Can Electricity Help Our Brains Learn Faster?

Have you ever been frustrated when you miss a shot in basketball, or when your drawing comes out differently on paper than you pictured in your head? Would not it be nice if there was a way that we could speed up learning, to help our brains and hands work together better? People who are training to be surgeons feel the same way. Before they get good enough to do real operations, they must practice drills using a pretend setup, called a simulator, that feels like surgery without risking patients’ safety. Because the brain uses electricity to communicate with the body, we tested whether we could help people get better faster by applying electricity to their brains while they practiced these drills. We found that it worked! This means that electricity can help people’s brains learn quicker, especially for skills that use the eyes and hands together.