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Official development blog for the PARANOIA roleplaying game. No description is available at your security clearance. The Computer is your friend.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

New from R&D: Electric thinking cap 

'Thinking cap' makes brain waves in Australia (AFP):
SYDNEY — Scientists in Australia say they are encouraged by initial results of a revolutionary "thinking cap" that aims to promote creativity by passing low levels of electricity through the brain.

The device, which consists of two conductors fastened to the head by a rubber strap, significantly boosted results in a simple arithmetic test, they said. Three times as many people who wore the "thinking cap" were able to complete the test, compared to those who did not use the equipment. Sixty people took part in total.

Allan Snyder, director of the University of Sydney's Centre for the Mind, said the device worked by suppressing the left side of the brain, associated with knowledge, and stimulating the right side, linked to creativity. "You wouldn't use this to study or to help your memory," Snyder told AFP. "You would use this if you wanted to look at a problem anew. If you wanted to look at the world, just briefly, with a child's view, if you wanted to look outside the box. [...] The dream is that one day we may be able to stimulate the brain in a particular way to give you, just momentarily, an unfiltered view of the world," Snyder said.
Here's the paper, "Facilitate Insight by Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation" (co-authored by Snyder), and an Australian news interview with Cambridge scientist Dr. Chris Smith.

(Thanks to David Boyle.)
Posted by: Allen Varney / 10:21 PM

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