Popular Electric Brain-stimulation Method Detrimental to IQ Scores

In response to the increasingly popular practice of using low-voltage electric currents for brain stimulation via home-made or commercially sold devices, researchers from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine have tested the efficiency of those utilizing this method, and have found a visibly detrimental effect on IQ test scores. Published in the journal Behavioral Brain Research, the study took a standard group of adults and tested them on a standard WAIS-IV intelligence test. Throughout the following week, half the group was subjected to carefully applied low-voltage brain stimulation designed to mimic those being built and sold by amateurs on the private market. During the second IQ test, those who had undergone electrical stimulation displayed a drastic decline in overall scores due to a manipulated sense of focus and concentration. “It would be wonderful if we could use tDCS to enhance cognition because then we could potentially use it to treat cognitive impairment in psychiatric illnesses,” said the author. “So, this study is bad news. Yet, the finding makes sense. It means that some of the most sophisticated things the brain can do, in terms of cognition, can’t necessarily be altered with just a constant electric current.” To learn more about this study, click here.