Yearly Archives: 2015

BrainKit 1.0 released

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Nathan Whitmore continues to push the envelope on DIY brain stimulation. Somewhat above my limited capabilities, we can assume that as the project evolves, the build will get simpler.

BrainKit 1.0 released
To download BrainKit, click here to go to its GitHub page. You can also see an earlier post which lays out some of the concepts behind BrainKit here.

Planning BrainKit started about a year ago when I was thinking about the question “now that putting together the hardware and software to make a relatively inexpensive device to stimulate the brain is basically a solved problem, what is the next major obstacle to the use of noninvasive brain stimulation?” The answer was (and still is) figuring out where in the brain to stimulate to achieve some desired effect.

BrainKit was inspired by this idea, a brain stimulator which also is capable of monitoring brain activity and using statistics to understand the neural correlates of mental states and design stimulation montages more intelligently. For instance, BrainKit can find brain regions that show different patterns of activity in fatigued and alert states—and then allow you to stimulate these regions to see if it affects alertness.

Full article: http://quicktotheratcave.tumblr.com/post/124541990103/brainkit-1-0-released

Can tDCS Make A Talking Horse?

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I know I’m going to come off as a hater in this post, but fact is, if tDCS or Electric Stimulation are actually working for you- helping you get to sleep, getting you laid, calming down your horse, or filling your bank account, who am I to judge?

What set me off is the marketing around this Mishka / FisherWallace CES (Cranial Electric Stimulation) device. The FisherWallace device is ‘FDA cleared‘ for the treatment of depression, anxiety, insomnia and chronic pain. You either need a prescription or written authorization from your doctor to order one. Their website is all about doctors and the medical profession.  When I saw the Mishka re-brand (website) I was thoroughly confused. What could this edgy NYC clothing company and FisherWallace have in common? Why would FisherWallace, with decades of medical professional product-fit be risking their reputation in the medical community by partnering with Mishka in this sleazy web marketing campaign?

Yes, but why would such an obvious cash grab offend me?  I guess it’s just that hundreds of tDCS research papers later I’ve evolved a respect for the science and scientists around tDCS and have become invested in the possibility that someday tDCS or related NIBS (non invasive brain stimulation) will prove effective in helping people. So far, with the exception of some research and first-person reports around tDCS being useful in the treatment of depression (my favorite example), tDCS remains controversial, with little evidence supporting consistent positive results. Nevertheless, the science hasn’t prevented vendors from claiming benefits and selling devices.

So I suppose it took this ad campaign to make me finally realize that a lot about what is going on in the neurostimulation space is…

Hey, we’ve got this little box with lights on it and a couple of harmless electrodes that people put on their heads. How can we make money off of it?

https://vimeo.com/132356086

https://vimeo.com/65903946

Chip Wallace Happy Halter

Chip Wallace, Happy Halter

 

A little jolt helps the brain get back on track | Vanderbilt.edu

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First, participants donned EEG monitors and performed a challenging cognitive control task specifically designed to trip them up. “We saw a beautiful burst of low-frequency activity [from the medial-frontal cortex] right after someone made a mistake,” said Reinhart. “But it was deficient in our patients with schizophrenia.”

In healthy individuals, these theta waves were steady and synchronized, but in people with schizophrenia, the waves were weak and disorganized, suggesting that they were having a harder time processing the mistake. And the subjects’ behavior bore that out—the healthy subjects slowed down by a few milliseconds when they made mistakes and did better in the next round, while the subjects with schizophrenia did not.

After tDCS, the picture was dramatically different. The electrical stimulation to the scalp significantly improved the strength and synchrony of the brain waves in both groups but most notably in people with schizophrenia. “The results of our study clearly indicate that it is possible to restore error-monitoring in people with schizophrenia with tDCS,” said Park.

Source: A little jolt helps the brain get back on track

foc.us firmware 2.0 features

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foc.us firmware 2.0 features the following

If you update your foc.us v2 to the latest 2.0 release you will get the following extra features:

  1. polarity menu
  2. session logs + uploading ble api
  3. force reboot (long press)
  4. battery optimized
  5. low battery shutdown
  6. set/get time ble api
  7. improved power-up time
  8. device’s state in ble advertising packet

For further details keep reading or click here for update instructions

tDCS and Tinnitus

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Reader Patty asked if there were reports of tDCS being effective in the treatment of tinnitus. As this is an important issue to me as well, I thought I’d collect whatever related links I have to the research in one place. While the results I’ve read here seem inconclusive, if I were one of the 3% of tinnitus sufferers for whom the constant sound is extremely disturbing, I wouldn’t hesitate to try one of the protocols outlined in these studies. If you have information to share about your own experiences with tDCS and tinnitus please post them in a comment.

 

 

tDCS – the bigger picture | Body in Mind

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Kerstin Luedtke

Kerstin Luedtke

Things have moved on from there and luckily we now have a randomised controlled trial with a sufficient sample size (n=135) of patients suffering from chronic low back pain and shown that tDCS – at least in this population and using a paradigm of 2mA for 20 mins on 5 consecutive days over the motor cortex – does nothing to reduce the perceived intensity of back pain or the disability associated with chronic low back pain (Luedtke et al., 2015). The results were not only not statistically significant, there wasn’t even a trend into the right direction

Source: tDCS – the bigger picture – Body in Mind

Researchers’ perspectives on scientific and ethical issues with transcranial direct current stimulation: An international survey : Scientific Reports : Nature Publishing Group

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The largest proportion of researchers rated tDCS in research contexts (cognition, motor, affect) as “partly effective” (28-42%) or “mostly effective” (19-33%). Only a small percentage described tDCS as “ineffective” (2-5%) or “absolutely effective” (2-13%; Fig. 1A). Effectiveness ratings were highest for the motor domain (N = 213, mean±SD 1.71 ± 0.77) followed by cognition (N = 218, 1.49 ± 0.69) and affect (N = 143, 1.34 ± 0.68).

Source: Researchers’ perspectives on scientific and ethical issues with transcranial direct current stimulation: An international survey : Scientific Reports : Nature Publishing Group
via: @mancini_flavia

The Maverick of Brain Optimization

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Tim Ferris interviews Dr. Adam Gazzaley of the Gazzaley Lab at UC San Francisco.

His recent studies go far beyond mere description — he and his lab are exploring neuroplasticity and how we can optimize cognitive abilities, even in healthy adults. So, what happens when you combine cognitive-focused video games with neurofeedback, magnetic and electrical stimulation, and even performance-enhancing drugs? Well, that’s just one of many things we cover in this conversation

Source: http://fourhourworkweek.com/2015/06/22/adam-gazzaley/
See Also: http://www.diytdcs.com/2015/01/scientists-uncover-surprising-new-tools-to-rejuvenate-the-brain-ucsf-edu/
Lots more media from the Gazzaley Lab here: http://gazzaleylab.ucsf.edu/select-lectures/

An Evening with the Consciousness Hackers | The New Yorker

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For the evening’s first demonstration, Siegel helped attach electrodes to the temples of Adam Goyer, a volunteer test subject, then cued Eugene Sinkevich, an electrical engineer, to start the current. “We are at the frontier,” Siegel said, looking out at the crowd as no more than two milliamps ran through Goyer’s head. “We’ll be able to tell our kids that we used to hook up arbitrary electrical signals to our brain.”Goyer sat still for several minutes, flinching only slightly. Then it was over. How did he feel?“First, let me say I’m really nervous about putting electricity through my brain. The first wave felt like a tingling on my forehead, and I guess I’m smarter afterward, sure. Then the second wave of tACS [transcranial alternating-current stimulation, a type of stimulation in which the flow of the charge varies] I kinda felt woozy, not in a bad way, but kind of like I’m on a boat. Then the third one, I definitely had some flickering, some eye flickering: in the outside of your eyes it’s like a flash, like a strobe.”

Source: An Evening with the Consciousness Hackers – The New Yorker

The benefits of mind-wandering | timeslive.co.za

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The scientists also used “transcranial direct current stimulation,” in which an electrode is attached to the scalp, sending low electrical currents that activate neurons directly underneath. Electrodes were positioned over the dlPFC (or, for a control group, over an unrelated brain region) and turned on or off during the repetitive task. (Importantly, subjects typically couldn’t detect the current.)

The result? Stimulating the dlPFC increased the amount of mind-wandering. And did performance on the task plummet? No; it even improved a smidgen.

What does it mean that this hard-nosed, task-oriented, executive brain region helps to mediate mind-wandering? Why should the dlPFC want us to daydream? Probably because it can be beneficial.

For starters, mind-wandering fosters creative problem solving. It also aids decision-making by allowing you to run future-oriented simulations in your head: “Hmm, so how might things be if I decide to do X? How about if I do Y?” It’s ideal not just for thinking about possible outcomes but also for thinking about how different outcomes would feel.

Source: The benefits of mind-wandering
Study: Increasing propensity to mind-wander with transcranial direct current stimulation

Hooking up: zapping your brain

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Katie, 23, has suffered from anxiety and depression since she was 18. When her boyfriend Lee told her about transcranial directcurrent stimulation (tDCS), a form of neurostimulation which involves administering a low level of electrical current to the brain, she was sceptical. But Lee had heard that it could help people with mood disorders and wondered if she might benefit from it.

“The first time, I freaked out,” she remembers. “I thought, ‘I can’t cope with putting electrical stimulations in my brain.’ Lee put this machine on and, it’s difficult to explain, but, everything went empty in a good way. I can’t remember if I’ve ever felt like that. I felt relaxed and chilled inside. It was a mad sensation and an out-of-body experience.”

She’d tried anti-depressants in the past but found they didn’t work for her. Now she uses the kit regularly. “It’s improved my life and improved my mind,” she says.

Source: Hooking up: zapping your brain

Noninvasive brain stimulator may ease Parkinson’s symptoms | JHU

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The students were referred to Yousef Salimpour, a Johns Hopkins Medicine postdoctoral research associate who has been studying a noninvasive Parkinson’s therapy called transcranial direct current stimulation. In this painless treatment, low-level current is passed through two electrodes placed over the head to tweak the electrical activity in specific areas of the brain. The technique can be used to excite or inhibit these nerve cells. The treatment is still considered experimental, but it has attracted much attention because it does not require surgery and is inexpensive, safe and relatively easy to administer without any side effects.

Source: https://hub.jhu.edu/2015/06/10/stimband-brain-stimulator

Transcranial direct current stimulation: before, during, or after motor training?

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The ‘online’ (stimulation during training) vs. ‘offline’ (stimulation prior to or after training) question is addressed here in this study I only have the abstract for. But in this case “These data suggest that tDCS performed before – not during or after – promotes optimization of motor training-induced plasticity.” Keep in mind that, there are many (montage, kind of test/training) variables and that other studies have shown advantages to online training.

Noninvasive brain stimulation has recently been used to augment motor training-induced plasticity. However, the exact time during which noninvasive brain stimulation can be combined with motor therapy to maximize neuroplasticity and behavioral changes is unknown. We conducted a randomized sham-controlled crossover trial to examine when (before, during, or after training) transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) should be applied to best reinforce motor training-induced plasticity in 12 healthy right-handed participants (mean age: 21.8±1.6) who underwent active or sham tDCS combined with motor training. Transcranial magnetic stimulation-elicited motor-evoked potentials from the right first dorsal interosseous muscle were recorded before (baseline) and immediately after each session. The training task comprised four practice trials – 3 min each (30 s pause between trials) – of repetitive finger movements (thumb abduction/adduction) with the right hand. Anodal tDCS (1 mA, 13 min, on the motor primary cortex) was applied before, during, and after the training. Compared with baseline motor-evoked potentials and the sham condition, tDCS that was applied before, but not during or after, the motor task enhanced corticospinal excitability. These data suggest that tDCS performed before – not during or after – promotes optimization of motor training-induced plasticity.