Researchers
at UCLA found out during an experiment that stimulating the left side of the
prefrontal cortex can help you to retrieve memories. This leads them to believe
that this area of the brain is responsible for accessing knowledge and making
decisions about it.
The
psychologists conducted their experiment on 3 groups that each contained 13
women and 11 men, whose average age was 20. Each person was shown 80 words on a
computer screen, and wore a device that sent a weak electrical current to the
left side of the prefrontal cortex, and then had to try and remember as many as
they could.
During
the first half of the study everyone was given a fake stimulation, where the
researchers gave them a small stimulation but then turned off the electrical
current so that there would be no effect on the person. And the psychologists
noted that there were no differences between the 3 group’s results after they
were given the test. For the second half of the test, the first group was given
a current that excited the neurons in the prefrontal cortex, the second group
was given a current that suppressed it, and the third group was given the fake
stimulation.
The
group who received the current that excited the prefrontal cortex scored an
average of 15.4 points higher than they did when they got the fake stimulation.
The group that received the fake stimulation had their scores go up by about 2
points. This showed that this technology could be used to help improve brain
function in the future,
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