Neurohacking

Key takeaways

Neurohacking belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Neurohacking to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Neurohacking from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Neurohacking is a subclass of biohacking, focused specifically on the brain. Neurohackers seek to better themselves or others by "hacking the brain" to improve reflexes, learn faster, or treat psychological disorders. The modern neurohacking movement has been around since the 1980s. However, herbal supplements have been used to increase brain function for hundreds of years. After a brief period marked by a lack of research in the area, neurohacking started regaining interest in the early 2000s. Currently, most neurohacking is performed via do-it-yourself (DIY) methods by in-home users. Simple uses of neurohacking include the use of chemical supplements to increase brain function. More complex medical devices can be implanted to treat psychological disorders and illnesses.

History The use of mind-altering substances derived from plants dates back to ancient history. Neurohackers use a class of chemical substances that improve higher order brain functions called nootropics. The term nootropics was first proposed in 1972 by Corneliu Giurgea, a Romanian chemist from University of Bucharest. In his study, he classified Piracetam as a nootropic and determined that nootropics should fit the following criteria:

Enhance learning Resist impairing agents Augment informational transfer between the two hemisphere of the brain Heighten the brain's resistance against various forms of "aggressions" Improved "tonic, cortico-subcortical 'control'" Lack of pharmacological effects of other common psychoactive drugs. Today, various nootropics are available via prescription and over the counter. The 2000 study by Michael A. Nitsche and Walter Paulus at the University of Goettingen is considered to be one of the first device-oriented attempts at influencing the brain non-invasively. The study found that the motor cortex of the brain responds to weak electrical stimuli in the form of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). A later study in 2003 by Branislav Savic and Beat Meier found that (tDCS) improves motor sequence learning. More recent studies have concluded that tDCS may alleviate neuropathic pain, depression, schizophrenia, and other neurological disorders. Methods of non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) have been found to enhance human performance. In 2019, a study funded by the US Department of Defense found that cognition and motor performance could be improved by tDCS. This investigation showed that tDCS could be used to enhance the abilities of military personnel. However, side effects such as "itching, tingling, and headaches" were noted. The study concluded that more research into adequate safety regulations is needed before it can be properly implemented. A resurgence in the popularity of at-home and DIY neurohacking started in 2011. The recent availability of brain stimulation devices contributed to the rise in the home neurohacking movement. Individuals applied weak electrical currents to their brain in hopes of improving performance and productivity. Since 2017, neurohacking devices have been available to the general public for unsupervised use. However, these methods of neurohacking have yet to gain widespread acceptance from the general public, and user retention rate for the devices remains low. In 2018, Marom Bikson and his colleagues at the City College of New York released a report to aid consumers in making an informed choice regarding the purchase of tDCS devices. In particular, Bikson stated that the report hoped to educate consumers on the reasons why a significant price differentiation existed across the various devices on the market.

Technology There are three main categories of neurohacking methods: oral supplements or ingestibles, procedural training exercises, and the transmission of electrical currents through the brain.

Oral supplements and ingestibles Nootropics are any chemical compounds that cause an improvement in brain function. Although many are naturally produced by the body, ingestible supplements are often required to artificially raise the concentration of these compounds in the bloodstream to produce a significant effect. Nootropics can be further classified into two categories: synthetics nootropics and natural nootropics.

Synthetic nootropics Synthetic nootropics refer to any lab-produced nootropics, including Piracetam. Synthetic nootropics can act at three different junctions:

Dopamine receptors Adrenergic receptors Acetylcholine and glutamate receptors

Natural nootropics Natural, or herbal, nootropics, include food-based antioxidants and vitamin supplements. There are three main mechanisms by which natural nootropics affect brain activity:

Neurotransmitter modulation Modulation of signal transduction Vasodilation Popular supplements such as Ginkgo biloba and Panax quinquefolius (American ginseng) are characterized as natural and herbal nootropics. Few studies have been conducted regarding the safety and long-term effects of prescribing these herbal supplements as a means of mitigating age-related cognitive decline. However, current research has indicated that these methods have the potential to alleviate the mental deterioration in older individuals.

Procedural training exercises Procedural training methods strengthen the connections between neurons. For example, brain training games have been around since the 2000s. Companies such as PositScience, Lumosity, and CogniFit created video games designed to improve the user's brain function. These brain-training games improve neural capacity by adding game-like features to comprehension skills.

Transmission of electrical currents There are three methods by which electrical currents are transmitted through the brain: deep brain stimulation (DBS), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS).

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) DBS involves implanting an electrical device, or neurostimulator, into the brain. The neurostimulator is a thin wire with electrodes at its tip. Low levels of electric current are transmitted through the brain. The location where the electrodes are implanted depends on the neurological disorder being treated. The company Neuralink hopes that their DBS device will include "as many as 3072 electrodes distributed along 96 threads", and that the procedure to implant the threads would be as non-invasive as LASIK eye surgery.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Neurohacking

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Neurohacking claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Neurohacking before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Neurohacking ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Neurohacking

In research: Neurohacking appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Neurohacking in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Neurohacking is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics DIY medicine, Devices to alter consciousness, Neurotechnology, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Neurohacking outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study Neurohacking in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Neurohacking means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Neurohacking out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Neurohacking in simple terms?

Neurohacking is a subclass of biohacking, focused specifically on the brain. Neurohackers seek to better themselves or others by "hacking the brain" to improve reflexes, learn faster, or treat psychological disorders.

Why does Neurohacking matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Neurohacking?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Neurohacking.