A little spark for sharper sight
Stimulating the visual cortex of the brain for 20 minutes with a mild electrical current can improve vision for about two hours, and those with worse vision see the most improvement, according to a Vanderbilt University study published this week in Current Biology.
Could we make someone’s vision better—not at the level of the eye, like Lasik or glasses, but directly at the level of the brain?”“It’s actually a very simple idea,” said co-author Geoff Woodman, associate professor of psychology. “This kind of stimulation can improve cognitive processing in other brain areas, so if we stimulate the visual system, could we improve processing? Could we make someone’s vision better—not at the level of the eye, like Lasik or glasses, but directly at the level of the brain?”
Twenty young, healthy subjects with normal or near-normal vision were asked to evaluate the relative position of two identical vertical lines and judged whether they were perfectly aligned or offset. The test is more sensitive than a standard eye chart, and gave the researchers are very precise measurement of each subjects’ visual acuity.
The researchers then passed a very mild electric current through the area at the back of the brain that processes visual information. After 20 minutes, the subjects were asked to perform the test again, and about 75 percent showed measurable improvement following the brain stimulation.
The researchers performed several variations of this experiment to test the effects of different intensity levels, current directions and electrode placements. This third experiment was important because it confirmed that the electrodes had to be positioned specifically over the brain’s visual processing center in order to affect the subjects’ eyesight—that the effect wasn’t simply a response to stimulus anywhere in the brain.
They also measured how the stimulus changed the speed with which the brain processed visual information and whether the stimulation also improved the subjects’ contrast sensitivity—their ability to differentiate between multiple shades of gray.
The contrast experiment was notable because they found that the stimulation only improved contrast sensitivity at frequencies also associated with visual acuity, indicating that it was just the subjects’ visual acuity that was being affected, not the contrast sensitivity. Lead author Robert Reinhart, an incoming assistant professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Boston University who conducted this research as a Ph.D. student at Vanderbilt, said this finding had interesting implications for future basic science.
“Now we have a new tool that could be valuable for researchers investigating fundamental questions about how the visual system works.”
For their last experiment, the researchers wanted to see if the improvement they saw in the first experiment was significant enough to translate into a real-world task—reading a standard eye chart.
We saw that those who came in with poorer vision, who might be on their way to needing glasses, had these big leaps, while others who came in with excellent vision showed no change.”They found that the stimulation effects improved the subjects’ vision by an average of 1 to 2 letters, though Reinhart noted that there was significant variation between subjects. “We saw that those who came in with poorer vision, who might be on their way to needing glasses, had these big leaps, while others who came in with excellent vision showed no change.”
Reinhart speculated that these findings could be explained in several different ways. The prevailing belief is that the current might simply be boosting the visual signals so certain neurons can process them more rapidly, but Reinhart thinks it’s also possible that the current essentially injects white noise into the visual system, which drowns out extraneous information and enables the brain to capture visual information more easily.
The researchers stress that much more research needs to happen in a clinical setting in order to confirm the safety of the procedure and that members of the public should never attempt to replicate the experiment at home.
Learn more: A little spark for sharper sight
The Latest on: Improved vision through brain stimulation
[google_news title=”” keyword=”Improved vision through brain stimulation” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
via Google News
The Latest on: Improved vision through brain stimulation
- Optical illusion: Only a true observer can spot the snake in under 7 secondson April 26, 2024 at 8:30 am
Test your vision with optical illusions like spotting a hidden snake. In a mind-boggling illusion, you'll be challenged to identify the hidden snake i ...
- Everyone can see the horse – but you have 20/20 vision & a high IQ if you can spot his rider in 8 secondson April 21, 2024 at 2:53 pm
ONLY those with 20/20 vision and a very high IQ have been able to solve this baffling brainteaser. Everyone can see the horse but it takes somebody with the IQ of a genius to spot his rider. For ...
- Everyone can see the man – but you need 20/20 vision and a high IQ to spot the eight bunnies in under 13 secondson April 21, 2024 at 2:12 am
THIS baffling brainteaser has left even the most avid of puzzle fans scratching their heads in confusion. Everyone can see the man, test your IQ and observation skills by trying to find the eight ...
- Vitamin A Rich Diet: 7 Foods To Eat For Improved Vision And Overall Healthon April 17, 2024 at 1:05 pm
By making these foods a regular part of your diet, you can enjoy improved vision and enhanced well-being for years to come.
- Monaco 2 creator on seeing his 20-year vision throughon April 17, 2024 at 5:20 am
and how they used it to improve the sequel. He also shares that Monaco 2 fulfills the original vision he had for the game two decades ago. It’s a point we mention in our preview for the upcoming ...
- RevitalVision announces success in two new trialson April 17, 2024 at 4:57 am
RevitalVision has announced success in two new trials of products for improving vision in various eye conditions by training the brain. The company’s products are already approved for sale for ...
- The Next Frontier for Brain Implants Is Artificial Visionon April 15, 2024 at 2:00 am
Elon Musk’s Neuralink and others are developing devices that could provide blind people with a crude sense of sight.
- Brain stimulation treatment may improve depression, anxiety in older adultson April 10, 2024 at 10:13 am
A noninvasive brain stimulation treatment improved depression and anxiety symptoms among older ... The tDCS treatment is delivered by a safe and weak electrical current passed through electrodes ...
- Brain stimulation treatment may improve depression, anxiety in older adultson April 9, 2024 at 5:00 pm
A noninvasive brain stimulation treatment improved depression and anxiety symptoms ... by a safe and weak electrical current passed through electrodes placed on a person's head.
- Brain Trainingon December 8, 2014 at 4:00 am
So the measure of benefit is identifying how much their cognition has improved ... electrical stimulation through an electrode on the scalp. As the electricity goes through the brain, it changes ...
via Bing News