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Life Sciences => Physiology & Medicine => Topic started by: scientizscht on 30/12/2018 20:56:06

Title: Is it possible to trigger cerebral activity?
Post by: scientizscht on 30/12/2018 20:56:06
Hello!

When we solve a mathematical problem or when we see something new, neuronal networks get activated.

Can we trigger this same cerebral activity with other means?
Like electromagnetic stimulation of the head or other ways?

Thanks!
Title: Re: Is it possible to trigger cerebral activity?
Post by: RD on 30/12/2018 21:25:36
"Enhancement of human cognitive performance using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)"
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4083569/ (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4083569/)

There's usually a price to be paid for having your computer overclocked. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overclocking#Disadvantages)
Title: Re: Is it possible to trigger cerebral activity?
Post by: evan_au on 31/12/2018 07:19:44
Quote from: OP
Can we trigger this same cerebral activity with other means?
How about neuronal activity triggered by:
- Sound
- Touch
- Smell
- Taste
- Hunger
- Thirst
- Change in Temperature
Title: Re: Is it possible to trigger cerebral activity?
Post by: chris on 06/01/2019 11:35:37
The mind is never silent; even when you are sleep 15% of your cardiac output is being directed straight into your head where the 100 billion nerve cells (an 1 trillion other supporting cells) consume one fifth of the oxygen you require to remain alive every minute.

These cells are in an electrochemical equilibrium: a state of continuous neurological chatter that forms a baseline level of activity onto which experiences can be superimposed, rehearsed and learned.

As one neuroscientist put it to me when i first began to make radio programmes "the brain you go to bed with tonight will not be the same one you woke up with this morning!"
Title: Re: Is it possible to trigger cerebral activity?
Post by: set fair on 12/01/2019 23:40:06
No there isn't a way to trigger cerebral activity. If there were, it would be used to hack politicians to do somebody's bidding. so they would have to have imunised politicians against cerebral activity beng stimulated. And there's no evidence of that.
Title: Re: Is it possible to trigger cerebral activity?
Post by: chris on 13/01/2019 09:52:29
@set fair - so you responding to the post in this thread did not trigger any cerebral activity in your brain...? You achieved entering a reply without any change in brain activity? I think not! (And that definitely caused me to change my cerebral activity)!

When we confront a problem or challenge, the brain draws upon connections and associations between the present challenge before us and previous experience. This previous experience is used to generate potential solutions. It's this ability to apply past experience and learning to novel situations that makes human (and many animal) brains so powerful.

So you could argue, in response to the original question from @scientizscht that you can trigger the same cerebral activity by confronting a similar problem to the one you first solved...
Title: Re: Is it possible to trigger cerebral activity?
Post by: scientizscht on 13/01/2019 13:07:19
What kind of stumuli is triggers the most activity in the brain?
Title: Re: Is it possible to trigger cerebral activity?
Post by: chris on 13/01/2019 13:54:35
I'm going to speculate wildly and say a visual one, because about one third of your brain is devoted to decoding what you are looking at, so a heavy visual load is likely to drive the strongest changes in activity.