If the brain is just a bunch of biological "wires" and "circuits," then why can't we just upgrade its components to make us better and smarter? At least that's the theory behind a new secret research unit project from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), according to an announcement this week. The goal of the project is to search for opportunities to improve human cognitive abilities by activating the so-called synaptic brain plasticity.
Recent research suggests that stimulating certain peripheral nerves (channels that carry signals from the brain and spinal cord to the rest of the body) by triggering the production of neurochemicals that reorganize neural connections can increase a person's ability to learn. Through its Targeted Neuroplasticity Training program, DARPA is funding eight different research projects aimed at finding ways to improve learning performance through electrical stimulation. The ultimate goal is to adapt this technology in practice to improve the learning efficiency of soldiers. Ideally, a soldier “modified” in this way would be able, for example, to learn a new language in just a few months, not years. In the end,if DARPA can find a way to modify the brain in this way, then the results are likely to find their application not only in the military, but also in the civilian spheres.
“The goal of the Guided Neuroplasticity Training project is to understand the neural processes that regulate cognitive functions that are responsible for human learning,” comments program manager Doug Weber.
In other words, DARPA will study fundamental biology and develop neurostimulating devices that, using our "biological wires and microcircuits," can increase learning.
A DARPA-funded team at Johns Hopkins University will focus on studying and analyzing the processes that govern our speech and hearing. The researchers plan to experiment with stimulating the vagus nerve to see if stimulating it can speed up the process of understanding and learning a new language. Another team, based at the University of Florida, will study how stimulation of the vagus nerve will affect perception, purposefulness, decision-making, and spatial navigation in laboratory rodents. A team from Arizona State University will study the effects of trigeminal nerve stimulation and its effects on the visual, sensory and motor functions of military volunteers studying the principles of intelligence, observation,shooting training and decision making.
It should be noted that there are already products on the market offering improvements in cognitive, psychological and physical abilities. However, the level of understanding of how these products actually work is extremely low. According to many scientists, these products don't work at all. At least the way the manufacturers promise us in their advertising campaigns. Therefore, the goal of the DARPA program is to better understand and investigate the effectiveness of both implantable and non-invasive methods for enhancing human abilities, as well as to verify the actual work of the methods currently available.
“We have some knowledge about the connections of peripheral nerves, but we know almost nothing about the effects that can be caused by neurostimulation of their functions,” says Weber.
If a real connection is found between neurostimulation and an increase in learning efficiency, then the next phase of this program will be the development of devices that will increase the speed of learning foreign languages, the efficiency of image analysis, as well as solving problems related to spatial navigation.
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“In general terms, the analogy between the computer and the brain is certainly not true,” says Michael Kilgard, lead researcher on the University of Texas at Dallas team involved in the project.
“However, in the brain, there are indeed certain connections between the A and B points. When you cut these connections, you lose function. The bottom line is that this "brain wiring" can create new connections. And we have the technologies to look at and study these compounds."
Until recently, Kilgard's work focused on repairing damaged pathways in the brain. Some progress has been made in the fields of deep brain stimulation (implants) and transcranial direct stimulation (altering work functions using non-invasive electrical stimulation). Especially in matters of electrical stimulation, which is used to correct the work of damaged neurochannels in the brain, say, to help in the treatment of various mental illnesses. The same Kilgard has achieved very definite success in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder using targeted neuroplastic therapy.
“We want to understand how to heal brain damage and what it takes to pull the brain wires. After all, if it is possible to restore the lost function, then maybe there is an opportunity to increase the efficiency of this function in order, for example, to learn new things faster?"
According to Kilgard, someday (and preferably in the near future) we will be able to develop a device costing only a few hundred dollars that can painlessly and easily accelerate our ability to learn new languages. At the current level of funding, Kilgard hopes to develop a working prototype of such a device within 5 years and send it for approval to the FDA (US Food and Drug Administration).
Unfortunately, there is still no more definite specifics at the current stage of the project's development. Moreover, one can even say that the whole idea so far rests on nothing more than ordinary scientific guesses. It is still impossible to say whether this will work at all.
“We use state-of-the-art tools to investigate the molecular and cellular processes involved in the functions we are talking about today. But even the most advanced tools have their limitations,”says Weber.
Scientists will have to face serious difficulties in the social aspect. It is highly likely that such DARPA research will be seen by some as an attempt to create a new race of cognitively enhanced super-soldiers. The truth is that the agency is currently pursuing several other brain research projects. In particular, there are projects under development for the implantation of digital chips into the brain, which can treat mental illnesses, as well as restore motor and memory functions in injured soldiers.
The program currently aims to give the brain a "light boost" by increasing its efficiency and speed in learning new skills by about 30 percent over conventional teaching methods. But if you consider that the use of conventional analeptics and antidepressants, such as Ritalin (prohibited in Russia) and Modafinil, which are freely available in the United States and are often used by students to focus attention and fight drowsiness, causes a lot of controversy among the public, then what can we say about the actual modification of the brain. There will always be those who will be totally against it.
As a rule, opponents of such methods stand up to protect the natural nature of the work of the human body. Proponents, in turn, say that the search for ways and methods to improve the work of the natural processes of the functioning of the human body is a logical step towards evolution. Therefore, the DARPA study is likely to launch a whole new series of debates on this topic.
“The first questions of concern when opening any new technology are most often related to its safety, equal accessibility to all, and freedom of choice. It is very important to answer each of these questions and to reassure the public,”Weber sums up.
NIKOLAY KHIZHNYAK