuring and manipulating brain connectivity with resting state functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging (fcMRI) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Neuroimage. 2012; 62(4):2232-43. PMC: 3518426. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.03.035. View

Antal A, Boros K, Poreisz C, Chaieb L, Terney D, Paulus W . Comparatively weak after-effects of transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) on cortical excitability in humans. Brain Stimul. 2010; 1(2):97-105. DOI: 10.1016/j.brs.2007.10.001. View

Lustenberger C, Boyle M, Foulser A, Mellin J, Frohlich F . Functional role of frontal alpha oscillations in creativity. Cortex. 2015; 67:74-82. PMC: 4451406. DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2015.03.012. View

Pascual-Leone A, Pridmore H . Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 1995; 29(4):698. View

Iuculano T, Cohen Kadosh R . The mental cost of cognitive enhancement. J Neurosci. 2013; 33(10):4482-6. PMC: 3672974. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4927-12.2013. View

Fitz N, Reiner P . The challenge of crafting policy for do-it-yourself brain stimulation. J Med Ethics. 2013; 41(5):410-2. PMC: 4431326. DOI: 10.1136/medethics-2013-101458. View

Lopez-Alonso V, Cheeran B, Rio-Rodriguez D, Fernandez-Del-Olmo M . Inter-individual variability in response to non-invasive brain stimulation paradigms. Brain Stimul. 2014; 7(3):372-80. DOI: 10.1016/j.brs.2014.02.004. View

10.

Priori A, Berardelli A, Rona S, Accornero N, Manfredi M . Polarization of the human motor cortex through the scalp. Neuroreport. 1998; 9(10):2257-60. DOI: 10.1097/00001756-199807130-00020. View

11.

Maslen H, Douglas T, Cohen Kadosh R, Levy N, Savulescu J . The regulation of cognitive enhancement devices: extending the medical model. J Law Biosci. 2014; 1(1):68-93. PMC: 4168724. DOI: 10.1093/jlb/lst003. View

12.

Yoo S, Bystritsky A, Lee J, Zhang Y, Fischer K, Min B . Focused ultrasound modulates region-specific brain activity. Neuroimage. 2011; 56(3):1267-75. PMC: 3342684. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.02.058. View

13.

Vernet M, Bashir S, Yoo W, Perez J, Najib U, Pascual-Leone A . Insights on the neural basis of motor plasticity induced by theta burst stimulation from TMS-EEG. Eur J Neurosci. 2012; 37(4):598-606. PMC: 4191847. DOI: 10.1111/ejn.12069. View

14.

Fecteau S, Knoch D, Fregni F, Sultani N, Boggio P, Pascual-Leone A . Diminishing risk-taking behavior by modulating activity in the prefrontal cortex: a direct current stimulation study. J Neurosci. 2007; 27(46):12500-5. PMC: 6673338. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3283-07.2007. View

15.

Wang J, Rogers L, Gross E, Ryals A, Dokucu M, Brandstatt K . Targeted enhancement of cortical-hippocampal brain networks and associative memory. Science. 2014; 345(6200):1054-7. PMC: 4307924. DOI: 10.1126/science.1252900. View

16.

Nitsche M, Paulus W . Excitability changes induced in the human motor cortex by weak transcranial direct current stimulation. J Physiol. 2000; 527 Pt 3:633-9. PMC: 2270099. DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-7793.2000.t01-1-00633.x. View

17.

McLellan T, Caldwell J, Lieberman H . A review of caffeine's effects on cognitive, physical and occupational performance. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2016; 71:294-312. DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.09.001. View

18.

Young L, Camprodon J, Hauser M, Pascual-Leone A, Saxe R . Disruption of the right temporoparietal junction with transcranial magnetic stimulation reduces the role of beliefs in moral judgments. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010; 107(15):6753-8. PMC: 2872442. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0914826107. View

19.

Pascual-Leone A, Gates J, Dhuna A . Induction of speech arrest and counting errors with rapid-rate transcranial magnetic stimulation. Neurology. 1991; 41(5):697-702. DOI: 10.1212/wnl.41.5.697. View

20.

Santarnecchi E, Feurra M, Galli G, Rossi A, Rossi S . Overclock your brain for gaming? Ethical, social and health care risks. Brain Stimul. 2013; 6(5):713-4. DOI: 10.1016/j.brs.2013.07.005. View