The Dangerous Joy of Dr. Sex and Other True Stories by Pagan Kennedy Page A
Authors: Pagan Kennedy
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keyboard in response to a visual cue.
Other researchers confirmed this provocative finding: brain stimulation could enhance performance in healthy people. For instance, a 2005 study from the National Institute of Neurological
Disorders and Stroke (NINDS, an affiliate of NIH) found that tDCS stimulation revved up peopleâs verbal abilities. They were able to generate longer lists of words starting with, for instance, F or W within a time limit. This has implications for victims of stroke and other neurodegenerative conditionsâif tDCS can enhance the performance of healthy people, perhaps a machine could help pull lost words and hand movements out of damaged brains. For some patients, a wearable brain machine represents one of the few, dim hopes for recovery.
Georg Gabriel leans back in an office chair, so that it makes little creaking sounds underneath him. Weâre in a narrow room in an NIH complex. A lab assistant is standing behind Gabriel, running a tape measure around his scalp and carefully parting tufts of his white hair to mark him up with a Sharpie pen. Gabriel, who has been measured and Sharpied a lot these days, barely notices. âThey told me that my life expectancy with this affliction was about five years,â he tells me, with disarming good cheer. Heâs pink with apparent health, this 78-year-old man who until recently swam several miles a week. This morning, for his last session of
tDCS testing, heâs dressed in business casual: button-down shirt, âNantucket redâ slacks faded to a soft pink and boat shoes. He looks entirely put together. What you canât see is his brain: the nerve cells are dying off throughout the cortex; and the parietal lobeâthat switching-house of sensationâmay have already shrunk down. Gabriel has a rare condition called corticobasal syndrome, a degeneration of brain tissue with symptoms that often mimic Parkinsonâs disease. His movements are slow and dreamy. Earlier this morning, the lab worker put him through a battery of tests to rate his motor skills. On a finger-tapping test, Gabriel punched at a lever with such labored movements that I found myself leaning forward in my seat, willing him on.
Now the lab assistant glues one sponge electrode just above and behind Gabrielâs left ear and another above his right eye; Gabriel is about to perform all the tests again, this time under the influence of tDCS stimulation. While the lab worker winds tape around his head, Gabriel tells me that the NIH researchers have asked him for permission to do an autopsy on his brain. He remarks, crossing one leg over the other casually, that heâs inclined to give it to them. âThatâs a âno brainerâ decision,â he quips, and then chortles at his own joke.
When the tDCS machine is on, Gabriel says he canât feel it at all. No tingling. No nothing. Neither Gabriel nor I know whether this is a âshamâ stimulation or real. The electrodes might be attached to some area of the scalp where they would have little effect on motor function, or they could be aimed at prime real estate in the brain, one of the spots that the researchers hope will respond to exactly this kind of stimulation.
During most of the testingâGabriel has to kiss the air, pretend to vacuum and wave goodbyeâhe continues to move in slo-mo. But on the finger-tapping test, he suddenly seems to gather himself. He looks as if heâs been put on fast-forward, his hand jerking so fast that it doesnât seem part of him. His high score without the electrodes was 49; now, electrified, he fires off 66 taps. Even the lab assistant blinks with surprise.
After the testing is over, we learn that Gabriel was in fact receiving real rather than sham stimulation. Today, the positive electrode was placed over the area of the scalp that corresponds to the parietal lobe. However, until the data is compiled for all the patients in the
Other researchers confirmed this provocative finding: brain stimulation could enhance performance in healthy people. For instance, a 2005 study from the National Institute of Neurological
Disorders and Stroke (NINDS, an affiliate of NIH) found that tDCS stimulation revved up peopleâs verbal abilities. They were able to generate longer lists of words starting with, for instance, F or W within a time limit. This has implications for victims of stroke and other neurodegenerative conditionsâif tDCS can enhance the performance of healthy people, perhaps a machine could help pull lost words and hand movements out of damaged brains. For some patients, a wearable brain machine represents one of the few, dim hopes for recovery.
Georg Gabriel leans back in an office chair, so that it makes little creaking sounds underneath him. Weâre in a narrow room in an NIH complex. A lab assistant is standing behind Gabriel, running a tape measure around his scalp and carefully parting tufts of his white hair to mark him up with a Sharpie pen. Gabriel, who has been measured and Sharpied a lot these days, barely notices. âThey told me that my life expectancy with this affliction was about five years,â he tells me, with disarming good cheer. Heâs pink with apparent health, this 78-year-old man who until recently swam several miles a week. This morning, for his last session of
tDCS testing, heâs dressed in business casual: button-down shirt, âNantucket redâ slacks faded to a soft pink and boat shoes. He looks entirely put together. What you canât see is his brain: the nerve cells are dying off throughout the cortex; and the parietal lobeâthat switching-house of sensationâmay have already shrunk down. Gabriel has a rare condition called corticobasal syndrome, a degeneration of brain tissue with symptoms that often mimic Parkinsonâs disease. His movements are slow and dreamy. Earlier this morning, the lab worker put him through a battery of tests to rate his motor skills. On a finger-tapping test, Gabriel punched at a lever with such labored movements that I found myself leaning forward in my seat, willing him on.
Now the lab assistant glues one sponge electrode just above and behind Gabrielâs left ear and another above his right eye; Gabriel is about to perform all the tests again, this time under the influence of tDCS stimulation. While the lab worker winds tape around his head, Gabriel tells me that the NIH researchers have asked him for permission to do an autopsy on his brain. He remarks, crossing one leg over the other casually, that heâs inclined to give it to them. âThatâs a âno brainerâ decision,â he quips, and then chortles at his own joke.
When the tDCS machine is on, Gabriel says he canât feel it at all. No tingling. No nothing. Neither Gabriel nor I know whether this is a âshamâ stimulation or real. The electrodes might be attached to some area of the scalp where they would have little effect on motor function, or they could be aimed at prime real estate in the brain, one of the spots that the researchers hope will respond to exactly this kind of stimulation.
During most of the testingâGabriel has to kiss the air, pretend to vacuum and wave goodbyeâhe continues to move in slo-mo. But on the finger-tapping test, he suddenly seems to gather himself. He looks as if heâs been put on fast-forward, his hand jerking so fast that it doesnât seem part of him. His high score without the electrodes was 49; now, electrified, he fires off 66 taps. Even the lab assistant blinks with surprise.
After the testing is over, we learn that Gabriel was in fact receiving real rather than sham stimulation. Today, the positive electrode was placed over the area of the scalp that corresponds to the parietal lobe. However, until the data is compiled for all the patients in the
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