In 2007, Roi Cohen Kadosh, at the University of Oxford and his colleagues, was researching the brain in ebb attempt to uncover cognitive learning. They found that the area of the brain responsible for mathematics is the right parietal lobe. It is located just above the right ear.
There are two separate parietal lobes. One involves sensation and perception. The other lobe is responsible for integrating sensory input, primarily with the visual system. The first function integrates sensory information to form a single perception which is simply called cognition. The second function constructs a spatial coordinate system to represent the world around us.
"Individuals with damage to the parietal lobes often show striking deficits, such as abnormalities in body image and spatial relations (Kandel, Schwartz & Jessel, 1991)."
Also in 2007, Roi Cohen Kadosh, at the University of Oxford, and his team "short-circuited" this area using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). TMS is a stream of magnetic pulses which temporarily disables a targeted area of the brain. The result is that some of the subjects' ability to perform numerical tasks fell.
"In fact, their performance resembled people with dyscalculia, who have difficulty comprehending mathematics" (http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21729085.400-zapping-brain-to-improve-learning-comes-at-a-cost.html).
Noninvasive transcranial stimulation techniques like repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and direct current stimulation (tDCS) have been used to induce neuroplastic-like effects in the human cortex, leading to the activity-dependent modification of synaptic transmission. They introduced a novel method of electrical stimulation: transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS), whereby a random electrical oscillation spectrum is applied over the motor cortex. tRNS induces consistent excitability increases lasting 60 min after stimulation. These effects have been observed in 80 subjects through both physiological measures and behavioral tasks. Higher frequencies (100–640 Hz), sounds at the range of a vibrating tuning fork, appear to be responsible for generating this excitability increase. This effect may be attributed to the repeated opening of Na+ channels. In terms of efficacy tRNS appears to possess at least the same therapeutic potential as rTMS/tDCS in diseases such as depression, while furthermore avoiding the constraint of current flow direction sensitivity characteristic of tDCS(http://m.jneurosci.org/content/28/52/14147.short).
Sodium, Na+, channels channels are made up of a single polypeptide with four homologous domains. Each domain contains 6 membrane spanning alpha helices. One of these helices, S4, is the voltage sensing helix. It has many positive charges. A high positive charge outside the cell repels the helix. This keeps the channel closed. Depolarization of the cell interior causes the helix to move, inducing a conformational change. The ions will then flow through the channel while it is open (http://pharmaxchange.info/press/2011/02/voltage-sensor-in-the-voltage-gated-sodium-and-potassium-channels/).
Recently, researchers found out that students performed better at math after using this same brain stimulation. The students could crunch numbers involving the basic fact that an equation in one variable in a statement in which two expressions, at least one containing the variable, are equal.
Math is a highly complex cognitive faculty that is based on a myriad of different abilities," Cohen Kadosh said. "If we can enhance mathematics . . . there is a good chance that we will be able to enhance simpler cognitive functions."
First, second, and third degree polynomial equations are widely used at parent companies, like Microsoft, to model manufacturing processes and product design features based on measurements made on factories and testing labs. This small brain shock could lead to huge intelligence increases in a wide variety of fields.
"The researcher said that if future experiments with TRNS continue to show positive results, the technique could be used in clinics, classrooms and even at home to help people who struggle with particular cognitive tasks."
"This could include anyone from a child falling behind in . . . math class to an elderly patient suffering from neurodegenerative disease," he said.
