Electric 'thinking cap' stimulates brain

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Forget using caffeine to help you focus on tasks, imagine stimulating the brain with mild jolts instead.

Laura McClenahan isn't just playing a game. The fitted red cap she's wearing is actually stimulating her brain.

"It feels like a mild, itching sensation," said McClenahan, a Vanderbilt University researcher.

In a new study published in the Journal Neuroscience, researchers at Vanderbilt University are proving it's possible to manipulate our ability to learn by using a mild electrical current.

"So, essentially we can make you learn faster with 20 minutes of non-invasive electrical stimulation," said Robert Reinhart, Ph.D. candidate at Vanderbilt University.

Reinhart says the thinking cap activates the frontal lobe - the part of the brain involved in problem-solving, memory and judgment.

"We've found a way to causally up-regulate, increase and boost these brain activities related to monitoring," said Reinhart.

Not only can you learn faster, but depending on the direction of the current, your mental performance can also be slowed down.

"It's also systematic and reliable and enough for us to be satisfied with gaining that kind of causal control," said Reinhart.

Researchers say the learning effects last about 5 hours.

The success rate, scientists say, is better than that observed in studies of drugs or other types of psychological therapy.

Electrical current therapy is also being studied for mental health conditions to see if, in the future, the technology could also be used to treat schizophrenia and ADHD.