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Posted on May 22, 2014, 6 a.m.
Electrical stimulation of the brain increases its ability to learn from mistakes.
A team from Vanderbilt University (Tennessee, USA) has investigated the human “mistake response.” The researchers applied transcranial direct current stimulation to the medial-frontal cortex in human subjects, who were challenged with a series of learning tasks while researchers monitored resulting brain activity: Electrical stimulation in one direction of current flow “eliminated performance-monitoring activity, reduced behavioral adjustments after an error, and slowed learning.” By reversing the current flow, the team enhanced performance-monitoring activity, increased behavioral adjustments after an error, and sped learning. These beneficial effects fundamentally improved cognition for nearly 5 h after 20 min of noninvasive stimulation. The investigators comment that: “Our findings demonstrate that the functioning of mechanisms of cognitive control and learning can be up or down-regulated using noninvasive stimulation of medial-frontal cortex in the human brain."
Reinhart RM, Woodman GF. "Causal control of medial-frontal cortex governs electrophysiological and behavioral indices of performance monitoring and learning. J Neurosci. 2014 Mar 19;34(12):4214-27.
