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Sunday, November 07, 2004

Apply power, get power?
"Sending a weak electrical impulse through the front of a person's head can boost verbal skills by as much as 20 percent, according to a new study by the U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke."

Now look... We've always maintained that the body is interconnected via a series of electrical impulses, but this... The story goes on to say, "What we think we're doing is changing the electrical environment of neurons and causing them to change their activity."

Important point, "What we think we're doing..." Do these researchers need to be reminded of ECT? Technology, thou art strange indeed.
# Permalink Posted at 11:53 AM 5 comments Email this Link

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I guess they've got to start somewhere, but they should definitely do studys on animals first (if possible) to test for the effects of long-term treatments. Also, if these patients were asked the same question twice wouldn't they be more prepared??? Even if it was a different letter, they'd still know what was coming (unless they were informed beforehand). It doesn't seem like sound scientific procedure to me. In any case, if it's true and there are no side-effects, and they can get the effects to somehow last even when the current isn't there then this could be a very good thing.

# posted by David 9:08 PM

Yeah, I can picture it now...
"Let's see the effect of applyimg a small voltage to Bill's forehead." -ZAP- "($$**& you #@!!@%&*! What the &%#%^ing $%^* Did you do that for, you !@$^*(%?"
"Wow! I never heard him use those words before!"

# posted by Captain DaFt 9:25 PM

Well, it doesn't sound very scientific. There's no mention of a control, for instance. The results could be a reflection of purely psychological effects, much like a "lucky rabbit's foot."

There seems to be no study of brainwave activities or anything. I could probably achieve the same results with peach fuzz. After getting the people to eat peach fuzz, they could respond with 20% more words. Hey, maybe peach fuzz is the answer to treating brain disorders!

# posted by Anonymous 7:41 AM

In point of fact ECT is an excellent therapy for major depression resistant to oral therapies or major depression that requires a rapid reversal. It is the fastest therapy for major depression which untreated has a significant rate of morbidity and mortality assoiciated with it. It is a tragedy that ECT is not more widely available but we can thank the cost of malpractice insurance courtesy of the trial lawyers for that. As to the effect of the
weak electrical current to boost verbal skills - it would be interesting to know what the investigators think is happening biochemically to explain their findings.

# posted by Anonymous 8:16 PM

In point of fact, ECT was responsible for a significant amount of neural damage thanks to misdiagnosing and blatant mishandling of the treatments. The same argument you're making could be viably made for frontal lobotomies. Point being, when someone doesn't exactly know what they're doing, maybe it's best that they don't do it.

# posted by Bill 4:47 PM

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