A team of scientists from the University of British Columbia, in Canada, has shown thatstimulate the brain with magnetic pulsesenhances our ability tolearnnew habilities. Details are published in the latest issue of the magazineBMC Neuroscience.
Dr. Lara Boyd and her team studied the abilities of 30 volunteers, aged between 20 and 38, to follow the path of a moving target on a computer screen using a joystick. The results showed that those participants whose brains received magnetic stimuli in the premotor cortex were much more adept than their peers in following the programmed movements of the object after two days. And what is even more surprising, that, even after the practice stopped, the stimulated brain continued to work and improve the dexterity of these subjects.
In his experiments, Boyd used therepetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS, for its acronym in English), a non-invasive technique that has already been proven in the treatment of disorders such as depression and schizophrenia, as well as to reduce tobacco addiction, with excellent results.
Going forward, Boyd does not rule out that his finding will be used to create wearable devices in the form of“hat”that help patients withmotor learning difficulties, or simply allow us all to easily acquire skills such as cycling, swimming, playing tennis or skating.
