DARPA test finds running electrical currents through scalp improves video game skills

SUBJECTS&nbsp;take a battery to the brain for&nbsp;science and suddenly find they're a bit more awesome at military video games.

By Claire Connelly
NewsComAuApril 20, 20112:03pm

Wikipedia, Flickr user soldiersmediacentreSource:Supplied

FIRST things first - don't try this at home.

Forget energy drinks, in a discovery that's bound to lead to an unfortunate accident, scientists have discovered that running electricity through the scalp can sharpen your mind and improve your video game skills.

In a study funded by the US Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA), scientists at the University of New Mexico hooked subjects up to electrical currents which were generated through sponges attached to their temples.

Whilst playing DARWARS AMBUSH!, a training game designed to help soldiers train for service in Iraq, the subjects' performance improved when they were running on batteries.

This process is called transcranial direct-current stimulation (tCDS).

DARWARS AMBUSH! requires gamers to detect signs of danger in a landscape of dilapidated buildings and abandoned cars, and scan for things such as explosive devices and enemy gunmen.

Half of the test subjects had two milliamps of electricity channeled through their scalp - approximately 1/500th of the energy it takes to power a 100-watt lightbulb.

The other test subjects received about 1/20th of that amount.

Neuroscientists Vincent Clarke said that the group that received two milliamps of electricity to the brain showed twice as much improvement over a short period of time compared to the group that received the lesser amount.

"The learn more quickly but they don't have a good intuitive or introspective sense about why," Dr Clarke told science journal, Nature.

Which mean the centuries-old technique - originally invented to stop the corpses of executed felons from twitching - can now be put to good uses.

Like improving your ability to plunder enchanted villages and pwn noobs.

Scientists soon hope they will be able to separate out learning and cognition and amplify or suppress areas of the brain simply by flicking a switch.

"The field is going to explode soon and give us all sorts of new questions," Dr Clarke said.

Well, if it's good enough for the military, it's good enough for gamers.

More experiments need to be conducted before scientists can confirm tCDS works, but the results tend to suggest that a change to the electrical currents in the brain can improve learning faculties and possibly aid in the treatment of depression and other mental illnesses.

In the meantime, it's down to old-fashioned practice to develop your gaming skills.

We suggest arming yourself with the most experienced guild, and lots and lots of practice.

Originally published asMad gaming skillz just a 9-volt jolt away

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