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Re-opening critical plasticity periods & brain overclocking techniques
Anyone knows about methods of chemically inducing the kind of changes mentioned in the following quotation? Or even better, anyone has first-hand experience in the effects of such drugs in human, and know how to get/produce them? References to similar research and new developments in this direction?
"What if it were possible to reopen critical-period plasticity, so that adults could pick up languages the way children do, just by being exposed to them? Merzenich had already shown that plasticity extends into adulthood, and that with work — by paying close attention — we can rewire our brains. But now he was asking, could the critical period of effortless learning be extended?
Learning in the critical period is effortless because during that period the nucleus basalis is always on. So Merzenich and his young colleague Michael Kilgard set up an experiment in which they artificially turned on the nucleus basalis in adult rats and gave them learning tasks where they wouldn't have to pay attention and wouldn't receive a reward for learning.
They inserted microelectrodes into the nucleus basalis and used an electric current to keep it turned on. Then they exposed the rats to a 9 Hz sound
frequency to see if they could effortlessly develop a brain map location for it, the way pups do during the critical period. After a week Kilgard and Merzenich found they could massively expand the brain map for that particular sound frequency. They had found an artificial way to reopen the critical period in adults. They then used the same technique to get the brain to speed up its processing time. Normally an adult rat's auditory neurons can only respond to tones at a maximum of 12 pulses per second. By stimulating the nucleus basalis, it was possible to "educate" the neurons to respond to ever more rapid inputs. This work opens up the possibility of high-speed learning later in life. The nucleus basalis could be turned on by an electrode, by microinjections of certain chemicals, or by drugs. It is hard to imagine that people will not — for better or for worse — be drawn to a technology that would make it relatively effortless to master the facts of science, history, or a profession, merely by being exposed to them briefly."
Norman Doidge, M.D., "The brain that changes itself, Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science", pp 63-64
"What if it were possible to reopen critical-period plasticity, so that adults could pick up languages the way children do, just by being exposed to them? Merzenich had already shown that plasticity extends into adulthood, and that with work — by paying close attention — we can rewire our brains. But now he was asking, could the critical period of effortless learning be extended?
Learning in the critical period is effortless because during that period the nucleus basalis is always on. So Merzenich and his young colleague Michael Kilgard set up an experiment in which they artificially turned on the nucleus basalis in adult rats and gave them learning tasks where they wouldn't have to pay attention and wouldn't receive a reward for learning.
They inserted microelectrodes into the nucleus basalis and used an electric current to keep it turned on. Then they exposed the rats to a 9 Hz sound
frequency to see if they could effortlessly develop a brain map location for it, the way pups do during the critical period. After a week Kilgard and Merzenich found they could massively expand the brain map for that particular sound frequency. They had found an artificial way to reopen the critical period in adults. They then used the same technique to get the brain to speed up its processing time. Normally an adult rat's auditory neurons can only respond to tones at a maximum of 12 pulses per second. By stimulating the nucleus basalis, it was possible to "educate" the neurons to respond to ever more rapid inputs. This work opens up the possibility of high-speed learning later in life. The nucleus basalis could be turned on by an electrode, by microinjections of certain chemicals, or by drugs. It is hard to imagine that people will not — for better or for worse — be drawn to a technology that would make it relatively effortless to master the facts of science, history, or a profession, merely by being exposed to them briefly."
Norman Doidge, M.D., "The brain that changes itself, Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science", pp 63-64
Comments
Displaying comments 1 - 30 of 36
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I love the concept of brain overclocking, even if you don't have to mistake it with the very close concept of what i would call "hang-over crashes", when using drugs of all sorts in approximate proportions lead to regression of mental faculties.I think a lot of people here heard or tried this teenage-like experience of getting high with dextrometorphan, contained by very common drugs like sirupBTW, I'm not making here any kind of advertising for this substance, knowing that even if it's legal it can cause severe damages !It's a very powerfull chemical element, that can have huge effects when taken in large quantities : altered vision of reality, hyper-activity, hyper-sociability... The sensation is kind of unique depending on your morphology, psychology and posology of course. Some people will faint, other disapear in the forest, some will accept this mighty source of stamina and enjoy the experience.The interesting use of this precise product is the energy provided when taken on a regular basis and in reasonnable quantity. I'll call this "ehancement treatment" You can call it "brain overclocking", I prefer to see it as a state of proactive-lucid-transe or, as some friend used say "the 21th century molecule"Used smartly, it can allow you a deep focus, illimited brain and muscular energy and a fluidity in communication, in the way you're moving and interacting with others, in the way you organise your thoughts too, which can be a great boost in everyday life.I'm sure you're thinking of more esoteric or futuristic subtances, the fact is that this experience shows high-speed results and great brain ductility My point is : future is now (as some said) and you can taste it with a little self-control and maturity.Negative point is (overclocking always means risks) that addiction could appear, because this state is so enjoyable and compatible with your normal life that it can be hard to give those new capacities away.But hey ! Don't we wanna become more than just humans ;)Last point (I swear) in touch with what's just above : I remember of a user saying that he suddenly saw mankind surrounding him as a pathetic bunch of monkeys, a display of a slow evolution wich was only at the begining and still kind of disapointing, a cheap but promising image of god. Sounds familiar ? ^^
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Well, if we're talking about psychedelics, there are safer options out there than DXM, with no chance of addiction and less side-effects (and not so dissociative). Not sure if this is even close to what you're looking for, but you could look into serotoninergic psychedelics, in particular 5-HT2A agonists such as LSD and psilocybin in relatively small dosages, or perhaps one of the more recent research chemicals that produce less distracting and distorting thought. They cause the mind to take in a much, much bigger amount of sensory data, effectively partially and temporarily deconditioning the brain, which I suppose is not dissimilar to how young children take in sensory data.They also greatly increase interest and motivation toward that which the subject is exposed to, even if one has always been disinterested toward it. This can be very useful for building up motivation and interest to study a new field of interest or reinforcing it in an existing one.Unfortunately there hasn't been enough modern research on the subject due to the surrounding controversies, though Franz Vollenweider has done some great research on 5-HT2A agonists, suggesting that they cause an increase of AMPA-type glutamate receptor trafficking and thereby raising the level of BDNF, a neural growth factor. Here's a link to another paper about the effects of AMPA receptor trafficking on neuroplasticity.
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rdb, you're advising lsd and shrooms (psylocybin) instead of a legal drug, made in industrial chemistry labs and therefore quite safe if used with caution ?The main interest in those well-knowed substances you mention (i have nothing personnal against them, believe me !) is a high quantity absorption to get a glimpse of things beyond our understanding, and you still have the risk of very random quality on those products...DXM is not what I would call a very pleasant experience, even if it's enjoyable in its own way. For sure you won't be talking with goblins nor with aliens, with dxm and dxm-like molecul you're stucked in the real world, only you have a very precise perception of it and a high-level energyThat's why I would advice it for people searching a safe way to boost there capacites : cheap, available everywhere and efficient when used wisely. Telling people to blow their mind up with acid is not a wise way to help them in my opinion.
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DXM is a dissociative whereas LSD is not (only in very high doses), so you're much more likely to end up "talking with goblins" on DXM than on LSD; the very definition of a dissociative drug like DXM and other NMDA agonists is the fact that they produces a detachment of reality. That doesn't seem like something the OP is looking for. Responding to your other point, given the side effects, neurotoxicity and addictiveness of DXM compared to the lack thereof with many common serotoninergic psychedelics, honestly I'm not sure how anyone could make a case for DXM in terms of safety, and I'm surprised to hear you claim that it's irresponsible to do otherwise.NB: I'm not arguing against the potential use for NMDA agonists (there are theories that put emphasis on the role of the NDMA receptors in memory and learning), I am simply countering your (nonsensical) arguments for DXM over possibly more suitable (and definitely safer) alternatives.Secondly, I'm not advising any drug in particular, or any drug at all, I'm just suggesting looking into 2-HT2A agonists, naming LSD and psilocin as common examples. So legality is completely irrelevant.But please, let's stick to the original topic and not turn this into an NMDA agonist vs 5-HT2A agonist discussion.
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I'm saying it now, much of what has been said in this thread is misinformation or irrelevent. I will also say that what I am providing here is food for thought and that no pharmacological advice should be taken away from this. Under no circumstances should it be assumed that what is said here is endorsement for the use of any compound. Always consult professional studies and well-established dosage guidelines before doing any experimenting. This goes doubly so for mixing psychoactive compounds. Now that that's out of the way-
Dextromethorphan is no more addictive than any other compound that produces an enjoyable altered state. Habitual use can lead to potential problems (and massive tolerance leading to the need for massive doses), but DXM itself even exhibits anti-addictive properties. In addition, it shows some capability for neurological protection, allowing it to be used in combination with otherwise more addictive or damaging compounds to lessen the potential risks. The main things to watch out for in DXM use are serotonin syndrome when mixed with other compounds that act on serotonin (such as SSRIs and MDMA) and vasoconstriction and increased body temperature when mixed with other compounds that have similar effects. On its own, ignoring any individual anomalies such as enzyme deficiencies, DXM is largely one of the safer compounds for inducing an altered state of mind in the brain. If anyone cares I can dig around for some studies to back up these claims as I'm operating on memory right now.
Moving on-- I believe @Ezekiel was specifically talking about low-dose DXM usage for what is commonly regarded as its "afterglow". DXM combined with a potentiating compound such as chlorphenamine or cimetidine allows a small dose to have an effect over a larger period of time. This technique is currently used to treat some neurological disorders such as cluster headaches migraines (see brand name "Neudexta", which is 20mg DXM and 10mg quinidine sulfate) (correction). The DXM "afterglow" is significantly different in its perceived effects from recreational "upper plateau" dosing. The afterglow provides feelings of stimulation, elation, and mild dissociation, as @Ezekiel was talking about.
Dissociation does mean there is a disconnect from the world, but that does not mean you can't interact with it in a meaningful and useful way, especially at lower doses. However, (stronger) dissociation is particularly useful as a meditative aid in allowing an individual to focus inward.
You will never be "talking with goblins" on DXM- the only time you would have a similarly confused state is on a very large dose of DXM (at least third plateau). A comparable dose of psychedelics would of course produce similarly disorienting phenomena. That experience itself though sounds more typical of a deliriant, but now I'm just splitting hairs.
Additionally, dissociatives and psychedelics are most likely unrelated to the concept of inducing extra plasticity within the brain, so this was all just one big tangent for us all.
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lichen thanks for your accurate explanations"Afterglow" as you say (it's called "demi-vie" in french, I found it weird to translate by "half-life" but that's what it really is) is of course what I was talking about.I used this state for a while. It helped me achieve many laborious projets, improve in some fields faster than ever and then left me sane with no kind of dependance.I'll compare this "afterglow" or "half-life" as a pre-plateau, a state you reach using very small and daily dxm, as some may use coffee or tea to help focus, except you can be absorbed in your work/studies/discussion for many hours without any need for distractions or resting.That's the reason why I claim it helps re-opening a relative plasticity in the brain, not by a direct chemical process on your neurones but by forcing you to work with an unlimited motivation, less brain-fag, a sort of "overclocking" as said EnricGTorrentsTherefore rdb I believe I'm not out of subject :)
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@Ezekiel: What dosage did you use and how often? Did you use any other compounds with it? Nootropics?
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I'd say about 30mg-40mg/day (adviced maximum dose is 120mg/day), most likely in the morning, wich makes 1/2 pills depending on the brand you use. As I said I see it like a kind of advanced coffee, keeping me busy for hours, so you can adjust the quantites to fit with your time available/work to achieve and your morphology.Another "compound" could be vaporizing or smocking some pot (if you're in a creative activity) while under the influence of dxm : I turns out to be keeping all it's inspirational qualities while not suffering from "being stone" (this advice is really for artists, I don't know if pure scientist have any interest in weed)Staying in this sate is quite exhausting. You have to sleep enought and eat healthy to "muscle" your brain (specific vitamins/minerals, fish...) or you'll soon be compensating with more dxm to keep going.BTW this treatment can also be applied to sports and is considered as doping in some countries.Last point : experiencing dxm "seriously" once may be necessary before starting such a training and feeling real effects/results (I don't know myself having "abused" of dxm before understanding it's possibilities)If any of you experienced what I'm describing without ever abusing of the product I'd be glad to hear about it.
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"Abuse," "Recreation," "Medication," "Meditation," and "Experimentation" can all mean the same activity seen by a different observer. :p
You cannot compensate for neurotransmitter deficiency with more of a psychoactive substance, however what you said about maintaining a healthy diet is spot on.
Given DXM's short half-life, you might try adding a small amount of chlorphenamine to potentiate. One 4mg pill with your morning dose is enough for the day and should noticably extend the active period, letting you reduce the need to redose. As regular DXM use develops tolerance, this can be important if you're planning on using this as a regular nootropic-of-sorts. The mechanic here is chlorphenamine inhibiting the enzymes that break down DXM into DXO and its other byproducts. Its wise to keep your DXM-DXO ratio high as DXO produces more of a drunken state of mind. Not really what you want for studying.
Also, a small correction on an implication I made earlier- Neudexta is not currently used to treat migraines or cluster headaches. Its current approved use is for the pseudobulbar affect.
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Alas, you're quite righ about this : most people can't see any difference between "recreative" and "working" drugs... Well, professional sportsmen (more loaded than anybody in our society) DO know the difference well (Olympics is the proof they don't end up being homeless junkies afterall) Those legal mutants who "make us dream" are followed by doctors and scientists, that's why such a gap exists between them and most people's knowledge on the subject.This global misinformation/lack of education around drugs (leading to abuses we know) should be compared to alcoholic movies/references/discussions in everyday life : most kids know precisely when dady's drunk, how he got there, what products and proportions he used, what are potential uses of this state (meeting drunk friends, beating mom, singing in the backyard...) while alcohol can be considered as the second most dangerous drug, just after heroin, in terms of deaths/addiction/nocivityWon't give you links about this last point because those precise rankings MYSTERIOUSLY disapeared while those where alcohol is in 5th position are still available (5th position is still quite preocupying, this ranking can be explained by not taking in account number of effective deaths but theorical nocivity)About chlorphenamine I agree with your statement : necessary compound if you're subject to addiction ! It's already present in many dxm products so you don't have to add anything to your treatment in most cases.Last thing : healthy life/diet will always be, in my opinion, the best enhancement you can offer your body and mind. However, on such a polluted planet it's a very difficult, almost impossible way of life to reach, so maybe we'd better aim at a "better living through chemistry" as QOTSA would say :P
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Hey, first post. Been a member for awhile, but usually just read and don't sign in.
Just wanted to say be careful with DXM if you do mess with it. Although it's not physically addicting, if you've got a history of addiction in your family(I do) I'd avoid it except as a cough suppressant. I was addicted for about 9 months, and psychological withdrawal (depression, lethargy, suicidal thoughts, etc.) lasted a month. I never had any mental issues before, and got addicted using it the way you guys are discussing, just a low dose boost. keep it short term and you should be fine if you're careful...
Just a warning.
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Ezekiel, may be you referring to the case of Professor David Nutt, chief drugs adviser of the UK government, who was immediately sacked from his job after reporting that alcohol and tobacco are more harmful than drugs such as LSD and ecstasy? You can still find the paper, though: Nutt et al, "Drug harms in the UK: a multicriteria decision analysis" The Lancet, Volume 376, Issue 9752, 6–12 November 2010, Pages 1558–1565. There is quite a consensus in scientific community about the fact that current drug classification is plain wrong, culturally biased, shaped by lobbying pressure, uninformed opinions and perception rather than hard data -although it is not easy for researcher to be loudly vocal about these kind of issues without facing negative consequences.
On the use of drugs as performance enhancer rather than recreational, you are spot on. You can take many other high-performance groups as reference, not just sport-men but elite academics -and students-, among whom the use of nootropics of one sort of another is commonplace. We are not just talking about caffeine here, but beta-blockers and the like. You may also be interested in taking a look on what the bodybuilding community is taking, i.e. ECA stack is a good booster -may be hard for you to find ephedra now that it is banned-. The same applies to food intake, most of the time people decides to eat, or chose one food over another because of the pleasurable experience it provides, not because any real need or benefit in terms of fueling the body. There is a continuum, not a clear division, between both categories. In this regard I completely agree that the optimal approach is a diet / lifestyle change. I have been following a pattern of regular fasting and eating for the last year and a half, right now eating only 3 or 4 days a week. There are many benefits associated to a strict diet like this, also in a neurological level. You can check this blog entry, where you will find several insteresting links to scientific literature: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/fasting-brain-function/#axzz2guRgTVA7 . You can also look for the works of researchers such as Professor Mark Mattson, from the National Institute on Ageing in Baltimore, or just Google Scholar the subject. There is a growing corpus of evidence supporting the multiple benefits of diet for mental health and performance. Besides, in a less high-performance level, it is known that being overweight impairs brain functioning, by creating a state of permanent infection in the organism and by debilitating the strenght of the blood-brain barrier. It is necessary to be fit and healthy in general in order to operate optimally. None of this, though, accounts as reopening the brain plasticity period -the topic of this discussion, that I started several months ago-.
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Yall need to watch the movie Limitless.
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Btw. In small doses they use meth as an ADD drug. Any of those drugs used in ADD treatment would enhance your learning capacity.
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In fact the real reason why ephedrine based supplements were banned in the first place was because Meth labs were using them as precursor to cook meth. They then had to turn to cough meds that still contained some of it, or use whatever.
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Btw, early Mormon settlers adopted what is now called Mormon Tea -also known as Whorehouse or Cowboy Tea-, made of the stuff. Not as powerful as the Asian Ephedra, though. Anyone interested may want to visit a Chinese pharmacy and ask for Ma Huang (at least here in China is widely available).
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Also, I want to underline the word of caution from SystemShock. When dealing with hardcore stuff people can very easily step into deep shit, if they don't know what they are doing and/or are not careful enough. I.e. back in the days when I was a neuroscience student I volunteered to take part in a nootropics phase 1 clinical trial (a GABA neurotransmitter related drug never tried in humans before, officially aimed to treat alzheimer disease), because I wanted to learn more about the latter phases of the research process and experiment first hand the effects -while getting paid for it-. The trial consisted in being hospitalized for a month, getting daily doses of the stuff in a controlled environment. All seemed to go all right, no apparent side effects beyond the pain derived from constant blood tests and being plugged to a catheter every other day, neither during the trial nor immediately afterwards. But there are delayed, late side effects that may be initially hard to notice. In this case they surfaced long after the last scheduled trial check-up, three months and a couple of extremely weird experiences later -which honestly, still puzzle me-. I ended up trashing down the campus room I was living in, and to a lesser extent the whole floor, while writing stuff on all its walls. I was arrested and locked for two weeks. I had no previous record, and would had never done anything like that in normal conditions. So, yeah, beware. Don't try it at home without adult supervision. To make an omelet you will always need to break some eggs, but it's your own sanity what you are hacking. In my opinion a good, safe start is to eliminate all negative factors in your lifestyle, optimize it, exercise, challenge yourself intellectually to the limit, enrich your environment, relax and make sure your willpower is stronger than gorilla glass. Only then consider moving further, not as a shortcut to achieve any goal but as a mean to push the frontier and keep yourself at peak performance -once you are already there-. Not 100% related to re-opening critical plasticity periods neither, but research on acquired savants such as Orlando Serrell may also bring interesting insights to this topic.
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So, In terms of brain overclocking, do simple stimulants like caffeine do anything?
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yea they keep you awake as far as applied learning im personally unsure because i dont have any data infront of me but id imagine it would be more of how you use it then a you are using it kind of thing. on a side note this site is horrible on my phones browser sorry...
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I had stimulants explained like this to me, don't know how acurate it is but it seems to fit: You have caffeine, which is a general stimulant, and then there are CNS stimulants like amphetamines. They can seem similar, but function differently and it becomes more pronounced at higher doses. When you look at brain activity of someone "doing something", there are areas of activity (light) and areas of relative inactivity (dark). On caffeine, all areas are lightened - i.e., all areas of the brain have heightened activity. This causes more alertness and a feeling of more stimulation, but it doesn't really change focus or concentration directly. By contrast, CNS stimulants make the light areas lighter, and the dark areas darker. This causes an increase in focus and concentration because the "background noise" is quieter, while whatever you're focused on becomes more stimulating. Your brain activity itself is actually focused on whatever you're doing, and if you switch to something else you focus on that.
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I am going to gingerly dip into this thread....@TheGreyKinght No, in fact, it has been shown that while caffeine may "keep you up" it doesn't increase your learning abilities, and may in fact, hinder short term and working memory formation, especially if exhausted. Add to that, that caffeine wreaks havoc on your adrenal function, ultimately breaking your ability to have energy, and I'm to go with double no. the ECA stack will crush you even harder.@CroftSkylar the use of ADD/ADHD drugs is pretty particular to brain chemistry. some of us wanna take a nap after taking adderall. i myself am particular to dopamine reuptake inhibitors. also, treating ADD is not the same thing as increasing learning ability.So, anyone interested in anything that isn't taking hallucinogens / dissociatives / adrenal triggers? Most of the studies showing increased plasticity do to use of these types of drugs show that the only long term effects of increased said increased plasticity is to develop a penchant for drugs. i'm as stunned as you are.@EnricGTorrents You mentioned the Marks article, I have another paper that shows that a ketogenic diet actively increases plasticity in the neural cells of rats. i'll drop it in the library if you are interested.Oxt2, a protein manufactured by the eyes and sent to the brain, triggers neural plasticity, to the point where they are considering making it eye drops to treat disorders where individuals never got the proper amount during childhood development (autism / schizophrenia / etc)Hypocretin has been shown to retrigger plasticity, allowing areas of the brain that have developed drug dependencies to unlearn them faster, so that is an avenue.Most of the older racetam class nootropics have show increased memory retention and hand eye coordiantion in double blind studies. Note to noot nubes, taking it until you can 'feel it' means you are usually taking too much. Luckily, the half life of the racetam family is so short, it is out of your system in days after you stop supplementing.Oh, also, exercise.
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I've been very into nootropics and mind enhancers for a long time. I there is an issue that should be addressed, and I'll introduce it with a very debatable claim:
Lorazepam is a performance enhancer.
Ok, seems silly right? I mean, of all medications and substances benozdiazapenes are amongst the least likely to be categorized as such, perhaps second only to anticholinergics and anaesthetics. I mean, all research indicates it actually prevents long term memory formation/consolidation, and inhibits short term memory. And yet, I say again.. its a performance enhancer.
See, stress is good for performance in many ways, but its benefits lie on something like a normal curve. Too much, and performance degrades significantly. A very stressed ambitious type A person often experiences an increase in performance with lorazepam. They are more effective, happier, and this is reflected in their work/behaviors. So this brings up to my real point here: there is a big difference between a substance which improves performance and a substance that improves ones faculties, be it physical or mental.
So consider lorazepam from this perspective. Any research, such as a rat study or a study on LTP of neurons will reflect that lorazepam decreases ones faculties. There is no doubt here. It doesn't help you remember better. Were one to perform a study with the highly stressed, I imagine you could find however that they have better output. It's the same as looking at creatine for vegans. For most people, creatine does little, but for vegans its been shown to enhance cognition. This type of idea could be extended to vitamins and nutrients. Someone with a deficiency will experience a cognitive enhancement from a MVI. Because true performance is so multi-factorial, its hard to make a judgement on something like an ECA stack. If a person is obese, has terrible self-esteem, and mild depression which is expressed in a lowered activity level, an ECA stack may significantly increase their performance.
To be fair, I also have to flip back to a critical stance. This is like a drunk telling you that they drive better after a few. Stoners often claim to be more creative and effective. In some case, these examples may hold true, but I'd argue that just as many are a form of self-delusion.
My conclusion on this is that saying "performance enhancing" or "mind-enhancing" etc. is just too damn vague. We should differentiate between what Glims is discussing which is substances or mechanisms by which one can show a definite, significant, repeatable result indicating enhancement of a faculty, and something like finding a personal enhancement in ability from something like DXM. I'm not against the second perspective. Perhaps DXM really can be considered a performance enhancer in some ways, but it's not a faculty enhancer. I don't know that there's a word for this differentiation I'm making.
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and then the conversation comes to a shuddering halt. i have discovered my new magic power! look on my works, ye mighty, and despair ;)
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Oh yeah? How about this?I've heard that specific frequencies of sound can cause the brain to enter different states (I.e. An increase in Delta/gamma/alpha brainwaves). Could this possibly be used to optimize the brain for certain situations?Another area that might yield something is Hypnotherapy. Haven't done much research in it, but I know some of the basics. Would it be possible to plant a suggestion in someone's mind that re-opens the "critical plasticity period" in the brain? I suppose I'm trying to figure out how much power the mind has over the body here.
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and of course there is transcranial direct current stimulation. man i want one of those foc.us headsets... there are some really great results with those things.are you talking about binaurals? wave state changes are possible, though the results on it's effects are mmmm up in the air at this point. reports border on sounding like the next "crystal tuning forks". unfortunately, there have been very few hard study caseshypnotherapy allows us to bypass some of the conventional blockages to learning, but true neural plasticity is an actual physical state. you may be able to cause a release of brain chemical that engender learning, but for real plasticity, you need an enzyme trigger release or physical (read: electrical) alteration. meditation, which is like self hypnotherapy, has shown impressive results for overall adjustments of blockages and clarity alteration.having a clear mind, getting enough sleep, and having all the chemicals needed to process effectively (eating well), are the baselines to brain function. Most people (in my experience at least) have trouble managing even those three.
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Are those foc.us headsets anything like the thinking cap Grindhouse wetware is working on?
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@TheGreyKnight: More or less. It does essentially the same tDCS effect. Both headsets allow you to set the stimulation time and the current (as long as it's below 2.0 mA), and both have a ramp-up and ramp-down effect. Some differences are: the Thinking Cap does CES in addition to tDCS, with further stimulation methods planned. The foc.us uses a four-electrode system, whereas the Thinking Cap uses two (though we intend to eventually have a layout that covers the whole 10-20 system), and the foc.us is controlled with a phone app, whereas the Thinking Cap isn't (though, again, this will probably change in the future).
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@glims I believe binaurals were what I was thinking of. I couldn't agree more about the results of studies done on them. I might get a hold of an EEG headset and do some testing. If I see anything significant, I might get better equipment and refine my results.
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not sure that an EEG is the best way to test that. just do to the fact that electrical activity doesn't directly correlate to increased cognition.a dog with an EEG shows spikes. a dog on caffeine may show more (spike the adrenal, i'm just guessing there would be increased electrical activity in general), but isn't any 'smarter' per se.
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you might want to use one of these tools, the general agreed upon cognition increase tools
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