Performance Enhancers for a Video Game

Let's see here, when was the last time you heard of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)? It must have been when you read about how it was a research project there that first dreamed up the Internet that was to take over the world later. So it could be fair to say that you harbor quite a bit of respect for this government agency. But then of course, nothing’s really interesting until you add a bit of scandal to it. For the DARPA, scandal would come in the shape of serious research that tries to find out ways in which a video game player might develop better reflexes and strategizing.

Well, that can't be so bad, you're telling yourself. Until you hear about what they think improves your video gaming skills and reflexes - it's passing low-voltage electricity through your brain. Actually, all joking aside, this research really might get somewhere (as it is bound to when you're dealing with such a august institution). Passing electricity through your brain not only makes you better at your gaming, it makes you better all over - you become sharper, you learn quicker. It will do that, that is, when it doesn't set your scalp on fire.

So perhaps you curious as to why they chose to test subjects on a video game (and honestly, you probably want to know what the game is that they used). It is a game the military uses to train soldiers on tour to Iraq called DARWARS Ambush. It isn't all that scandalous after all – if they were just trying to find ways to make their soldiers perform better.

So how much power can an ordinary 9 V battery deliver to your head? It's no more than a bit of a tingle - no more than 2 mA. But subjects did perform twice as well as people who received less of a jolt. So is this any different than what they do at mental institutions with electroconvulsive therapy? Of course it is - those shocks are truly strong ones.

Interestingly enough, the idea that a small amount of power delivered to the brain can boost mental performance has been around for more than a century. The formal name for it is Trans-Cranial Direct Current Stimulation; and it's been proven to help with a better ability to form strategies, remember things, and so on. Of course, gamers, once they read about this are right away going to be dreaming about creaming their opponents by hooking themselves up to batteries.

Anyone who might seriously consider doing such a thing needs to first read about the experiences other video game players report. Apparently, it can get very unpleasant.