A Closer Look at Research on Increasing IQ with tDCS

Research from the Centre for the Mind at the University of Sydney has shown that transcranial direct current stimulation can be used to improve visual memory and perceptual skills.

A project led by Richard Chi, a Phd student, recruited 36 participants to examine whether tDCS would improve  their ability to tell the difference between complex patterns they had previously been shown and similar but new patterns they were seeing for this first time.

The participants were first shown twelve images that contained various shapes in different amounts, arrangements, sizes and colours. They then were shown a second set of five images, two of which were the same as in the original set of twelve, one which was very similar but different, and two which were entirely new. The participants job was to pick out which of the images they had seen before in the original set of 12 and which were new.

All 36 participants first completed this task without any tDCS, then were split up into 3 groups. The first group received tDCS to boost activity in their right anterior temporal lobe  and inhibits activity on the right. The second group received the opposite, with the activity in the left anterior temporal lobe being increased. The third group were a control and received no elkectrical stimulation of the brain.

In their new groups the participants repeated the pattern spotting task. While the second and third groups produced nearly identical scores to the first time they did the task, those is the group receiving tDCS to increase activity in the right anterior temporal lobes doubled their scores!

This study added to the growing body of research which suggests that targeted tDCS can increase wide variety of cognitive functions and abilities.