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Electrical Brain Stimulation Improves Math Skills, Researchers Show

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Electrical Brain Stimulation Improves Math Skills, Researchers Show

ScienceDaily (Nov. 4, 2010) â€” By applying electrical current to the brain, researchers reporting online on November 4 in Current Biology, have shown that they could enhance a person's mathematical performance for up to 6 months without influencing their other cognitive functions. The findings may lead to treatments for the estimated 20 percent of the population with moderate to severe numerical disabilities (for example, dyscalculia) and for those who lose their skill with numbers as a result of stroke or degenerative disease, according to the researchers.

"I am certainly not advising people to go around giving themselves electric shocks, but we are extremely excited by the potential of our findings," said Roi Cohen Kadosh of the University of Oxford. "We've shown before that we can temporarily induce dyscalculia [with another method of brain stimulation], and now it seems we might also be able to make someone better at maths. Electrical stimulation will most likely not turn you into Albert Einstein, but if we're successful, it might be able to help some people to cope better with maths."

The researchers used a method of brain stimulation known as transcranial direct current stimulation (TDCS). TDCS is a noninvasive technique in which a weak current is applied to the brain constantly over time to enhance or reduce the activity of neurons. The technique has gotten attention in the last decade for its potential to improve various functions in people with neurological deficits, for instance in those who have suffered a stroke.

In the new study, the researchers applied TDCS specifically to the parietal lobe, a portion of the brain that is crucial for numerical understanding. The study participants had normal mathematical abilities but were asked to learn a series of artificial numbers -- symbols that they had never seen before that they were told represented numbers -- while they received the noninvasive brain stimulation. The researchers then tested participants' ability to automatically process the relationship of those artificial numbers to one another and to map them correctly in space using standard testing methods for numerical competence.

The results of the tests showed that the brain stimulation improved study participants' ability to learn the new numbers. and that those improvements lasted 6 months post training.

Now that they know the TDCS treatment can improve number processing in people with normal mathematical ability, the researchers plan to test its use in those with severe numerical disabilities. If it works, that could have important consequences, Cohen Kadosh said, as people with severe numerical disabilities often cannot manage basic tasks like understanding food labels or counting change in a supermarket. Poor numerical ability has also been linked to unemployment and low income, depression, low self-esteem, and other problems, he said.

The researchers include Roi Cohen Kadosh, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; Sonja Soskic, University College London, London, UK; Teresa Iuculano, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK, University College London, London, UK; Ryota Kanai, University College London, London, UK; and Vincent Walsh, University College London, London, UK.

Editor's Note: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ _____________

Current Biology, 04 November 2010
Modulating Neuronal Activity Produces Specific and Long-Lasting Changes in Numerical Competence

Roi Cohen Kadosh1, Sonja Soskic2, Teresa Iuculano1, 3, Ryota Kanai3 and Vincent Walsh3

1 Department of Experimental Psychology and Oxford Centre for Functional MRI of the Brain, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3UD, UK
2 University College London Medical School, Department of Life Sciences, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK
3 Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London WC1N 3AR, UK
Corresponding author

â–º Brain stimulation to the parietal cortex can enhance or impair numerical abilities â–º The effects were specific to the polarity of the current â–º The improvement in numerical abilities lasts up to 6 months â–º The brain stimulation affected specifically the material that was recently learned

Summary

Around 20% of the population exhibits moderate to severe numerical disabilities [1,2,3], and a further percentage loses its numerical competence during the lifespan as a result of stroke or degenerative diseases [4]. In this work, we investigated the feasibility of using noninvasive stimulation to the parietal lobe during numerical learning to selectively improve numerical abilities. We used transcranial direct current stimulation (TDCS), a method that can selectively inhibit or excitate neuronal populations by modulating GABAergic (anodal stimulation) and glutamatergic (cathodal stimulation) activity [5,6]. We trained subjects for 6 days with artificial numerical symbols, during which we applied concurrent TDCS to the parietal lobes. The polarity of the brain stimulation specifically enhanced or impaired the acquisition of automatic number processing and the mapping of number into space, both important indices of numerical proficiency [7,8,9]. The improvement was still present 6 months after the training. Control tasks revealed that the effect of brain stimulation was specific to the representation of artificial numerical symbols. The specificity and longevity of TDCS on numerical abilities establishes TDCS as a realistic tool for intervention in cases of atypical numerical development or loss of numerical abilities because of stroke or degenerative illnesses.

The whole paper can be read for free on the Current Biology website, as Cohen Kadosh et al. Brain stimulation and numerical competence in the Online Ahead of Issue menu

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