Name: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS).
Age: Available, in one form or another, for well over 100 years.
Appearance: Homemade, last-minute Frankenstein’s monster Halloween costume.
What is it? It’s the application of direct electrical current to the brain.
You mean like tasering someone? No – it’s a constant current, delivered through electrodes attached to the scalp.
More like the electric chair, then. Except the current used is very weak; devices are usually powered by a nine-volt battery.
So it’s for minor crimes? It’s not a punishment, it’s a treatment.
Seriously? For what? It’s meant to improve cognitive ability, enhance memory and increase attention span.
I see. And how does that work? It doesn’t, apparently.
You’re saying that plugging someone’s brain into a portable phone charger doesn’t actually make them smarter? You surprise me. It’s worse than that – a new study published in the journal Behavioural Brain Research suggests that tDCS has a statistically detrimental effect on IQ.
It makes you dumber? It’s just one study, but in research, findings about the benefits of tDCS have been, shall we say, mixed.
Who ever thought this was a good idea? A form of electrical brain stimulation was first used to treat melancholy in the 19th century.
Melancholy isn’t even a thing. In the 1960s, tDCS became briefly fashionable when it was shown that it could alter the excitability of neurons in the motor cortex. More recently, it’s been used to increase or decrease cortical activity with the aim of alleviating depression or insomnia.
Hopefully, doctors will exercise extreme caution with the treatment now the possibility of detrimental effects has been raised. Are you kidding? People are out there zapping themselves – you can buy a tDCS kit online for less than £100. You can even find instructions to make your own.
So this isn’t the end for tDCS? Probably not. And a similar application, but with alternating current – tACS – is also being researched.
Do say: “The effect of electrical stimulation on the brain has fascinated scientists for centuries, and yet it remains so little understood.”
Don’t say: “My IQ’s gone down? I’m shocked.”
