noninvasively stimulating the brain with
electricity can have a meaningful effect
on cognition. Unlike the more powerful
method of transcranial magnetic stimu-
lation, electrical stimulation doesn’t gen-
erate a clear sign that the stimulation is
influencing the brain, such as an immedi-
ately observable muscle twitch.
Humm’s device builds on years
of research suggesting that methods
of transcranial electrical stimulation
(tES)—including tACS and transcranial
direct current stimulation (tDCS), which
uses a constant rather than an alternat-
ing current—can boost memory, atten-
tion, and other cognitive processes by
influencing natural rhythms in brain
activity. In one of the most recent stud-
ies, for example, a pair of scientists at
Boston University demonstrated that it
was possible to reverse age-related work-
ing memory deficits in older adults by
modulating brain rhythms with tACS.A few years ago, the Humm team
decided to test the efficacy of their product in
a randomized, placebo-controlled trial. After
recruiting 36 healthy adults between 17 and
56 years old, they split the participants into
two groups. One group was given tACS at 6
hertz (previous studies suggested that brain
rhythms important for cognitive tasks oscil-
late at this frequency) for 15 minutes and the
other received a sham stimulation, where
electricity was applied for a brief, 60-sec-
ond period, then turned off for the rest of
the session. All subjects engaged in the Corsi
block-tapping test, a working-memory task
that involves recalling the order in which a
series of squares appeared on a screen, while
they underwent tACS or sham stimulation,
in addition to before and after. Participants
were also asked to rate how likely the stim-
ulation was to improve their performance,
both prior to and following the experiment.
This study found that tACS-treated
participants performed approximately 20percent better than their sham-treated
counterparts—and that expectations
regarding their performance did not influ-
ence results. “I was surprised that they got
such a large effect size,” says Te d Zanto, a
University of California, San Francisco,
neuroscientist and a scientific advisor to
Humm who helped design the study. “In a
lot of research labs using different devices,
they oftentimes don’t see quite such a large
effect.” The findings from the study, which
was completed in 2018, are available in a
white paper on the company’s website.
“It was a properly designed study... and
what they found was a statistically significant
difference between the two experimental
groups,” says Anli Liu, a neurologist at NYU
School of Medicine who isn’t involved with
the company. “That being said, I think sta-
tistical significance doesn’t necessarily mean
clinical significance.” Liu points out that
the 20 percent difference in performance
between the two groups was driven by mem-YOU ARE NOT A ROBOT...
SO DON‘T ACT LIKE ONE
FREE YOURSELF FROM
ROUTINE PIPETTING
ROBOT...
LIKE ONE
FROM
PIPETTING
http://www.integra-biosciences.comMaking hands-free serial dilutions, reagent additions and sample reformatting
very affordable for every lab. Compatible with all Integra‘s electronic pipettes
from 4 to 16 channels for consistent results and unbeatable ergonomics.
VIAFLO - Electronic Pipettes VOYAGER - Adjustable Tip Spacing PipettesVOYAGER Adjustable Tip Spacing PipettesASSIST PLUS Automating Multichannel Pipettes
Pipettes