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GoFlow: a DIY tDCS brain-boosting kit

extremetech.com

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Re: GoFlow: a DIY tDCS brain-boosting kit

#41

Post by thwest »

mistercow wrote: post #14

> It’s not hard to see how tDCS could pose some ethical considerations, though. Only if you're primed by your culture to blanch at transhumanism. > What if some students can afford tDCS kits, but others can’t? What if some students can afford college, computers, calculators, tutoring, study guides, etc. but others can't? This is one of the silliest purported ethical issues I've ever seen, but it consistently gets con…

Some are primed to blanch at transhumanism; Some are primed to accept a class-based social hierarchy as simply mundane and not an ethical issue.

Every new privilege granted to the top socioeconomic class is an appropriate opportunity to ask the question "why solve this problem instead of improving peoples' lives by tackling inequality?" The answer can be that one is simply working on what one is good at. However that answer doesn't mean the question is silly or appropriate to sideline.

Re: GoFlow: a DIY tDCS brain-boosting kit

#43

Post by shabble »

mattais wrote: post #25
eagsalazar wrote: post #21

Awesome that someone is doing this however I have to say the parts involved are only worth about $10 so $99 is a bit nuts. Someone should just post the plans and the parts list with instructions and anyone can build one of these safely in a couple hours.

Absolutely. Once the device has been tested to our satisfaction, a full schematic and parts list will be published for the solder junkies out there. Free of charge. The $99 kit is a solderless, and no tools necessary setup. - Matt @flowstateengage

I would assume (hope?) that you've tried it yourself? If/how did it work for you?

Re: GoFlow: a DIY tDCS brain-boosting kit

#44

Post by gwern »

njs12345 wrote: post #6
achy wrote: post #2

Are the measured effects of tDCS really large enough to outweigh any effects from confirmation bias and statistical anomalies? Were the tests performed double-blind using placebo units?

This study (paywalled) http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811910... shows learning increasing with an increase in applied current, at least — 'This relationship between current strength and learning as measured by change in performance with training was well predicted by a linear model of current strength (r = 0.437, p = 0.0015). This suggests that there was a strong relationship between the amount…

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5317066/2012-clark.pdf "TDCS guided using fMRI significantly accelerates learning to identify concealed objects"

Re: GoFlow: a DIY tDCS brain-boosting kit

#45

Post by slug »

dia80 wrote: post #39
DanBC wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

May I ask about the set-up? Where both electrodes on your back? Did you use some conductive gel gloop? Was this a dc or an ac signal? Why 3 batteries? Where they in series or parallel? May I also ask what your device is used for? Apologies for the interrogation! (Good Luck with the grafts btw.)

Gel-electrodes, 27v DC - clocked at 100ma when I tested it. 27v to get required field strength across the site of my injury, just a back of the envelope guess. Both electrodes on my back 1 above 1 below the site of my injury. It's a long story but it seems a modest electric field can encourage axon regrowth in damaged spinal cords. Good evidence for this including a phase 1 human trial in 2005 but nothing since. Here…

What's the purpose of the arduino? Couldn't you setup a push button that needs to be pressed every 5 minutes or so to keep the circuit active, like a watchdog? You could also add a small piezo speaker or blinking LED to warn you to press it 30 seconds before the timeout.

Or even more advanced, connect it to a computer/tablet through USB or bluetooth, mimic a keyboard/mouse and use your real keyboard key presses/mouse movement to reset the countdown. I wouldn't use this directly though, but instead through opto-couplers to avoid electric shocks or other safety issues!

Related to watchdog, you should probably also activate the hardware watchdog of the microcontroller to make sure it doesn't crash.

27V at 100mA is 2.7Watt dissipation, quite a lot when in contact with skin!

Re: GoFlow: a DIY tDCS brain-boosting kit

#46

Post by leon_ »

shabble wrote: post #43
mattais wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely. Once the device has been tested to our satisfaction, a full schematic and parts list will be published for the solder junkies out there. Free of charge. The $99 kit is a solderless, and no tools necessary setup. - Matt @flowstateengage

I would assume (hope?) that you've tried it yourself? If/how did it work for you?

he's selling crap worth $10 for $99 and people are willing to buy. so I guess it worked pretty good.

Re: GoFlow: a DIY tDCS brain-boosting kit

#47

Post by DanBC »

leon_ wrote: post #46
shabble wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would assume (hope?) that you've tried it yourself? If/how did it work for you?

he's selling crap worth $10 for $99 and people are willing to buy. so I guess it worked pretty good.

He's selling stuff worth $10 for $99, that other people were selling for hundreds or even > $1000. So I guess it worked pretty well for them too.

Re: GoFlow: a DIY tDCS brain-boosting kit

#48

Post by pchivers »

DanBC wrote: post #9

So, some electrodes (easily available for TENS machines, or you could go more high-tech); conductive gel; one 9v battery; one 4500 ohm resistor; (or probably two batteries and a current regulator). Does anyone have a map of cathode / anode electrode positions?

I believe that tDCS is used with the same head placements as the 10-20 system used for EEG.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10-20_system_(EEG)

Re: GoFlow: a DIY tDCS brain-boosting kit

#49

Post by georgieporgie »

godfreykfc wrote: post #40
mistercow wrote: post #14

> It’s not hard to see how tDCS could pose some ethical considerations, though. Only if you're primed by your culture to blanch at transhumanism. > What if some students can afford tDCS kits, but others can’t? What if some students can afford college, computers, calculators, tutoring, study guides, etc. but others can't? This is one of the silliest purported ethical issues I've ever seen, but it consistently gets con…

What if this allows you to run faster. Should we allow this in Olympics? (I haven't made up my mind yet, but leaning towards a no.)

Given that the Olympics is ostensibly rooted in long tradition, I would say no, enhancements should not be allowed.

I'm all for allowing drug use of any kind into professional sports. I think it's silly that we watch rather grotesque caricatures of humans swinging bats or tackling people, then pretend to be shocked and admonish them when we find out they're "cheating" by using chemicals. As if the health risks associated with steroids and HGH somehow outweigh the simple risks of broken bones and mutilated joints that are a direct consequence of pushing a body to its limits and beyond on a daily basis.

Re: GoFlow: a DIY tDCS brain-boosting kit

#50

Post by driverdan »

pdx wrote: post #15

As an EE, I was pretty sure I could disprove this, with a quick look at conductivities of bone vs muscle. My theory being that most of the electric current would travel through the scalp, and not pass through the skull to the brain. I found this link, however, which is pretty interesting, that shows conductivities of various tissue types, if anybody is interested. It looks like the skull is not much of an electrical…

Did you read the scientific research on this topic? I don't know if this specific device works but tDCS has been shown to work in multiple studies.
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