Recent studies published in PLOS Biology and conducted by the University of Surrey demonstrated that mild electrical stimulation can improve arithmetic performance, helping low-performing students reach or even exceed the scores of their peers with naturally stronger brain wiring. A team of international scientists suggests that the mild electrical stimulation of the brain may be an innovative solution for improving mathematical abilities, particularly for students who face difficulties in mathematics.
Using a painless method with caps equipped with electrodes called transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS), the technique delivers gentle electrical currents to the brain, enhancing the excitability of neurons and interacting with gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), a brain chemical that inhibits excessive activity. The process effectively compensates for weak neuronal connectivity in some participants.
Professor Roi Cohen Kadosh, lead author of the research, emphasized the importance of biological factors in influencing educational outcomes in mathematics. "Each person has a different brain, and this controls many aspects of their life," he stated, according to Scienze Notizie. "We think about our environment all the time. We often wonder whether we are attending the right school, and whether we have the right teacher. But it is also about our biology. Some people suffer difficulties, and if we can help their brains reach their full potential, we will open many doors for them that would have seemed closed without that."
The experiment conducted by Kadosh and his colleagues included 72 students from the University of Oxford. Participants received a total of 150 minutes of stimulation over five days. Before the tests began, researchers measured the connectivity between the frontal and parietal lobes of the participants, areas of the brain that house the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and the posterior parietal cortex (PPC), respectively.
The research team focused the stimulation on these two specific brain areas: the dlPFC, responsible for executive functions and memory, and the PPC, involved in processing acquired mathematical knowledge. Stimulation of the dlPFC region was found to be particularly effective in improving new calculation skills, while stimulation of the PPC did not provide a significant contribution to memorization-focused learning.
However, those who already excelled in mathematics showed no improvement from the stimulation, and previous studies noted that brain stimulation could negatively affect advanced mathematicians. Experts believe that stimulating an already well-functioning system from the outside can create noise and reduce performance.
Professor Kadosh raised a crucial ethical concern about the risk that these technologies may become accessible only to those with economic resources, potentially widening access disparities rather than reducing them. "If our research proves effective beyond the laboratory, we could help many people achieve their ambitions and unlock opportunities that might otherwise remain out of reach," he concluded, according to Folha de S.Paulo. He also urged the public not to attempt to replicate these techniques at home, as the procedures need to be carefully controlled and tailored to individual brain anatomies.
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