Improving Human Self-control Through Brain Stimulation

Neuroscientists have successfully demonstrated a technique to enhance a form of self-control through a form of brain stimulation. Participants in the study were asked to perform a simple behavioral task that required inhibition. In each participant, researchers identified the specific location responsible for inhibition in the prefrontal region of the brain and stimluated that area with brief, imperceptible electrical charges. The method of electrical stimulation was novel in that it apparently enhanced prefrontal function, whereas other human brain stimulation studies mostly disrupt normal brain activity. In the double-blind study that appears in a recent issue of The Journal of Neuroscience, Nitin Tandon, MD, the study’s senior author and associate professor of neurosurgery at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston Medical School, said, “There is a circuit in the brain for inhibiting or braking responses. We believe we are the first to show that we can enhance this braking system with brain stimulation.” Click here to read the full article.