Would you let someone mess with your head?
It may sound like something out of science fiction, but in fact brain zapping is already being used to treat patients – with some success.
But if the idea of having someone ‘scramble’ your brain sounds scary, that’s what I thought too when I nervously agreed to have it done while making a TV documentary.
I had deliberately disabled parts of my brain, an experience that turned out to be both fascinating – and disturbing (and a real insight into what might happen if you have a stroke).
Brain zapping – or neuroelectrostimulation, to give it its proper name – involves sending electrical impulses to your brain to change the brain’s electrical activity.
The effect depends on which part of the brain is targeted.
I signed up for a form known as transcranial magnetic stimulation or TMS.
TMS involves applying a device, which looks a bit like a table tennis bat, to different parts of your head. It creates highly focused magnetic pulses, which generate an electrical current that changes the activity of the parts of your brain closest to the device.
It has previously been shown to help with memory loss in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Just 25 minutes of treatment was enough to significantly improve memory in older people, with the effect lasting up to 50 minutes, according to research from Boston University published in the journal Nature Neuroscience in 2019.
The researchers said the electrical stimulation (given through a tight-fitting cap covered in electrodes) helped return brain waves in older people to a youthful, coordinated pattern that promotes better memory.
Although more research is needed into its use in dementia, TMS is also already used by the NHS to treat depression.
In 2015, the National Institute for Care Excellence approved a technique called repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) as a way to treat severe depression (supposedly it works by creating a ‘jamming’ signal that blocks feelings of low mood) .
And now a new study, published earlier this week by the University of Nottingham, has shown that using MRI to guide treatment can relieve symptoms for up to six months (double the length of time shown in previous research).
The key was using the scans to pinpoint the exact part of the brain that needed to be treated.
When I made a TV documentary about the brain a few years ago, I went to Joe Devlin, now professor of cognitive neuroscience, at University College London (UCL), to find out what it was like to have TMS applied to my motor skills . cortex. This is the part of the brain that controls fine movements – the idea was to demonstrate the power of TMS in activities such as writing – and speech.
Joe used a powerful magnetic field to temporarily search certain parts of my brain.
If the UCL team hadn’t already done this to themselves dozens of times, I’m not sure I would have agreed to this, and I admit to being quite nervous – and a little apprehensive – about the idea of letting anyone interfere with my work interfere in. brain.
Despite my fear of brain fog, when the device turned it on it actually felt a bit like someone was hitting my head with a soft toy.
Dr. Michael Mosley had parts of his brain deliberately disabled by brain zapping or neuro-electrical stimulation
Using the TMS device, Joe first blocked my ability to move my fingers, which was very strange – I tried to write on a notepad, but my fingers just wouldn’t obey, it was completely impossible to control them. Once the device was turned off, I could do it easily.
In the same way I tried to touch my nose with my finger. How difficult can that be?
But when the machine was turned on, I was in danger of gouging my eye out – I could move my hand, but with no real control. I tried again – clap, my finger missed my nose and hit my cheek.
The device only worked on the hands if it was applied precisely to the part of the brain that controls hand movement – an inch to the left or right, and there would be no effect. Essentially, the intense magnetic field floods the neural pathways in the motor cortex, causing me to lose control. It was almost like a stroke – only temporary.
This was demonstrated to me graphically when the device was applied to the part of the brain that controls speech.
I started by trying to count to ten, but when the machine was on, the words just wouldn’t come out.
But as I said, the effect was only temporary and there were no side effects after my session. (When it was used in the dementia study, they reported mild short-term side effects, including headache and discomfort; rare side effects of rTMS include fainting and seizures.)
So would I have it done again – as therapy, not just out of curiosity? Maybe – researchers think they can use it to tackle addictions, and as someone with a serious chocolate problem, I would certainly be a willing guinea pig…
Additional reporting by Thea Jourdan.